any Mac geeks? need a little buying help

[EMIIspecED]

I do visual effects and motion graphics, plus i do a bunch of video and movie work

so ive saved my cash to buy an apple G5, dual core, referb

Q's:

-should i get the dual core or should i spend more on the Quad?

-is there any other mac desktop that i should research?

-do u know a good place / website to buy a referb G5?

thanks mac nerds

 

[hooked_on4]

1st question would be how much you want to spend ....

 

[EMIIspecED]

dont worry about money, just post stuff i should get

-need a fast processor
-need a damn good graphics card
-already found the dual monitors im going to buy

 

[hooked_on4]

ok buy this

http://www.cdw.com/shop/products/default.aspx?EDC=1697414

If $ isn't an issue get the best..........


Since you want refurbbed I 'd guess $ would be an issue in which case i'd recommend figuring out what you really want to spend and going from there.

You can make a DC work just fine but a quad would simply do a better job.

Upping the memory is recommended either way. Where's that link of that refurbbed you were lookin at?

 

[XpL0d3r]

If you do anything motion graphics, video editing, etc, I would recommend getting a Quad. I say this because Real-Time previewing and HQ rendering will take a LOT of system resources, especially if you have more than just a couple apps open at one time. Any graphics card you get make sure it has dedicated DDR3, go with 512Mb at a minimum, and shoot for a gig if you can.

 

[hooked_on4]

good point

DC will work but rendering will prolly be faster in a quad, if you want many apps open at once I'd max the memory.

 

[EMIIspecED]

ok

-quad core

-1GB

anything else?

 

[hooked_on4]

1gb on the vid card not on system memory, you need more than that.....

I'm guessin you are lookin at 2.0ghz? there's a few variations of the G5 PM. And wow maxes out at 16gb's, i'd recommend no less than 4gbs but it's your call.

CPU: PowerPC G5 2 GHz
Standard Memory: 512MB (Removable)
Maximum Memory: 16GB
System Class: Desktop PC
Expansion: 8 Sockets (4 banks of 2)

4gb kit runs lil over $100 FYI

 

[EMIIspecED]

- 1GB vid card

-quad core

-system memory?

 

[hooked_on4]

Yeah you need memory on the motherboard....

 

[EMIIspecED]

so we're looking at around 2 grad for the system

 

[Kswest]

Yah. I did some video editing on my iMac for a while, it had core 2 duo @ 2.8ghz. Had to upgrade to at least 4gb of ram though, anything less and I was waiting for longer than I wanted to. 512mb graphics should be the bare minimum and trust me, I learned that the hard way. You seem to be on the right track so far though.

 

[253eg]

Big f**king display