Processor Upgrades

squidthing

I have a 450mhz G4 running Mac OS 10.2, and although it is running it very well and most of it's applications, there are some issues with processor load, mainly in Cubase SX and iMovie 3.



We're not ready to replace this computer yet, but at some point I will buy a QE compatible graphics card and also do a clean install of the OS. How much difference will these things make to the speed the machine runs?



Also, in the near future I would consider some sort of processor upgrade.. Does anyone know about these? Could I upgrade to another Mac G4 processor or would It have to be third party, by someone such as Sonnet. How easy are these to install, are they worth the money and are there any incompatibility issues?



Any advice would be appreciated.



Andrew

overhope

The OS reload probably won't help you greatly, but QE does goes a great way to alleviating the load on the processor: you don't even need the latest and greatest for the kind of work you're doing.



As for upgrades, mileage varies, but on the whole they do seem to work (/me strokes 1.2GHz G4 Cube). The best resource for upgrade information has to xlr8yourmac, plenty of real world reports in Mike's database.



A quick tip: all upgrades are horribly overpriced in the UK, so it's actually cheaper to buy them online in the US and get them shipped: I saved £250. It can be hassle, but it's worth it.

kwondo

Hey, Overhope!



I have The Cube as well and I'm eyeing on the upgrade but hearing too many probs of DC or Mobo. frying makes me cringe. How long have you had yours on steroids?

bobw

I have a G4/450/AGP. Put the Powerlogic 1GHz processor in it and it's like a new machine. Also put an ATI Radeon 8500 card in it and got some more improvement.

overhope

kwondo, the 1.2GHz has been in there for a good two months now, it's rock-solid and suffers from no heat problems (the fan is absolutely essential, but virtually silent and I'd had one installed for a while anyway). The speed is just phenomenal: CGI renders, MP3 rips and movie transcoding take no time at all.



As far as I know, most of the DC-DC board problems have been due to people being a bit too ambitious (Dual 1GHz cards suck some juice...), but I haven't heard much of MoBo failures.



The only caveat I would give is that OS X won't wake from sleep with a lot of Powerlogix cards. It's not a hardware fault (OS 9 sleeps and wakes just fine), but the simple fact that my Cube boots in about 20 seconds sort of sidesteps the issue.

kwondo

Well, that sounds better than the other people's experiences on the xlr8...now only if I could miraculously drop a 970 upgrade.

squidthing

Thanks, are Powerlogix generally more well-know than Sonnet then? at first glance their products pages seem to make more sense.



And what exactly is 970? I know as much as that it's the chip that will probably power the G5 and that there's a lot of debate as to where it will come from and when it will be available, but what does 970 mean, at first I thought it was 970mhz, but that doesn't seem much different from whats available now.



Andrew

bobw

Powerlogix and Sonnet are equaly known, both been around for a log time. I choose the Powerlogix because it has it's own power supply and fan on the processor.

overhope

SquidThing, the 970 is a whole new kind of processor: have a look in Future Hardware for lots of details about it. the 970 is purely IBM's name for it, which bears no relation to clockspeeds.

squidthing

Thanks, I can install a PCI card, so should I be okay with these types of installation?



Andrew