Dave checks out some vintage retro Power Mac G5 machines found in the dumpster.
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Check out what I scored in the dumpster. Three beautiful Apple Power Mac G5 S I Know they're absolutely ancient. they date from about 2003 or they're about so good. 12 years old and pretty much useless today.

But look at them. A beautiful aluminium cases is just an absolutely stunning design. Let's take a quick look at them now. All three look absolutely identical, but they're not, as we'll see on the back and inside as well.

They might look quite similar on the back, but if you have a look at some of the features, they're not. These two, for example, are basically almost identical machines. They've actually got there like a modem interface. You can actually see their regular IEC power connectors, just a couple of USBs.

They've got a firewire there and digital audio and stuff. and they've actually got if you have a look up here on the graphics card up here regular DVI connector. but then they've got this pain in the arse, a DVI and one connector which is combined like a USB and DVI and I actually don't have an adapter for that whereas this machine over here, it's got actually dual standard DVD interfaces so that dust everywhere and it doesn't. It differs in that it doesn't have the the old-school up modem interface down here.

It's got some more USB so it's a little bit more modern. Not sure what's going on here with this thing and these things are a one of these Kensington lock things or whatever you call them so allows you to touch a cable on there. That's also the release mechanism for the case as well. And look at this.

doesn't use a standard IEC connector. It's got one of these 15m our server Titan that are quite common on that server type gear and things like that. but I do have a power cord for that and a 15-amp outlet here in the lab. Now the beast with the big 15-amp outlet on it.

It's the A Double One, Double Seven model, and the other our identical models, but as you'll see inside, they're actually configured differently. They're the A-10 47. Now, in terms of performance, these were actually. well.

they claimed to be the world's fastest personal computer when they released in 2003. These Power Mac g5 s. They've got a PowerPC G5 processor in it, hence the name. Not now the new Intel processors like the modern machines and they're a huge case.

They weigh an absolute ton, but I just couldn't bear to throw them out. Even though their processing power is absolutely useless these days, a modern iPhone would have more processing power than these things I think so and I like pretty useless. but look at these gorgeous cases. Ah man.

so let's pop one open here and see if we can get the money shot this lever here. You just hold it up like that and this side panel just comes off falls away Beautiful. Ah, look at that. They've got instructions in there and I Love the seal around here too.

They've got a rubber seal right around here and it's just beautiful. Separate sealed sections for the airflow as we'll see inside here and these puppies are fully populated. This one's actually heavier than the other machine, so it's a dual G5 processor whereas the other one is only a single G5 processor. and we can have a look at the specs down here.
But look at this clear acrylic air flow guide. It's just beautiful. The designers absolutely went to town on. The thermal performance of this thing is absolutely stunning.

It's really dusty as inside, a bit horrible, but yeah it's just beautiful construction. You see like a separate section up here for the hard drives and the CD drive up here. as you can see completely separate sealed section up here. compared to the air flow down here with that air guide we saw before, this is the dual hard drive by interface.

Absolutely surprising that they only allow you dual hard rising this thing. It's a massive machine. It's just all about the thermal performance of the thing. and but it's not that.

I I'm not sure how quiet it was when it was brand-new but it's a bit noisy now so the fans could have seen better days. I Guess Got four PCI expansion slots down in there and this one's I Don't know anything about the graphics cards in Macs In fact, I don't know much about Apple Macs at all. Never really used one and that battery doesn't look like it's leaked, so that's a good thing considering that these things are, you know, 12 years old? Geez, it's You know, if you're going to use it, you'd be replacing that. Interesting to see that the no sort of bypass caps on on that huge um I assume sort of like system BGA chip down in there, probably bus handling the bus interface or something.

It's actually on the other side of the board, which is really rather interesting and it looks like all of the machines are fully populated with the eight memory slots as you can see down in there. Please excuse the exposure. it's hard to get when you're shooting aluminium like this and dark internals. It's a bit difficult.

