Cory5412 said:

Neat find. In terms of values, I think the other problem that Power Macintosh G5s suffer is most normal people have no good way to mark them as being "old" -- Apple sold systems that look nearly identical from 2003 all the way out through late 2013, and you could still easily find them for sale at retail in 2014, and I think a lot of people are used to the PC world where a Dell you bought in 2013 is likely reasonably capable of running the most recent software, even if not at the speed of the most recent hardware.

The other good news is that the dual-core Power Macintosh G5s were typically very physically reliable.

Just to clarify: I have a ThinkPad from 2003 in daily use. I'm not worried about old hardware. I might even pick up a G5 of my own one day, because I have a lot of apps from that timeframe that I used when the systems were new.

What I worry about is old software that doesn't get security patches, and isn't being monitored.

Thinking specifically about old hardware: I definitely want to pick up a Precision 490 or 690 with the Xeon 5080 processor(s) at some point. That system is basically the PC version of the dual- and quad-core PCI Express Power Macintosh G5s, and it'd be neat to see it in action.

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Hahahaha whilst I know we have butted heads on the topic of old vs new in a thread many months back, my comment definitely wasnt a pointed stab and I will concede that it is a valid concern to raise security-wise, the matter of old, unpatched abadonware. More a general observation as on al internet communities recently there always seems to be that one person who believes that somebody's gear (car, computer, bicycle, atomic bomb, etc...) is not worthy of mention and feels the need to voice an opinion. Just covering bases. I know for one you respect the hardware as well Corey... let's face it, if you didnt we wouldnt have a section for New Worlds! So yes no disrespect intended.

But  yes, I was also fascnated by the multi-processor Xeon systems back in the day and actually longed to build one but the price would have been prohibitive for something that would merely have been just for gags and novety. Might actually be a good time for me to try tracking one down myself a well now that such systems are well into the annuls of obsolescence. That is assuming in this day and age of tech-recycling contracts, I can find some gear. It's amazing how much has changed... there was once a point in time when multiprocessor 64-bit systems seemedlike witchcraft, and it wasnt long ago at all in reality.

Back on the subject of all things G5 however, it does please me to hear that the dual-cores arent overly failsome... I am hoping that I am less likely to suffer the same kind of processor socket issues as the dualprocessor systems, althoough i understand this is as much a product of the leadless solder flux itself of the era as it is the design of the machine. That said, replacement systems are still not prohibitively expensive anymore, should worst come to worst.

Also, relating back to previous statements made about the outlying high pricetags on quad systems, I actually did just discover one for sale for $100 but missing some pieces such as drives, case side, plastic inner cover and the heatsink cover.... tossing up whether or not i can justify taking the gamble, as it is some distance away... indeed in another state, and being in pieces there is no guarantee it will even work. It is potentially a very worthwhile excercise but also has the potential to be a complete waste of coin, given even the case is rather secondhand looking.