Apple Power Mac G4 (PCI Graphics) vs Apple Power Mac G5 (Early 2005)

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Power Mac G4 (PCI Graphics) compared with Power Mac G5 (Early 2005)

	ApplePower Mac G4 (PCI Graphics)	ApplePower Mac G5 (Early 2005)
Overview
Released
Released	August 1999	April 2005
Performance
Processor
Processor	PowerPC G4 350 MHz (Power Mac PCI Graphics) or PowerPC G4 400 MHz (Power Mac PCI Graphics)	2 × PowerPC G5 2000 MHz (Power Mac Early 2005), 2 × PowerPC G5 2300 MHz (Power Mac Early 2005) or 2 × PowerPC G5 2700 MHz (Power Mac Early 2005)
CPU cores
CPU cores	1	2
Graphics
Graphics	ATI RAGE 128 (16 MB)	ATI Radeon 9600 (128 MB) or ATI Radeon 9650 (256 MB)
Memory
Memory	64 MB or 1 GB	512 MB, 4 GB or 8 GB (better)
Storage
Storage	10 GB	160 GB to 250 GB (better)
CPU
CPU	Single 350 or 400 MHz PowerPC G4 with Velocity Engine; 100 MHz system bus. Exact EveryMac PCI sheets specify 1 MB backside L2 cache; the retained maker page lists 512 KB or 1 MB without exact ties. No silicon supplier is inferred from Apple/Motorola/IBM co-development.	Two physical PowerPC G5 processors at 2, 2.3 or 2.7 GHz, each with 512 KB L2 cache and no L3 cache. Front-side bus per processor is 1, 1.15 or 1.35 GHz. The dual 2.7 GHz model uses liquid cooling.
GPU
GPU	ATI RAGE 128 PCI graphics with 16 MB SDRAM. This is the PCI/Yikes board, distinct from the contemporary AGP model.	Dual 2 and 2.3 GHz: ATI Radeon 9600 with 128 MB DDR and two single-link DVI outputs. Dual 2.7 GHz: ATI Radeon 9650 with 256 MB GDDR3, one single-link and one dual-link DVI output. Optional NVIDIA GeForce 6800 Ultra DDL with 256 MB has two dual-link DVI outputs and occupies the adjacent PCI slot.
Memory type
Memory type	64 MB PC100 SDRAM standard. Four DIMM slots support up to 1 GB. Configurations preserve 10 GB factory storage at base and maximum RAM.	Stock 512 MB PC3200 DDR400, installed in matched pairs. Dual 2 GHz has four DIMM slots and a 4 GB maximum. Dual 2.3 and 2.7 GHz have eight slots and an 8 GB maximum. Configuration rows keep the stock drives and graphics at base and maximum memory.
Storage type
Storage type	400 MHz launch configuration: 10 GB Ultra ATA/33 and 32x CD-ROM; October 1999 speed-reduced 350 MHz retains those factory specifications (EveryMac). Retained Apple sheet also lists 24x CD-ROM without precise configuration ties. Optional drives are not expanded into unsupported cross-combinations.	Stock 160 GB on dual 2 GHz and 250 GB on dual 2.3/2.7 GHz, all 7200 rpm Serial ATA. Two internal drive bays; optional 250 or 400 GB drives, including two 400 GB drives. One optical bay with 16x SuperDrive supporting DVD±R and up to 4x dual-layer DVD+R recording.
Expansion slots
Expansion slots	Three open 33 MHz PCI slots plus the 66 MHz PCI slot used by graphics.	AGP 8x Pro graphics slot. Dual 2 GHz has three 64-bit 33 MHz PCI slots. Dual 2.3 and 2.7 GHz have PCI-X: two 100 MHz slots and one 133 MHz slot.
Display
Screen
Screen	None built in	None built in
Connections
Ports
Ports	2 × USB-A, Ethernet	3 × USB-A, Ethernet, headphone jack
Ethernet
Ethernet	0.1 Gb/s	1 Gb/s (better)
External displays
External displays	–	Up to 2
Front ports
Front ports	–	USB 2.0, FireWire 400 and headphone minijack.
Back ports
Back ports	Two chassis USB ports at 12 Mbps, two external FireWire 400 ports, VGA, 10/100BASE-T Ethernet, 56K modem and analog audio input/output. The retained maker FireWire count of three is not supported by the exact PCI port specification (EveryMac). No AirPort slot; keyboard ports are not included.	Two USB 2.0, FireWire 800, FireWire 400, Gigabit Ethernet, optical S/PDIF input/output and analogue audio line-in/out. Three chassis USB ports in total, plus keyboard USB 1.1 ports. AirPort Extreme, Bluetooth 2.0 + EDR and a V.92 modem are optional.
External displays
External displays	VGA output from the PCI graphics card.	Two displays in extended desktop or mirrored modes. Radeon 9600 supports two displays up to 1920 × 1200; Radeon 9650 supports one 30-inch Apple Cinema HD Display via dual-link DVI. Optional 6800 Ultra DDL supports two 30-inch displays. DVI-to-VGA adapter included.
Speakers
Speakers	Built-in speaker. Audio line-out is not counted as a dedicated headphone jack.	Built-in speaker; analogue and optical audio connections.
Keyboard and mouse
Keyboard and mouse	Apple USB Keyboard and Apple USB Mouse.	Apple Keyboard, Apple Mouse, USB extension cable and DVI-to-VGA adapter.
Design and power
Type
Type	Tower	Tower
Weight
Weight	–	20.2 kg
Operating system
Operating system	macOS	macOS
Size and weight detail
Size and weight detail	Maker publishes 17-inch height, 8.9-inch width, 18.4-inch depth and 30-pound weight. Metric main fields omitted; no unit conversion or sibling measurements.	The exact maker sheet labels height as 47.5 cm, width 20.6 cm and depth 51.1 cm. Earlier G5 sheets label height/depth in the opposite order; main dimensions are omitted because those published axes conflict. Maker reference weight is 20.2 kg and varies with configuration.
Power supply
Power supply	Maximum continuous power 200 W.	450 W on dual 2/2.3 GHz; 600 W on dual 2.7 GHz, as stated by the maker.
Materials
Materials	–	Aluminium enclosure.
In the box
In the box	Mac OS 8.6. Full contemporary AppleInsider report says Jobs confirmed the 400 MHz configuration shipping immediately on 31 August 1999; the Canadian maker release instead promises September. First-sale month uses the named US report without implying universal regional availability.	Mac OS X Tiger and iLife ’05. Apple’s 27 April 2005 launch says these models are available “this week”; first sale is kept at April precision rather than treating the announcement as a confirmed delivery day. The older single 1.8 GHz model retained in the launch range is represented separately as Late 2004.