Price of Strong Mac G5- How much for similar PC?

[Caly]

I recently did research here in order to build a gaming PC for my boyfriend. At my admittedly boring job I use a stylish black Dell. I started out on computers where you had to type stuff like run *8 etc.
Mac prices appear to be on the high side. In some cases, they are. I already have a monitor, so I didn?t include the price of one. But I like this G5 set-up. How much would a similar PC be, and similar software?

A 64 Bit Mac G5 from Apple Store-
optical digital and analog audio -all integrated through two bidirectional 16-bit, 800MHz interconnects for a maximum throughput of 3.2GB per second- ports use the S/PDIF protocol over Toslink cables
4 discrete thermal zones to compartmentalize the primary heat-producing components.
Fans in the zones spin at very low speeds resulting in a system that?s quiet. (It is)
1GHz frontside bus ?? one on each processor
512K L2 cache/processor
Three PCI-X Slots
FireWire 800, Firewire 400, and USB 2.0 ports
Gigabit Ethernet built-in
?? Dual 2GHz PowerPC G5
?? 1GB DDR400 SDRAM (PC3200) - 2x512
(Expandable to 8GB SDRAM)
?? 160GB Serial ATA - 7200rpm
?? ATI Radeon 9800 Pro
AGP 8X Pro graphics bus
All cards ship with an Apple Display Connector (ADC) port for connecting an Apple display, and a DVI port for a second digital display ?? with support for both extended desktop and video mirroring modes.
?? Bluetooth Module
?? 56k V.92 internal modem
?? SuperDrive (DVD-R/CD-RW)
?? Apple Keyboard & Apple Mouse - U.S. English

Included Software
Mac OS X v 10.3 "Panther", iLife (including iTunes, iPhoto, iMovie and iDVD), QuickBooks for Mac New User Edition, Zinio Reader, Art Directors Toolkit, Microsoft Office v.X Test Drive, FileMaker Pro Trial, OmniGraffle, OmniOutliner, GraphicConverter, Safari, QuickTime, iChat, iCal, iSync, DVD Player, Mail, EarthLink, Acrobat Reader, Classic environment and Apple Developer Tools

This comes out to- $3,599.00

 

[Jumpem]

You could build a very high end PC for far less than that price. Not to mention there are multitudes more games available for the PC. Does your bf prefer Macs?

 

[Caly]

My BF already got his computer.
I'm trying to figure this out for myself.
All of the games that I like to play are out for the Mac.
Diablo, Everquest, SIMS, Civilization, Black & White, etc.

 

[dullard]

Over the 2 decades that Apple has been around one general rule of thumb has been roughly correct. For roughly the same speed and as close to the same components as you can get, an Apple is about 50% more expensive. Yes that is a very rough rule, but in many cases it is highly accurate.

For the vast vast majority of people, a $500 PC will do anything they need. So the question comes down to this: are your computer needs typical or not? If you are not typical, then you'll need to spend more than $500. Which parts do you need to spend more on? With Apple you usually have very few choices - what if you don't need half of those features you listed? Too bad you are still paying for them. (Yes Apples can be upgraded and yes you can customize them - but with a lot more time and effort).

For example, are you ever really going to use Firewire 800? The answer is no for 99.9% of the people in the world. But if you do need it, then you'll need to spend more than the $500 for a barebones PC. Keep adding on features that you really need and then you'll come up with a price. It is hard for us to know what you will actually need.

 

[Caly]

What I need or something similar to what I need is what I posted above- the Mac version, anyways.
I do heavy graphics and some 3d gameplay

Firewire drives are faster than USB drives- I need external drives for backups and if I need to take a drive with me to show artwork. So I am looking forward to Firewire 800 being even faster at transferring large files.

 

[Pariah]

If you're used to the Mac, and can afford it. Stick with it.

 

[dullard]

Originally posted by: Pariah
If you're used to the Mac, and can afford it. Stick with it.

Good advice. I meant to put something like that in my post above, but forgot to.

My advice is generally to buy what you will work with most often in non-home environments. For example, if you do similar stuff at home and work, then you'll be much happier off if your home computer is the same type as your work computer. Or suppose you take your work with you to clients' computers. Then you'll be happier if the clients have the same type of computer. A portable Firewire 800 drive is almost useless if you have nowhere to take it (you need another firewire computer to plug it into) - so it is just nicer if both of these computers are similar.