Big thing. Of course, there's dual big processes in here. Look at these massive heatsink fins here. Each one's got its own fan and just beautiful shock mounted -.

oh no, that's a bit that's a bit wobbly, but they've got the rubber right mounts on there, that's for sure. and I Love how that fan assembly just pulls out. It's got to connect your interface go straight down on the board. that's that's some beautiful engineering right there.

Look at the depth of those fans. Jeez, they could move some hair. Let me tell you, they're real. Bobby Does TLAs Unbelievable.

No branding on the mouth. There's the memory slots down in there. Apple Computer Inc 2004 Thank you very much and we can have a look at those memory sticks, but we'll be able to see it on the nameplate here. Here you go.

This one is the Jewel 2 Giga Processor 1 DP that's what Jewel Processor 512 megs a ram huh? for 8 sticks? anyway? Um, 160 gig hard driver? don't know if that's the actual drive in there most likely. and IA G GS 200 Is that like the Org G 52 unders at the Grey Fix card? Yeah. And 56k modem? Yeah. And Pci-x expansion.
We've got a fair bit more than 512. Meg We've got 512 Meg per stick there. we've got eight of them. Do the math and I have no idea how to take this thing apart.

so I won't bother taking out the processor there. so I'm not. You know you'd have to get through to look at just that. It is a PowerPC G5 Um, yeah, not that exciting.

I'm not gonna bother. Sorry. Oh there it is. It's not a fan down in there at right angles is it? That's weird.

And here's the other machine. identical, won't model number, but as you can see only a single process at once again, still got the hard drive installed, one that there's any data still on it or if they wiped it and a full suite of memory. Once again, you can see that the extra process is missing and you can see the processor board tucked away under there. Now here's the big base: the 1177.

This one's once again a jewel 2 gig one with 512 Meg as it says 160 harddrive SD but it looks like it's got a bigger video card in the thing and physically, it's a bit different inside. There's just one big cover on here now, so that's interesting. That's a difference. The fan looks a slightly redesigned if we take a look down here.

much bigger heatsink on the graphics card, so they've obviously it's got a beefier graphics card and a big-ass heatsink down there. I'm not some sort of you know system ASIC something like that, so the other one didn't have that. so that is quite significantly different. And this puppy has 8 gigs of ram total Wow That would have been something back in the day.

You also notice this one has that standard PCI II PCI Express at times 16 slots whereas the other one was a Pci-x which is actually different. And if we have a look right down in here, look at this. This is just gorgeous. These giant metal studs coming over and screwed into the board like that.

You can probably maybe see some labeling on there as that plus five. they're hard to read on the LCD Yes, these are coming from the power supply. This is the power supply connectors. That is just an absolutely gorgeous design thing of Beauty Joy Forever.

Ah, my hat's off to how I ever designed that? none is cable rubbish, just have big metal studs coming out of the power supply screw straight into the board. Oh yeah baby! So my hat's off to the Apple hardware designers. They really knew what they were doing with this design. It's just brilliant.

the effort they put into for all the thermals and and stuff like that and just the clear cover to being able to see in there and the airflow guides and everything. just huge thumbs up. And if you're wondering where the power supply is in this thing, where's Wally? Well Wally is actually in this space under here. So yeah, I'm not going to take the whole thing apart just to show you a bloody power supply and even the latching mechanism for the case.
You see these latches here, his lever over here and that just moves those three latches back and forth and with the holes down there, that's just simple elegant. Love it and does it work. You bet your ass it works. ha ha.

Ripa Mac OSX of course that's what you got. It doesn't run the modern Os's so I blurred word whoever that is, um that was their power. Mac so it's still they didn't like actually wipe the hard drives this thing. boots.

um the two are smaller models. boots the big one does not seem to that flushes a few lights and then sort of shuts down. So I'm not sure what's going on and the big one but the two smaller ones certainly work. Rippa we know we're not chicken dinner now.

