The Test

We tested a total of five configurations throughout all of our tests: a dual socket (single core) PowerMac G5 2.0GHz, a dual socket (single core) PowerMac G5 2.5GHz, a dual socket (dual core) Mac Pro 2.0GHz and a dual socket (dual core) Mac Pro 2.66GHz.  The fifth configuration was the dual socket dual core Mac Pro 2.0GHz with one socket disabled, thus running as a dual core Mac Pro 2.0GHz.  The reason for this fifth configuration is to help point out the areas where the Mac Pro is doing better than the PowerMac G5 simply due to its four cores (vs. two in the G5) and where the advantage is purely architectural. 

We kept configurations as close as possible, each system featured 2GB of memory (the Mac Pros used 4 x 512MB FB-DIMMs in order to run in quad channel mode) and used the same Seagate 7200.9 250GB HDD. 

Video cards could not be kept controlled since the PowerMac G5 systems used AGP cards while the Mac Pros used PCIe cards; for this reason we did not run any GPU bound tests and thus there should be no tangible difference in performance due to the differing graphics cards.  The G5s used a 256MB ATI Radeon 9600 Pro while the Mac Pros used a 256MB GeForce 7300 GT.

All systems used the latest updates to the OS and all software as of the time of publication.

Using the Mac Pro Memory Performance
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  • plinden - Saturday, August 19, 2006 - link

    No point in arguing with this guy - he's shown just how much he knows about the subject. How could someone regularly read AnandTech and not know about EFI? And then profess to have confused it with some obscure mobo manufacturer?

    Oddly enough, I can't find any motherboards for sale manufactured by a company called EFI - either it's very obscure or he's making it up. I wonder which one it is?
  • michael2k - Friday, August 18, 2006 - link

    EFI isn't a manufacturer, it stands for "Extensible Firmware Interface", see the link in the other post.
    Lian Li had an aluminum case first, but Apple's design was COPIED by Lian Li. Read the Anandtech article in which half the comments for the case review claim "G5 ripoff".
  • plinden - Friday, August 18, 2006 - link

    quote:

    EFI is an average/cheap mobo maker at best (not to say unreliable, just average in function, and performance). They are no DFI, or ASUS, not even close.


    I laughed out loud at this. You're absolutely right, EFI is no DFI or ASUS, not even close.

    You've just proved you know fuck all about this. I suggest you read up on EFI (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extensible_Firmware_I...">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extensible_Firmware_I... before posting about this in the future.

    I'm not going to tell you makes the Mac motherboards. I'll leave that up to you to research.
  • Petoschka - Wednesday, April 1, 2020 - link

    Well, my Junk Pro from early 2008 is still running.
  • pervisanathema - Wednesday, August 16, 2006 - link

    I want one. :o
  • takeshi7 - Tuesday, January 7, 2014 - link

    Just a small correction on page 2: The Power Mac G5 PCI-E also has 3 USB 2.0 ports on the rear panel.

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