In my view neither type is better (although as you admit Macs are often more expensive). Neither type is easier to use in my opinion either. The key is when you have to switch back and forth daily, it becomes frustrating. The key combinations for shortcuts are not the same, the mouse buttons may not act the same, etc. It may be the same software on PC and Mac, but the minor details of how things operate can be frustrating to switch back and forth with. Sure you can do it, but you'll be happier if both are the same.

 

[Regs]

That seems reasonable for a MAC. Very reasonable if it came with a monitor. You're getting top dollar parts from Apple, that kind of price is more than expected. One gig of ram, 9800p, and a duel 64 bit cpu.

 

[Bryans]

If you live with your BF and are comfortable sharing computers Id recomend buying a higher end Athlon64 PC. Than you would have the best of both worlds available depending on what you needed to do. There are some areas where an Apple is preferable and some where a PC dominates, by having both a high end PC and a high end Apple in the house you could avoid duplicating what he just bought and make the most out of your money.

For the price of the dual G5 you could get a very nice Athlon64 system with gigs of ram and a TB of HD space with firewire and equal graphics... and if you did need any of the special features of the G5 you could just use his.


If you dont live with him or arnt comfortable sharing with him than I believe the dual 1.8 G5 is the best buy currently in apples line up.

 

[mikepeck]

Not recommended as a gaming machine, but to find a comparable PC, you would have to go workstation class. People often forget that the Powermac's are Apple's workstations, not just consumer or office machines. Workstations are often more stable and have highquality powersupplies, fans, cooling, cases, etc. They are built for reliability and specific functions. A workstation from HP or Dell will cost at least that much to have PCI-X, Dual 64bit procs, 8gb max RAM, etc.

As a graphics workstation, that machine would ROCK, but look elsewhere if it will be a gaming machine.

 

[addragyn]

You can save some money on that G5 setup w/ a little bit of shopping. Based on your games the stock Radeon 9600 would be fine.

Go to store.apple.com
Buy your G5 from the "Special Deals" section

Power Mac G5 1.6 GHz 256MB/80GB/SuperDrive/GigE/56K Add $1,399.00
Power Mac G5 1.8 GHz 512MB/160GB/SuperDrive/GigE/56K Add $1,699.00
Power Mac G5 DUAL 2GHz 512MB/160GB/SuperDrive/GigE/56K Add $2,399.00
APP for Power Mac (w/ or w/o display) - Enrollment Kit Add $249.00

Grab 2GB of RAM from OWC link

2GB PC3200 PowerMac G5 Memory Upgrade (2x1GB Matched Pair) DDR 400MHz CAS 3.0 184 Pin 8-Layer Major. For all PowerMac G5 Models, speeds. New, Lifetime Advance Replacement Warranty. (OWC3200DDR2GBPKIT) $579.00

Total = $2,978

The G5 may or may not have a Bluetooth. If it doesn't you can pickup a USB dongle for $49. So you'll have a lesser video card but double the RAM. If you wanted to use some of that money you saved throw in a 10k SATA or 15k SCSI boot disk.

FYI - All signs point to the G5 getting a speedbump w/ in a few months.

 

[Markfw]

For that kind of money you could put together a dual Opteron system that would leave that G5 crying for mercy ! If you want specifics, when I get time, I will look up the parts for you.

 

[Snoop]

www.abspc.com, top ten on Ressellar Ratings, run by the same guys who run newegg
Athlon 64 3400+
1.5 gigabytes of corsair memory
2 160 gigabyte Western Digital SE drives
Antec Performance Plusview LE (Limited Edition) Case
Gigabyte GA-K8NPRO Motherboard
ATI Radeon 9800 XT 256MB 256-bit DDR DVI/TV
Audigy 2 Sound
DVD drive
DVD burner 4x
Logitech Z-640 5.1 Surround speakers
Logitech Cordless MX Duo (cordless mouse and Keyboard)


2300.00
Take the 1000 bucs you save and get an awesome LCD monitor.

 

[MercenaryForHire]

If you can afford a $3600 computer "for your boyfriend" - he better spend at least that much on your engagement ring! :Q

- M4H

 

[xype]

Is that one of those Athlong 64 3400+ or two of them? FireWire 800 and 400 + Gigabit ethernet included? Does it come with a warranty? How much is Windows XP Pro (and optional software) for that? You likely won't need developer tools, though.

