Purchased first Mac at 26

twehttam

Hello everyone...



After getting more and more upset with the inconsistency of my PC along with the browser (IE or Firefox) crashing daily, I purchased a used PowerMac and have decided to "switch" and give Apple a shot.



I picked up a PowerMac G4 533mhz with 256mb RAM, 60GB and the stock 16MB ATI video. It also is running OS9.



I plan to familiarize myself with the machine on OS9 for now and then upgrade to 'Tiger' once it is released. Will my new-to-me system handle the OS upgrade? I imagine I'll need more RAM...



Also, since I'm new to Macs, what would my G4 533mhz translate to (roughly) in PC (Pentium/AMD) land?



Any other advice you can give a new Apple user is apprecaited! Thanks.

placebo

533 G4 is roughly equivalent to a 800MHz P3, I think. As for Tiger, well, your video card isn't going to cut it, and I don't know how much you can upgrade that aspect.

amorph

What Placebo means by "isn't going to cut it" is that the interface work will be done entirely by the CPU. OS X offloads as much work as it can to the GPU.



Tiger (the next release of OS X) itself will run fine on your machine, minus a certain amount of eye candy. But functionally it'll be there.



You might want to look on eBay for at least a 32MB video card, though. At least a RADEON or GeForce2MX. Those are the lowest-end cards that OS X uses for some of its drawing work. I run OS X on a 450MHz G4 with a 32MB RADEON card, and I have no complaints.

tacojohn

You should be able to upgrade to at-least the ATI 9200 if not the 9800...

twehttam

Thanks, guys. My G4 should arrive on Thursday. One question, though...I'm not sure if it's a G4 'Yikes' or a G4 'Sawtooth'. I'd assume, since it's a 533 that it's a 'Sawtooth' with AGP, but you never know.



If it's a 'Yikes' PCI, what video card would you recommend - and - if it's a 'Sawtooth' AGP, what video card would you recommend. Basically, what is the best that the mobo will accept? Might as well max out what I've got since it's a bit old.



Thanks!

tacojohn

Quote:

Originally posted by Twehttam

Thanks, guys. My G4 should arrive on Thursday. One question, though...I'm not sure if it's a G4 'Yikes' or a G4 'Sawtooth'. I'd assume, since it's a 533 that it's a 'Sawtooth' with AGP, but you never know.



If it's a 'Yikes' PCI, what video card would you recommend - and - if it's a 'Sawtooth' AGP, what video card would you recommend. Basically, what is the best that the mobo will accept? Might as well max out what I've got since it's a bit old.



Thanks!

I think if its a Sawtooth you should be able to go all the way to the 9800, if it's a Yikes 9200.

guartho

Quote:

Originally posted by Twehttam

Thanks, guys. My G4 should arrive on Thursday. One question, though...I'm not sure if it's a G4 'Yikes' or a G4 'Sawtooth'. I'd assume, since it's a 533 that it's a 'Sawtooth' with AGP, but you never know.



If it's a 'Yikes' PCI, what video card would you recommend - and - if it's a 'Sawtooth' AGP, what video card would you recommend. Basically, what is the best that the mobo will accept? Might as well max out what I've got since it's a bit old.



Thanks!

According to what I can gather at apple-history the Digital Audio PowerMac G4 was the first to come from Apple with a 533Mhz processor. But it had a 32 meg GeForce 2 MX. Yours could have been upgraded to a 533 I suppose. At any rate, the real reason I posted is to plug my video card auction It's a 32 Meg GeForce 4 MX from my Quicksilver. The 2002 Quicksilves came with 64 meg GeForce 4 MX's except for the education model which I got. Hey! Maybe that's why your video card is 16 instead of 32! Anyway, if you want a little more oomph for little $ I thought you might be interested. If it turns out to be AGP that is.

twehttam

Looks to me like it's a 'Clockwork' (http://www.apple-history.com/frames/...ery&model=g4da). Possibly an education-model? Here are its specs. Can anyone confirm?



(1) AGP SLOT with a 16Mb Video Card RAGE 128 PRO

(4) Open PCI slots

(2) Open memory slots

(1) 256b Micron SDRAM PC133 DIMM

(1) Open Hard Disk Drive Bay for another HDD

533Mhz Processor and 60Gb HDD

differentlee

I also got tired of Windows shenanigans...but I gotcha beat. I just bought my first Mac at age 40.

twehttam

Would a Radeon 7500 32mb ADC card work/be a good match for my G4 (digital audio) PowerMac?

progmac

It will be interesting for you to go from learning OS 9 and then have to learn OS X. Going from Windows to OS X isn't too much work, but Windows and OS 9 are worlds apart in UI design. And then OS 9 and OS X don't have too much in common. However, I admire that you will be using OS 9 for a while...it will really give you a feel for the history of the platform, and after you get used to it, you'll probably be upset that OS X is missing some of the features you have grown to love.



OS 9 must run like a dream on that computer. Don't be too dissapointed when it crashes, since it isn't much more stable than windows. OS X is, of course, extremely stable. My dad's OS X had a "crash" (kernel panic) for the first time in two years and he freaked out and thought it was a virus.

dbamber

I waited till 55 so that I could be mature enough to responsibly use my G5. Enjoying my Mac experience to the max. I can't really comment on OS9, but I definately am impressed withOSX. Enjoy your Mac.

twehttam

Quote:

Originally posted by progmac

It will be interesting for you to go from learning OS 9 and then have to learn OS X....

The Mac comes with OS9, but I purchased a new copy of 10.2 that I'll install shortly. I'm going to play around with 9 for a bit and then upgrade. I plan on skipping Panther and move directly to Tiger once released.