By AppleInsider Staff

Published: 01:05 PM EST

Apple on Wednesday unveiled its new Power Mac G5 desktop line featuring the Power Mac G5 Quad, providing quad-core processing with two 2.5 GHz dual-core PowerPC G5 processors.

All Power Mac G5 models now feature dual-core processors, a new PCI Express architecture and higher performance graphics options including NVIDIA's Quadro FX 4500, bringing the industry standard for workstation graphics to the Mac.

"The Power Mac G5 Quad delivers the workstation performance our creative and scientific customers demand," said Philip Schiller, Apple's senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing. "With quad-core processing, a new PCI Express architecture, and the fastest workstation card from NVIDIA, the new Power Mac G5 Quad is the most powerful system we've ever made."

With two 2.5 GHz dual-core processors, each with 1MB of L2 cache, the Power Mac G5 Quad delivers breakthrough performance on applications used extensively by creative professionals and scientists. For example:

• Final Cut Pro 5 encodes SD video content up to 60 percent faster on the new Power Mac G5 Quad when compared with the Dual Processor 2.7 GHz Power Mac G5;


• Adobe Photoshop runs a series of 45 commonly used filters and actions 43 percent faster on the new Power Mac G5 Quad when compared with the Dual Processor 2.7 GHz Power Mac G5;


• Adobe After Effects renders video effects up to 69 percent faster on the new Power Mac G5 Quad when compared with the Dual Processor 2.7 GHz Power Mac G5;


• LightWave 3D renders animation up to 59 percent faster on the Power Mac G5 Quad when compared with the Dual Processor 2.7 GHz Power Mac G5; and


• The scientific benchmark Bioinformatics Benchmark System (BBS version 3) completes a comparison of genomic sequences up to 39 percent faster on the Power Mac G5 Quad when compared with the Dual Processor 2.7 GHz Power Mac G5.

The Power Mac G5 line offers expansion with industry standard PCI Express architecture, providing four expansion slots to support high-performance video and audio devices and multiple standard graphics cards to drive an array of up to eight displays.

The Power Mac G5 delivers up to 16GB of 533 MHz DDR2 SDRAM and now features two Gigabit Ethernet ports -- ideal for customers working in an Xsan environment.

Providing industry-leading connectivity and high-performance I/O, every Power Mac G5 also includes one FireWire 800 port, two FireWire 400 ports, four USB 2.0 ports, two USB 1.1 ports, optical and digital audio input and output, and built-in support for AirPort Extreme and Bluetooth 2.0+EDR. The new Power Mac G5 line also includes Apple's next generation mouse, Mighty Mouse, featuring up to four programmable buttons and an ingenious Scroll Ball that lets users scroll in any direction -- vertically, horizontally and even diagonally.

The new Power Mac G5 comes standard with either the NVIDIA GeForce 6600 LE with 128MB of video memory or the NVIDIA GeForce 6660 with 256MB of video memory, both provide support for dual-displays and Apple's breakthrough 30-inch Cinema HD Display, now priced at $2,499. The NVIDIA GeForce 7800 GT with 256MB of video memory and the NVIDIA Quadro FX 4500 with 512MB of video memory are both available as build-to-order options. The Quadro FX 4500 is ideal for demanding animation, special effects and scientific visualization applications such as Alias' Maya and DeLano Research's PyMol. The Quadro FX 4500 can drive up to two 30-inch Apple Cinema HD Displays and includes a stereo 3D port to connect goggles for stereo-in-a-window applications.

Pricing & Availability

The 2.0 GHz and 2.3 GHz Power Mac G5 Dual are available now and the 2.5 GHz Power Mac G5 Quad will be available in early November through the Apple Store, Apple's retail stores and Apple Authorized Resellers.

The Power Mac G5 Dual, with a suggested retail price of $1,999 (US), includes:

• dual-core 2.0GHz PowerPC G5 processor;


• 512MB of 533 MHz DDR2 SDRAM expandable up to 16GB;


• 160GB Serial ATA hard drive running at 7200 rpm;


• NVIDIA GeForce 6600 LE with 128MB of GDDR SDRAM
  
• three open PCI Express expansion slots: two 4-lane slots and one 8-lane slot;


• dual Gigabit Ethernet ports;


• 16x SuperDrive(TM) with double-layer support (DVD+R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW); and


• ships with Mighty Mouse and Apple Keyboard.

The Power Mac G5 Dual, with a suggested retail price of $2,499 (US), includes:

• dual-core 2.3 GHz PowerPC G5 processor;


• 512MB of 533 MHz DDR2 SDRAM expandable up to 16GB;


• 250GB Serial ATA hard drive running at 7200 rpm;


• NVIDIA GeForce 6600 with 256MB of GDDR SDRAM
  
• three open PCI Express expansion slots: two 4-lane slots and one 8-lane slot;


• dual Gigabit Ethernet ports;


• 16x SuperDrive with double-layer support (DVD+R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW); and


• ships with Mighty Mouse and Apple Keyboard.

The Power Mac G5 Quad, with a suggested retail price of $3,299 (US), includes:

• two dual-core 2.5GHz PowerPC G5 processors;


• 512MB of 533 MHz DDR2 SDRAM expandable up to 16GB;


• 250GB Serial ATA hard drive running at 7200 rpm;


• NVIDIA GeForce 6600 with 256MB of GDDR SDRAM
  
• three open PCI Express expansion slots: two 4-lane slots and one 8-lane slot;


• dual Gigabit Ethernet ports;


• 16x SuperDrive with double-layer support (DVD+R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW); and


• ships with Mighty Mouse and Apple Keyboard.

Build-to-order options include up to 16GB of NECC or ECC DDR2 SDRAM, up to two 500 GB Serial ATA hard drives running at 7200 rpm, NVIDIA GeForce 7800 GT with 256MB of GDDR3 SDRAM, NVIDIA Quadro FX 4500 graphics card with 512MB of GDDR3 SDRAM, AirPort Extreme and Bluetooth module, Apple Wireless Keyboard and Apple Wireless Mouse, Xserve RAID and Apple Fibre Channel PCI Express Card.