G3 performance question

decemberdecember
Posted:
in Current Mac Hardware edited January 2014
Hi all,



I am considering buying Splinemodel's old G3 B&W 350MHz; mainly because it costs next to nothing (shipping aside).

I know that it's old, but I have read that it runs Tiger well. That's all I want for it to do.



It currently has 640MB of RAM, which is already more than current Minis ship with ; but bringing it to 1GB wouldn't be a problem. Also, I might overclock it to 400MHz if it cooperates.



Main purpose: internet, email, iTunes; the most demanding task it would be subjected to is video playback.



So my question to those of you who have a comparable Mac: How would a G3 at 350-400MHz with 1GB RAM handle Tiger? Is it any snappy; well, at least does it not lag too much to be any fun? I'm talking about the UI mostly. Also, how does it handle video? I suppose that DVD playback shouldn't pose a problem, but how about MPEG-4 in DVD resolution? And finally, how about H.264 or Flash? I have already read that those are pushing the limits, but how bad is it exactly?



I would greatly appreciate your reports.



Thanks!





PS: Since there is no forum called 'Not-So-Current Hardware', I put this here.

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 7
    archstudentarchstudent Posts: 262member
    If you really want to run Tiger I would recommend you fork out just a few extra bucks and get an old g4 off ebay. Why? g4 has altivec acceleration, g3 does not.
  • Reply 2 of 7
    ebbyebby Posts: 3,110member
    I have a 333Mhz desktop and a 400Mhz laptop. The laptop works fine, but the desktop is noticeably sluggish. I wouldn't use anything less than a 400Mhz G3. I also upgraded to 720MB RAM in my laptop and noticed a big improvement. RAM really helps on older machines.



    My desktop machine can't play fullscreen DVD video because the hardware-based decoder is not supported in OS X and the processor simply is not fast enough. 50% works better but still drops frames now & then. However, DVD's runs fine on my laptop. Also MPEG4 works but may drop a few frames on fast-motion scenes. H.264... I don't think so. Flash also drops frames, especially while simultaneously downloading.
  • Reply 3 of 7
    rminklerrminkler Posts: 50member
    Leopard is just around the corner, and will probably drop g3 support. I'd go for an old G4 if I were you.
  • Reply 4 of 7
    decemberdecember Posts: 62member
    Thanks for your replies, particularly Ebby.



    I have decided against it. I would have wanted it to be a general-purpose computer; but if it has problems with even DVD playback, I guess it isn't quite that anymore. Farewell, G3.
  • Reply 5 of 7
    MarvinMarvin Posts: 15,322moderator
    Yes, I have experienced video playback issues on a 350MHz G3. H264 is just way too processor intensive for older machines. A G4 Mini with 1GB Ram should be cheap enough on ebay now - I just saw a 1.42GHz there for near £200.
  • Reply 6 of 7
    sherman homansherman homan Posts: 167member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by december View Post


    Thanks for your replies, particularly Ebby.



    I have decided against it. I would have wanted it to be a general-purpose computer; but if it has problems with even DVD playback, I guess it isn't quite that anymore. Farewell, G3.



    I'm afraid so, I have an old G3 that has more and more problems with web sites, music and video files. The complexity of adding new features into Flash, QuickTime and whatever comes along with Leopard is going to make it worse.
  • Reply 7 of 7
    archstudentarchstudent Posts: 262member
    the ultimate cheapo second hand mac is an Agp g4 tower (look it up) - by far the best of these is the Mdd (mirrored drive door) tower which has dual g4s with L3 cache
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