How has Leopard's performance been for Quad G5 users?

KED · Post by **KED** » Sun Jan 27, 2008 9:02 am

I'm on the verge or upgrading, but I wonder in terms of real world experience how Leopard has been for the Quad G5 users who upgraded (and
are using apps like Digital Performer, Logic & VIs).

Is it better, worst or basically the same as Tiger? What do you like or dislike about it?

HCMarkus · Post by **HCMarkus** » Sun Jan 27, 2008 12:15 pm

I've been running Leopard on my G5 Quad for a few weeks now, but NOT for DP. With my folks new to the Mac world, I needed to be running Leopard to tutor them. The "Connect to Server" option under Finder's Go Menu is a godsend for remote assistance to newbies! I can watch the folks as they navigate, and offer tips and guidance accordingly.

I've been testing all my non-music apps with a Leopard partition and finding few problems, but Address Book is not backward compatible to Tiger. I just upgraded an older iBook (933mhz) and am finding somewhat slower system response compared to Tiger. I had to migrate the iBook so Address Book updates would work.

On my Quad. I got my 828 mkII running with the new drivers, and got my eSATA array online with new drivers as well, but am pretty happy with DP5.12 on Tiger; I may just wait for DP6 to endure the challenges of moving audio to Leopard... then again, I seem to recall Magic Dave was demoing DP6 with Tiger at NAMM. I also recall seeing someone here at UN recently reporting fewer VI instances possible under Leopard, but my memory tells me this was with Logic.

Anyone else on PPC using Leo and DP? I, too, am curious as to performance comparisons.

chucks · Post by **chucks** » Sun Jan 27, 2008 2:16 pm

KED wrote:I'm on the verge or upgrading, but I wonder in terms of real world experience how Leopard has been for the Quad G5 users who upgraded (and
are using apps like Digital Performer, Logic & VIs).

Is it better, worst or basically the same as Tiger? What do you like or dislike about it?

I just logged on to ask this very question, except Dual G5. From the looks of things, 10.5.2 (~400meg of fixes) will get all the kinks worked out. I'll probably be in when they release the update. Just wondering how G5s have been been holding up.

(Info on 10.5.2 - http://macscoop.com/articles/2008/01/20 ... list-fixes)

HCMarkus · Post by **HCMarkus** » Mon Jan 28, 2008 7:35 pm

From Barefeats, this is interesting:

http://barefeats.com/leopard.html

Although it doesn't speak to the processor used to run Leopard, it compares a few apps in both versions of Mac OS.

Barefeats also has some great comparisons between the new towers reaching back to our now "archaic" Quad G5.

KED · Post by **KED** » Mon Jan 28, 2008 11:21 pm

Guys, thanks for your responses. HCMarkus, the article mentions the "mule" used was an 8 core Mac Pro.... Hmm.... I'm thinking it's best to stick with Tiger for now. I just wonder did we Quad G5 owners (in a sense) get the "short end of the stick" with our machines. Don't get me wrong, for me it's an awesome machine that does what I need it to, but I wonder if I'll ever be able to fully utilize it's capabilities.

Other experiences????

HCMarkus · Post by **HCMarkus** » Tue Jan 29, 2008 4:11 pm

I just wonder did we Quad G5 owners (in a sense) get the "short end of the stick" with our machines. Don't get me wrong, for me it's an awesome machine that does what I need it to, but I wonder if I'll ever be able to fully utilize it's capabilities.

Maybe, but then again, we didn't have to personally suffer through the bloodletting of the PPC to Intel transition.

KED · Post by **KED** » Wed Feb 06, 2008 10:39 pm

Hey Guys,

waxman posted this same type of question on the DP side (he has a DC 2.3) and he upgraded. According to him, things are running well. I may leap then.....

HCMarkus · Post by **HCMarkus** » Thu Feb 07, 2008 1:44 am

KED wrote:Hey Guys,

waxman posted this same type of question on the DP side (he has a DC 2.3) and he upgraded. According to him, things are running well. I may leap then.....

Please be sure to report back in! I'm enjoying Leo for everything but DP at the present, and your experience will be important as I consider my next move. Thanks.

HCMarkus · Post by **HCMarkus** » Fri Feb 08, 2008 11:01 pm

Just learned BFD 1.5 is a no-go with Leopard. FXpansion says they're working on a fix. I need my BFD!

kinnylandrum · Post by **kinnylandrum** » Mon Feb 11, 2008 9:18 am

I have Leopard on my second drive, and I must admit Time Machine is really not very fast. I have three hard drives that I wanted to back up, the total of which are not more than 500 gigs. It took three DAYS of almost non stop churning to back up those three hard drives (adding one at a time to the list of drives to be backed up) to one 500 gig HD. That has now been accomplished (with over 150 gigs to spare). But it took DAYS of massaging things like formatting and name of the backup drive to get it to work without error. And even now, it will take a half hour or more (with a serious hit to the CPU) to do an incremental backup of 9 gigs or so. Ridiculous. And you can't do any real work besides maybe surfing the web or replying to email while the back up is churning.

I don't use Leopard for any music work, and I've decided I won't even try until 10.5.2 comes out (which I understand is this month). Anyway, Leopard for me is no great shakes, and Time Machine is a joke. But maybe I'll change my mind later...

By the way this is on a Quad G5 with 8 1/2 gigs of RAM.

HCMarkus · Post by **HCMarkus** » Mon Feb 11, 2008 7:44 pm

Leopard 5.2 is here today... I'm updating my non-DP partition as soon as I log out of UNation.

Timeline · Post by **Timeline** » Wed Feb 13, 2008 7:31 am

I'll be joining you all soon. Ordering a 3ghz Mac Pro desktop 8 core today. Specs include raid card and two 15k spin drives. Goodbye ATTO and scsi. I'll miss you.

Guess I better also get the UAD1 upgrade. The software I will really miss is Hypersonic. Oh Well wizeroo...

Need to know where to get the fast reliable ram in 4ghz sticks.

HCMarkus · Post by **HCMarkus** » Mon Mar 10, 2008 11:44 pm

Bumping as we go... has anyone compared DP performance in 10.4 and 10.5?

chucks · Post by **chucks** » Tue Mar 11, 2008 3:07 am

Still looking for a good reason to violate the "if it ain't broke" golden rule and move to Leopard on the G5. Tech lust has been rearing it's ugly head. Any clear advantage to upgrading? Better performance? Some killer features? The buzz seems to have dropped off pretty quickly.

MOTUnation.com

How has Leopard's performance been for Quad G5 users?

How has Leopard's performance been for Quad G5 users?

Re: How has Leopard's performance been for Quad G5 users?