Am I living in the dark ages

Hi all,

ok, i've been merrily running FCP HD on a dual 2.5Ghz G5 with 4.5gb ram and 10.3.9 for 2 years now. I have an additional 750mb internal HD for my rushes and 1 G-Tech 500gb and 2 x Lacie 250GB external HDs for animations and SC files or disc images for storing or delivering my clients dvds. I don't know what graphics card I have, (sorry) but it came with it.

I've just bought FCS2 and 10.4 and am waiting for a window of opportunity to upgrade. I make a living making videos for councils and charities, so i'm not retiring any time soon, but I am earning a fair living.

Having just looked at the apple shop (uk) I was wondering if I am going to seriously benefit from selling on my G5 and getting a new mac? I'm sure this may be a stupid question, but will I notice a huge increase in speed and ease, or should I continue merrily with my G5.

Going through their menu I chose this for £2753:

Two 3.00 GHz Dual-Core Intel Xeon (+£510)
(no extra ram as I can take 3.5gb out of the G5)
4 x NVIDIA GeForce 7300 GT 256MB (+£300)
Hard drive 1 to 750gb (+£180)
iWork '08 (+£55 you have to pay for this!!!)

i'm figuring I can reuse my internal 750gb HD and buy another from the same dealer as it is cheaper, then lose the Lacie drives as I believe (hopefully correctly) the internal drives will run a tad quicker.

These aren't the top options (the quad cores are another £450 and the NVIDIA Quadro FX 4500 512MB, Stereo 3D (2 x dual-link DVI) is another £750) but not sure if i'd need them. Would consider finding the cash if advised to.

Ok, I know it isn't up to someone else to tell me how to spend my money, and I'm a grown up (allegedly) but if I could spare 2 grand, sell my G5 for £750, would this be a smart move, or am i better off putting my money in the bank and sticking with my first-born? Again, I make videos for councils and charities and get a fair bit of work (good quality, low cost lol) but i'm not making corporate or cinematic or music videos etc, so it's a different world I work in I guess)

Many thanks if you spend the time on this post as I realise it's hardly the sort of post that is meant for this forum, but over the last couple of years I have learnt to respect and appreciate any input from the users of this forum, and greatly appreciate it.

Many thanks in advance,

Jules

If you can afford it buy it. I have one and once it was all configured it purrrs. I have to go to another post facility running a G5 and it is considerably slower so yes! Darkish ages lurk.

Really, it's more about "does this computer do everything I need it to do, today?" than, "Am I out of style?".

There's lots of life left in your computer and Apple systems ain't cheap. Video cards are not that expensive but mainly, does your system meet the specs for Final Cut Studio 2?

Probably not for the ProRez codecs as they require a MacPro (actually a Quad G5 PCI Express or greater), but possibly Color with a top rated AGP video card like the ATI X800.

Besides, if your going to try to use Color, in a big way; it's going to cost you more than a MacPro.

Phil, thanks for the positive feedback... i'm a very weakwilled person when it comes to new equipment, so to be honest your comments were all i may need (a friend has asked to buy the G5 so it'll go to a good home)

John, thank you for your post too, i didn't even think about the specs of FCS2, just assumed it wuld work with my mac (foolish me). Will have a proper look, but i've a feeling the new machine will be mine.

Thanks both.

Jules

Are you in a position to do both for a while? Having a known, good, working system sitting with a muslin cover over it is a very good feeling while you're struggling to get your New! and Improved! System! to stop crashing.

After a while, you'll look up and realize you haven't lifted the dust cover in over six months. That's when you give it away.

We ripple through three machines depending on what's needed. No one machine fills all our needs. For example, the latest Zippy Screamer machine takes a lot longer to produce DVDs than our oldest machine. When the client is waiting in the car with the motor running, that counts. That's also typical of the "surprise" moments that you're going to encounter with a new system.

Oh, didn't they tell you that _______ was going to happen with the latest Final Cut? Silly them.

Koz

I would put in the ATI X 1900 video card it's $249 US £122.00 it's 521MB and I'm pretty sure the ram in the G5 won't work in that machine
G5 = PC-3200 PC4200 ECC DDR2 533MHz 240 Pin DIMM Module PowerMac G5 'Dual Core' Models (
Mac Pro = DDR2 667MHz ECC PC5300 240 Pin

------------------------
Dean

"When I see you floating down the gutter I'll give you a bottle of wine."
Captain Beefheart, Trout Mask Replica.

Actually, after doing some maths, deciding eating is over-rated and christmas is a good time to hibernate, i probably can leave the G5 sitting around for a while, so point taken and a good one. It is all very well having a swish new machine and software (and hmmm is it going to be swish) but, if it stops working, i won't get paid.

In case anyone is curious (and because i guess it'll be more appreciated here than down the pub) i'm going for the 4 core 3ghz with the Radion X1900 with my old ram taking it to 4gb. It's going to come just shy of £2500 (increasing the internal HD to 500gb) before my 'discount' for going back to Derek at the apple store so he can get his commission

Out of curiosity, anyone know what I could get for a dual 2.5ghz G5 with 1.5gb ram 160gb HD and a lacie 250gb external and the FCP HD Suite installed (i believe i can transfer the licence once so that should be fine)? I was hoping around £800 or so (maybe a tad more because of FC), does that sound fair?

thanks all for nudging me towards the enlightenment period.

Oh, I'm also thinking of holding out a little while longer for Leopard. Sensible or should I stick with tiger until it's become tried and tested? For the sake of saving £80 i'm not it's worth going through the agro if it clashes here and there.

Ta

Thanks Dean for pointing out about the ram. Didn't think of that. Still crucial.com do 2 x 1GB sticks for £103 inc so not terrible, and i guess the G5 will then be for sale with 4.5gb of ram which makes it more appealing.

Already there with the radion, read about it elsewhere as being good for editing.

thanks again

If selling, there are people that want to buy G5´s especially since all software does not work with the new Intels.
I was approached by a studio that does a lot of sound and they are trying to get their hands on as many G5s as possible.

Not sure about 800 though, maybe 500-600, at least here in Oslo.

Johan Polhem
Motion Graphics
www.johanpolhem.com