I'd be interested in a dual Opteron setup price (maybe one that does come with a 1 year warranty), since I totally lost the "touch" with higher-end PCs by only dealing with sub $500 ones lately (noone asks me to spec out a 2500 PC for them).

 

[Snoop]

Is that one of those Athlong 64 3400+ or two of them? FireWire 800 and 400 + Gigabit ethernet included? Does it come with a warranty? How much is Windows XP Pro (and optional software) for that? You likely won't need developer tools, though.

1. No need for duel athlon 64's. Little if any performance game with duels in gaming, which sounds like the primary purpose of this rig. Besides, a single athlon 64 will beat a duel g5's in gaming bar none.
2. Who needs firewire 800? She could purchase an add on card for around 50 dollars if needed.
3. Gigabit Ethernet?????? What is there an OC3 connection coming into the house. A 100 mbit network is all that is needed except for the MOST extreme home networks, besides, gigabit routers are prohibitively expensive. But again, if needed, an add on card will suffice for 30 dollars.
4. Yes, onsite 24/7 warranty. 1year base, which is extendible for up to 3 years.
5. XP Pro is 60 dollars more, is that needed though?

 

[Pariah]

When you in add in the cost of Adobe Premiere, MS Office, and whatever other software is needed, the A64 rig suddenly becomes quite a bit more expensive.

 

[The Sauce]

A comparable PC for those games would be like an Athlon 1Ghz or higher. You could buy one for <$250 easily.

 

[Barnaby W. Füi]

[/quote]3. Gigabit Ethernet?????? What is there an OC3 connection coming into the house. A 100 mbit network is all that is needed except for the MOST extreme home networks, besides, gigabit routers are prohibitively expensive. But again, if needed, an add on card will suffice for 30 dollars.[/quote]

Useful for people who have more than one computer at home (any self-respecting nerd ). Transferring a few gigs of data is going to be quite noticeably faster on 1000mbps than 100mbps.

 

[Aganack1]

Originally posted by: Snatchface
A comparable PC for those games would be like an Athlon 1Ghz or higher. You could buy one for <$250 easily.

What?
i dont believe that.

I've found that current pc's and G5's are pretty competitive in pricing for the same thing.

 

[Overkast]

Well sticking to Caly's price for the G5 fromt the Apple site, here's what I priced out in comparison from newegg:

(Notice I did the 2.2GHz Athlon FX because the Apple is a Dual processor and Athlon FX won't do dual processors... so I gave it the extra 2MHz and cache for comparison purposes.)

-AMD Athlon 64 FX-51, 1MB L2 Cache @ 2.2GHz ($749.00)
-Asus K8T800 Chipset Motherboard for AMD Socket 940 CPU ($210.00)
-Kingston ValueRAM Dual Channel Kit 184 Pin 1G(512MBx2) DDR PC-3200 (Equivalent RAM that you get from Apple) - Retail ($151.00)
-Thermaltake Highest Xaser III V1000A Super Tower ($129.00)
-Optorite Black Internal DVD+/-RW Dual Retail Drive ($99.00)
-Samsung 160GB 7200RPM Hard Drive, Model SP1614N, 3-year warranty ($105.00)
-ORtek MCK-8000 black OfficeMdeia Elite Keyboard PS2 103keys ($12.49)
-Microsoft Optical Wheel Mouse BLACK PS2/USB -OEM ($18.00)
-Dlink Wireless USB Bluetooth Adapter ($41.00)
-ENERMAX Noisetaker Series EG475P-VE-SFMA. 470W Power supply ($90.00)
-ATI RADEON 9800PRO Video Card, 128MB DDR, 256-bit, DVI/TV-Out, 8X AGP -RETAIL ($295.00)
-Microsoft Windows XP Professional with Service Pack SP1a ($136.00)

Subtotal: $2,036.48
Shipping from newegg: $11.00 (to Connecticut)

Grand Total: $2,047.48

 

[GL]

Since you've already used a modern PC, I would suggest going to an Apple retailer and using a Mac for at least 20 minutes. Familiarize yourself with the web browser, the e-mail client, address book and calendaring software. Then move on to the iLife suite, including iTunes, iPhoto, iMovies, iDVD and Garageband. And don't forget MS Office v.X, MSN Messenger, etc. They're on the Mac too and might be installed on the demo machine. You'll be getting all of this software when you purchase the computer. More importantly, this software should be a baseline for what to expect from Mac software you might purchase further down the road.

