Lkr Posted January 10, 2010 Share Posted January 10, 2010 I just got an old iMac G5 with a 1.8GHz G5 processor and 512mb ram. It is the FX 5200 ultra with no iSight model. My friend that gave it to me said it originally came with Panther, but he gave me a Tiger disc he bought for his old G4 Power Mac that no longer works. I am interested in upgrading it to Leopard, but the 512mb ram is a drawback even in Tiger. If I expand to 2gb(max capacity) will Leopard run fine on this older machine? I know that SL won't support 10.6, which disappoints me. Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/206709-imac-g5-upgrades-for-leopard/ Share on other sites More sharing options...
madd!n Posted January 12, 2010 Share Posted January 12, 2010 It will. Probably not as smooth as the intel imacs, but it will work so that you can use it. Leopard as an OS uses 512mb Ram, and Tiger needs 256 at least (afaik), so there are just 256mb left for other applications which is quite few... With 2Gb Ram and 512mb for the OS there are still 1.5Gb left for operating, so it will run much smoother than it does at the moment. And you can use cool stuff like Quicklook and Time Machine SnowLeopard will support 10.6 but your machine wont because of its PPC processor Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/206709-imac-g5-upgrades-for-leopard/#findComment-1383547 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lkr Posted January 14, 2010 Author Share Posted January 14, 2010 I have it at 1.5 gigs right now in Tiger. Will probably install Leopard tonight or tomorrow. I hate how Apple doesn't sell Leopard anymore. Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/206709-imac-g5-upgrades-for-leopard/#findComment-1385350 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ryu-ka Posted January 15, 2010 Share Posted January 15, 2010 I'm not sure if you'd want to try this, but is it possible to replace the PPC processor with a newer Intel Core 2 Duo? Or would that ruin the whole computer? Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/206709-imac-g5-upgrades-for-leopard/#findComment-1385590 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lkr Posted January 15, 2010 Author Share Posted January 15, 2010 I'd have to replace pretty much everything including the logic board, so it wouldn't be worth the money. Leopard manages RAM better than Tiger, but CPU usage is much higher. Boot times are also slower Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/206709-imac-g5-upgrades-for-leopard/#findComment-1385629 Share on other sites More sharing options...
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