[rollee]

I like an advice on upgrading my old G4 400 (system bus 100) to a faster processor, instead of buying a new mac (G5 or G4 1.25).
I already have a faster 32mb video card, 2 decent HD and close to 1 GB of ram on it.

I am thinking to spend around $500, will i get more performance benefit if:
1. install a under 1 gz processor card (which is cheaper) and a faster 8mb cache HD
OR
2. a single or dual fast processor (over 1 gz) only.

I will be running OSX jaguar (quartz extreme) and eventually panther on it, and my most intensive work will be photoshop (not final cut pro or any video stuff).

[ November 04, 2003, 07:21 PM: Message edited by: rollee ]

 

[Gerbill]

A processor upgrade is what you need. To avoid the well-known cross border pain, I bought my 800 MHz upgrade from The Mac Liquidators:

http://www.themacliquidators.com/

Speedy service, no complaints, works fine with Panther.

They also have faster units.

Cheers :-> Bill

 

[JAMG]

I'd be very interested in the results... My G4 400 AGP has just had a significant speed boost by installing Panther...

448 MG Ram runs fine so far but I am waiting for the Adobe CS suite before deciding to add anything else...

 

[Macaholic]

I'm interested, too. I already have 2GB of RAM, an ATI Radeon 9000 and upgraded internal drives. Although i would love a G5, it's dual or nuttin' when I do. AND, I'd need at least what I have added to my G4 in the G5 (four GB RAM would be prefereable) At any rate, it's a year away. SO... an interim processor boost might just be the ticket.

 

[Gerbill]

XBench scores (G4 Sawtooth) :

With standard 450 MHz processor and stock video card:55.02

With 800 MHz processor and Radeon 8500 card: 81.50

Same hardware, with Panther: 90.67

In these tests, QuickSilver G4 with dual 800 MHz and Jaguar = 100

Cheers :-> Bill

 

[Macaholic]

What DON'T you know, Gerbil?!

What is your source for that info.

 

[Macaholic]

From here, I guess.

 

[TroutMaskReplica]

i see the performance increase, but is it worth it compared to buying a 'new' used machine that would score the same benchmarks?

i have a g4 400 sawtooth with 832RAM, and am contemplating some upgrades. i might stop with Panther and a faster video card.

 

[Gerbill]

What DON'T you know, Gerbil?!

What is your source for that info.

XBench is a program that I ran on my Mac with the various hardware configs. It runs dozens of tests on the processor, memory, hard drive, video, etc. and comes up with an overall score. This seems to be a reasonably fair measure of the Mac's performance. The author of the program maintains a Web site (I see you found it) so you can report your results and compare with other Macs. A careful reading gives a pretty good idea of the effectiveness of various upgrades and the differences in performance between various models.

Cheers :-> Bill

 

[_Outcast_]

I was in the same boat about a month ago. I had a 400 MHz Sawtooth machine with 1GB of RAM and 100GB of hard drive. I was leaning toward a processor upgrade but the only one I could surce locally was an 800 MHz G4 by Giga Designs. This would have been a great upgrade but not for $699.00 before tax. Had I been able to find a G4 upgrade in the $400 - $500 range I likely would have gone that route. The trouble is that processor upgrades seem to be prohibitively expensive in this country. Sigh. I figured if I was going to spend that kind of cash I might as well pony up a few hundred more and get a new-er machine.

That's what I did. I traded my 400 MHz box for a dual 1 GHz Quicksilver from MacDoc. David moved all my drives and everything over to the new box and within 30 minutes I was out the door with my new machine.

And the difference is light night and day. The performance boost was incredible. I'm very pleased with the machine and the service I received from MacDoc.

Sure, it cost me more that a processor upgrade would have cost but I figure this machine will suit my needs for at least two years. By then G5 machine should be well into my price range. Sure, it would have been nice to have a G5 right now and I could certainly use the speed but I wsn't able to justify shelling out the additional $2K. All in all I think I did OK for the money spent.

 

[TroutMaskReplica]

i see that macdoc has this deal on his site:

G4 800 2 meg cache upgrade for agp Macs $399
Bundle with 32 meg dual Head GeForce 4Mx $539 installed

i might consider this one.

 

[Gerbill]

The processor upgrade price looks good, but be careful on the video card - there are some concerns about Panther compatibility with the GeForce cards.

Cheers :-> Bill

 

[TroutMaskReplica]

thanks, bill. i'll look into it.
from what i've read so far, the cards will work if you make a copy of the jaguar drivers for that card, then copy them back in after a panther install. quartz extreme won't work though.

 

[rollee]

guys you are great, i didn't know that the GeForce cards have issues with panther, and QE will not work, there is no way out? any solutions?
I came across some really nice mercury extreme cards 1 Gz at other world computing (plug & play) for about CAD $500, that's why i am tempted to go for the upgrade. me too wants the G5 dual bad but will rather wait till the pricing is a bit more reachable.
looks like i need to change to an ATI card to run panther, in the end of the day, i might just get a new G4 (with new drive/architecture/new burner) etc. but that defeats the purpose of spending about $500 does it?

 

[monokitty]

Avoid nVidia cards - they absolutely blow compare to ATI's line anyway, and have outdated drivers + issues with Mac OS X and Mac OS 9 - and don't offer the performance of any RADEON graphics card.