Definitely try out the Mac before you buy it. I'm willing to bet you will more likely love it than hate it, even if it feels awkward at first (i.e. "What you install a program by dragging it to the Applications folder, and uninstall it by dragging it to the Trash?"). But know what you're getting into first.

In terms of videogames, you will be limited to popular PC ones. For instance, The Sims, Halo and Doom 3 are/will be available on the Mac. Some lesser-known titles like Indiana Jones, Emperor's Tomb, Jedi Knight, Tony Hawk etc are also ported over by Aspyr/Transgaming. Also, there are some quality albeit obscure Mac games. Of note is that in general, the PC versions will always run better on PCs because videogames are heavily "hand-optimized" for their PC architecture and Mac ports are generally not optimized for the Mac to the same extent. Edit: games like The Sims, Diablo, etc will run just fine on the Mac and you're not likely to notice a performance difference. The gap tends to happen more with 3D first person shooters.

You can find a list of videogames and other software available for the Mac here: http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/

 

[MercenaryForHire]

Originally posted by: Aganack1

Originally posted by: Snatchface
A comparable PC for those games would be like an Athlon 1Ghz or higher. You could buy one for <$250 easily.

What?
i dont believe that.

I've found that current pc's and G5's are pretty competitive in pricing for the same thing.

Did you even look at what she's playing? The Sims, B&W, Diablo, Civilization ...

- M4H

 

[GL]

Originally posted by: Overkast
Well sticking to Caly's price for the G5 fromt the Apple site, here's what I priced out in comparison from newegg:

(Notice I did the 2.2GHz Athlon FX because the Apple is a Dual processor and Athlon FX won't do dual processors... so I gave it the extra 2MHz and cache for comparison purposes.)

-AMD Athlon 64 FX-51, 1MB L2 Cache @ 2.2GHz ($749.00)
-Asus K8T800 Chipset Motherboard for AMD Socket 940 CPU ($210.00)
-Kingston ValueRAM Dual Channel Kit 184 Pin 1G(512MBx2) DDR PC-3200 (Equivalent RAM that you get from Apple) - Retail ($151.00)
-Thermaltake Highest Xaser III V1000A Super Tower ($129.00)
-Optorite Black Internal DVD+/-RW Dual Retail Drive ($99.00)
-Samsung 160GB 7200RPM Hard Drive, Model SP1614N, 3-year warranty ($105.00)
-ORtek MCK-8000 black OfficeMdeia Elite Keyboard PS2 103keys ($12.49)
-Microsoft Optical Wheel Mouse BLACK PS2/USB -OEM ($18.00)
-Dlink Wireless USB Bluetooth Adapter ($41.00)
-ENERMAX Noisetaker Series EG475P-VE-SFMA. 470W Power supply ($90.00)
-ATI RADEON 9800PRO Video Card, 128MB DDR, 256-bit, DVI/TV-Out, 8X AGP -RETAIL ($295.00)
-Microsoft Windows XP Professional with Service Pack SP1a ($136.00)

Subtotal: $2,036.48
Shipping from newegg: $11.00 (to Connecticut)

Grand Total: $2,047.48

For ~$350 more she could get a dual 1.8 GHz G5 with a ton more software, room for Firewire 800 devices, PCI-X cards, 16 GB RAM (8 slots on the G5 vs 3 on that machine), etc. For about $250 less she could get a single 1.6 GHz G5 with a ton more software, room for Firewire 800 devices, and 8 GB RAM (4 slots on the G5 vs 3 on that machine).

 

[Markfw]

For ~$350 more she could get a dual 1.8 GHz G5 with a ton more software, room for Firewire 800 devices, PCI-X cards, 16 GB RAM (8 slots on the G5 vs 3 on that machine), etc. For about $250 less she could get a single 1.6 GHz G5 with a ton more software, room for Firewire 800 devices, and 8 GB RAM (4 slots on the G5 vs 3 on that machine).

And for about $1000 less she could get an Athlon64 3000+ system that would beat the dual G5 ! Give it up. In games the Apple doesn't compete. Have you seen the benchmarks ?