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

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

	ApplePower Mac G4 (PCI Graphics)	ApplePower Mac G5 (Late 2005)
Overview
Released
Released	August 1999	October 2005
Performance
Processor
Processor	PowerPC G4 350 MHz (Power Mac PCI Graphics) or PowerPC G4 400 MHz (Power Mac PCI Graphics)	PowerPC G5 dual-core 2000 MHz (Power Mac Late 2005), PowerPC G5 dual-core 2300 MHz (Power Mac Late 2005) or 2 × PowerPC G5 dual-core 2500 MHz (Power Mac Late 2005)
CPU cores
CPU cores	1	2 or 4
Graphics
Graphics	ATI RAGE 128 (16 MB)	NVIDIA GeForce 6600 LE (128 MB) or NVIDIA GeForce 6600 (256 MB)
Memory
Memory	64 MB or 1 GB	512 MB or 16 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.	Dual models have one physical dual-core PowerPC G5 at 2 or 2.3 GHz. Quad has two physical dual-core processors at 2.5 GHz, four cores in total. Each core has 1 MB L2 cache. Front-side bus per physical processor is 1, 1.15 or 1.25 GHz respectively. Macworld’s exact Quad review describes its 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.	Stock dual-core 2 GHz: NVIDIA GeForce 6600 LE with 128 MB GDDR SDRAM. Dual-core 2.3 GHz and Quad: NVIDIA GeForce 6600 with 256 MB GDDR SDRAM. Optional NVIDIA GeForce 7800 GT 256 MB and Quadro FX 4500 512 MB; the Quadro occupies the graphics slot and adjacent x4 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 PC2-4200 DDR2 at 533 MHz, installed in matched pairs. Up to 16 GB supported; ECC configurations available from 1 GB. Rows retain the stock drive and graphics 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 160 GB on dual-core 2 GHz and 250 GB on dual-core 2.3 GHz and Quad. 7200 rpm Serial ATA drives; two internal bays. Optional one or two 500 GB drives. One optical bay with 16x SuperDrive supporting dual-layer DVD+R recording.
Expansion slots
Expansion slots	Three open 33 MHz PCI slots plus the 66 MHz PCI slot used by graphics.	PCI Express: occupied x16 graphics slot, two open x4 slots and one open x8 slot. Older PCI and PCI-X expansion cards cannot be reused in these slots.
Display
Screen
Screen	None built in	None built in
Connections
Ports
Ports	2 × USB-A, Ethernet	4 × USB-A, 2 × 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.	Three USB 2.0, FireWire 800, FireWire 400, two Gigabit Ethernet ports, optical Toslink input/output and analogue audio line-in/out. Four chassis USB 2.0 ports in total, plus two keyboard USB 1.1 ports. AirPort Extreme and Bluetooth 2.0 + EDR are optional, with integrated antennas; built-in support does not mean modules are included.
External displays
External displays	VGA output from the PCI graphics card.	Stock GeForce 6600 LE/6600 and optional 7800 GT have one single-link and one dual-link DVI port, supporting one 30-inch Apple Cinema HD Display alongside a second display. Optional Quadro FX 4500 has two dual-link DVI outputs for two 30-inch displays and a stereo 3D connector. DVI-to-VGA adapter included.
Speakers
Speakers	Built-in speaker. Audio line-out is not counted as a dedicated headphone jack.	Built-in speaker and optical/analogue external audio connections.
Keyboard and mouse
Keyboard and mouse	Apple USB Keyboard and Apple USB Mouse.	Apple Keyboard, Mighty Mouse, USB keyboard extension and DVI-to-VGA adapter.
Design and power
Type
Type	Tower	Tower
Operating system
Operating system	macOS	macOS
Materials
Materials	–	Aluminium enclosure.
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.	–
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.	Mac OS X Tiger and iLife ’05. Apple confirmed the dual-core 2 and 2.3 GHz models available on 19 October 2005, with Quad expected in early November. Macs Only reports its Quad shipped on 10 November and arrived on 11 November; these later Quad dates do not change the generation’s first sale. The exact specification sheet does not publish weight or dimensions.