I Know these things are practically worthless and I'd probably have a hard time giving them away on eBay or Gumtree you know they might day if you're lucky am I get 50 bucks room because as computers themselves like usable computers running an old Mac OSX it's like Nair with less power than like a modern iPhone or something and nobody wants it so it's useless as I mean it's basically a huge power-hungry doorstop. That's pretty much what it is, but the case is just beautiful. I Love the aluminium construction and I'm sure you can do something really creative with these cases, so that's why I got them. That's why I'm probably going to keep them.

they gone straight to the bunker and maybe I can find a use for these cases. So if you've got any good ideas of what I cannot convert into these things, please let me know now. I'm probably not going to I Know you can get like retro kits to fit modern motherboards in and and stuff like that? I'm not sure I want to do that? Maybe something more creative but ya couldn't throw them out. Just beautiful.

Catch you next time you.

Avatar photo

By YTB

20 thoughts on “Eevblog #783 – dumpster dive power macs”
  1. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars chris simmons says:

    7 years later and these things stil kick butt . especially the pcie ones ๐Ÿ™‚

  2. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars Martin Carlin says:

    Love how a pc guy does a video on power pc Macโ€™s and he knows nothing about them lol

  3. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars CoolMusicToMyEars says:

    Make a coffee table wood over two of them either side simple tek furniture

  4. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars JustARandomHorse 666 says:

    I noticed that the ones with one CPU doesn't even have the second socket on the board so you can't even just throw a second CPU into it without soldering one in.

  5. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars Hugh's garbage trucks says:

    17 years old

  6. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars Girls Of Rock says:

    They are still used in analog studios to this day.

  7. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars Hola! Jenz Brettschneider says:

    I hate the apple politic but Looks very fine Designd, if Somebody like to use them. Tiere is e Linux vor this Maschine

  8. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars BOBXFILES2374a says:

    DUMPSTER? I almost paid $50 for one at a local thrift store, only somebody got it before me!! Love the case! The Rock could use those for his early-morning light exercises! good find!

  9. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars Davide Madera says:

    "Mad cheap, huh?!" ๐Ÿ—จ๐Ÿคฉโ™จ๏ธ๐ŸŽญโ›Ÿ

  10. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars Chris Yarrick says:

    Make two into a desk

  11. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars Svistofication says:

    ะ”ะต ั‚ะฐะบะฐ ะผัƒัะพั€ะบะฐ, ะฝัƒ ั€ะตะฐะปัŒะฝะพ? ะงะพะณะพ ะฝะฐ ะฒั–ะฝะฝะธั†ัŒะบะธั… ะฝะฐะดะบัƒัะฐะฝั– ัะฑะปัƒะบะฐ ะฒะธะณะปัะดะฐัŽั‚ัŒ ะทะพะฒัั– ะฟะพ-ั–ะฝัˆะพะผัƒ?..

  12. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars MoosesValley says:

    That sure is beautiful design, love the aluminium cases and heat flow sheild.

  13. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars mglmouser says:

    You were in dfor a treat had yopu unclipped the CPUs. They are liquid-cooled and absolute beauties.

  14. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars PhillipZX3 says:

    And to think these days Apple uses off-the-shelf PC hardware AND STILL charges 4 times what they're worth. ๐Ÿ™‚

    I have an old Amiga 3000/040. I can run 3 operating systems on it at the same time; Amiga OS, MS-DOS 5 (via the 386 Bridge-board) and the Mac's System 7 (under Christian Bauer's "Shapeshifter"). Far superior computer to the Mac.

  15. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars Rusty Gold says:

    I got one for $300 but left it idle for ages . But then I couldnt liven it up . There was a work around for a battery but that didnt help

  16. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars scottishmale1970 says:

    so what ever did you end up doing with these

  17. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars NLgamer2000 says:

    Any chance you could send me just the case?

  18. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars jim Zorman says:

    I would love to get one. any chance?

  19. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars Chris Buhneing says:

    Garbage but would be fun to shoot…

  20. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars jim Zorman says:

    I have wanted a G5 system. Just cannot afford one

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