While many modern OS X applications are now Intel-only, there are a surprising number that will run on PowerPC systems. I updated the OS to 10.5.8 and went about installing applications. This time around Leopard installed just fine. I went back to something more 2005: a 150GB Raptor.

I couldn’t get Leopard to install to the drive without errors. Despite being a SATA drive, the G5 was very unhappy with the new VelociRaptor. I popped in a 600GB VelociRaptor and was quickly reminded that I was using a 5 year old machine. Running at up to 2.7GHz, there was enough IPC on the table for the Power Mac G5 to at least remain competitive with the Core 2 Duo in the new Mac mini. Unlike the Pentium 4, the 970 was a very shallow (9 stage integer pipe) and wide microprocessor (5-way instruction dispatch). The PowerPC 970FX, a 90nm version of the original 970, was a very impressive architecture. I was curious to see where the performance of a high end G5 fit in today’s Mac lineup. I stopped using the G5 during 10.4 (Tiger) and hadn’t tried anything newer, until now. Like all PowerPC Macs, the G5 won’t run anything newer than OS X 10.5 (Leopard). That’s an amazing resale value for a five year old computer based on a seven year old platform. Today you can find slower G5s on eBay or Craigslist for around $400, and faster dual dual-core models going for as much as $800. Brand new, this system cost $2699 (not including the memory upgrade). While not my original Power Mac, I do still have an early 2005 model with a pair of 2.5GHz PowerPC 970FX processors, 4GB of DDR-400 memory and an ATI Radeon 9600 Pro video card (AGP 8X of course).

The Apple IIe was the first Apple I ever owned, and the Power Mac G5 was the first Mac I ever owned.

Mac mini mid 2010 final os upgrade