Apple Power Mac G4 (PCI Graphics) vs Apple Power Mac G5 (Late 2004)

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Power Mac G4 (PCI Graphics) compared with Power Mac G5 (Late 2004)

	ApplePower Mac G4 (PCI Graphics)	ApplePower Mac G5 (Late 2004)
Overview
Released
Released	August 1999	October 2004
Performance
Processor
Processor	PowerPC G4 350 MHz (Power Mac PCI Graphics) or PowerPC G4 400 MHz (Power Mac PCI Graphics)	PowerPC G5 1800 MHz (Power Mac Late 2004)
CPU cores
CPU cores	1	1
Graphics
Graphics	ATI RAGE 128 (16 MB)	NVIDIA GeForce FX 5200 Ultra (64 MB)
Memory
Memory	64 MB or 1 GB	256 MB or 4 GB (better)
Storage
Storage	10 GB	80 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.	One 1.8 GHz PowerPC G5 with 512 KB L2 cache and a 600 MHz front-side bus. This is the new single-processor model; the dual-processor models also listed on the retained sheet are June 2004 carryovers.
GPU
GPU	ATI RAGE 128 PCI graphics with 16 MB SDRAM. This is the PCI/Yikes board, distinct from the contemporary AGP model.	Stock NVIDIA GeForce FX 5200 Ultra with 64 MB DDR in AGP 8x Pro. Optional ATI Radeon 9600 XT 128 MB, Radeon 9800 XT 256 MB, NVIDIA GeForce 6800 GT DDL 256 MB or 6800 Ultra DDL 256 MB. The 9800 XT and 6800 cards also occupy 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 256 MB PC3200 DDR400 in matched pairs; four DIMM slots support up to 4 GB. Configuration rows keep the stock graphics and drive at base and maximum supported 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 80 GB 7200 rpm Serial ATA drive. Two 3.5-inch bays, each with a 150 MB/s interface. Optional 160 or 250 GB drives, including two 250 GB drives. One optical bay with 8x DVD-R SuperDrive; Combo drive is optional.
Expansion slots
Expansion slots	Three open 33 MHz PCI slots plus the 66 MHz PCI slot used by graphics.	Three open full-length 64-bit 33 MHz PCI slots and occupied AGP 8x Pro graphics slot; no PCI-X on this single-processor model.
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, V.92 modem, optical Toslink input/output and analogue audio line-in/out. Three chassis USB ports in total, plus two keyboard USB 1.1 ports. AirPort Extreme 54 Mbps and Bluetooth 1.1 are optional.
External displays
External displays	VGA output from the PCI graphics card.	Stock ADC and DVI with included DVI-to-VGA adapter, supporting two displays. Optional 6800 GT/Ultra DDL cards have two dual-link DVI connectors and support two 30-inch Apple Cinema HD Displays; a second ADC display on the stock card needs an adapter.
Speakers
Speakers	Built-in speaker. Audio line-out is not counted as a dedicated headphone jack.	Built-in speaker; optical and analogue connections for external audio.
Keyboard and mouse
Keyboard and mouse	Apple USB Keyboard and Apple USB Mouse.	Apple Keyboard, Apple Mouse, USB extension cable, DVI-to-VGA adapter, modem cable and AirPort antenna.
Design and power
Type
Type	Tower	Tower
Weight
Weight	–	16.4 kg
Width × depth × height
Width × depth × height	–	206 × 475 × 511 mm
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.	Maker height 51.1 cm, width 20.6 cm, depth 47.5 cm. Published reference weight for the single 1.8 GHz model is 16.4 kg, distinct from the carryover dual-processor models; weight varies with configuration.
Materials
Materials	–	Aluminium enclosure.
Power supply
Power supply	Maximum continuous power 200 W.	–
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.	The October 2004 release includes Mac OS X Panther and iLife ’04. Apple’s retained specification sheet later lists iLife ’05; that later software listing does not change the hardware’s October 2004 first sale.