best sawtooth processor upgrade for my money

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cj171cj171
Posted:
in Current Mac Hardware edited January 2014
Yeah, we're talkin preferably less than $300, maybe a little over

so far, i'm thinking between the

PowerLogix PowerForce47 G4/1.6GHz with 512K 1:1 L2 Cache - $270

and

OWC Mercury Extreme G4@1.2GHz with 2MB L3 Cache - $250

OR

Sonnet Encore/ST G4/1.2GHz Processor Upgrade W/ 2MB L3 Cache - $250



first off, what difference, if any, is there between the two 1.2ghz models..and how does the 1.6 compare considering it's got less cache? also, all of these the best deals to be had or is there some other site selling something else for a better deal within my price range (these prices are from OWC). Thanks a bunch!

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 10
    hirohiro Posts: 2,663member
    In all seriousness you are better off saving up a few more $$ and just getting a Refurb Mini as long as you are looking at single processor upgrades. From a Sawtooth owner who is still happy with it.
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  • Reply 2 of 10
    cj171cj171 Posts: 144member
    yeah, i was planning to get a new video card for about $90 as well...or try flashing one lying around...and maybe getting a new hard drive, which would put me at about the same price as a mini...but a tower is expandable and it *should* be faster than a mini...right? (i'm pretty much decided on the 1.6ghz one)
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  • Reply 3 of 10
    hirohiro Posts: 2,663member
    Not really faster. Mini will still have a significantly faster memory bus which will become the limiting factor for the Sawtooth. And expandability on a 5 year old box is not that big a deal. What do you have in it now? What would you replace that won't cost more than a refurb Mini by the time you are done and still leave you memory bandwidth throttled?
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  • Reply 4 of 10
    cj171cj171 Posts: 144member
    yeah, i've never expeienced memory bandwidth problems so i'm unfamiliar with how it'd effect performance...anyway, i was just planning on using it for my day to day work in college(space is not a factor) and i'm a cs major...I enjoy some gaming on the side as well..
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  • Reply 5 of 10
    beigeuserbeigeuser Posts: 371member
    You have many choices.



    Buying a mini ($499-$699)

    Pros: 1.42GHz G4, faster bus, airport extreme, bluetooth, reasonable price, virtually silent operation, small footprint.

    Cons: Radeon 9200, slow & small hard drive, slow & difficult-to-upgrade DVD drive, limitation of 1GB RAM, no PCI slots.



    Upgrade the Sawtooth ($299-$1150):

    Pros: faster processor than the mini (1.4GHz G4 w/2MB L3 $299), airport extreme (via PCI, $80), bluetooth (via USB, $50), faster graphics card than the mini ($200), more RAM than the mini ($240), faster hard drive ($80-$200), & faster DVD drive ($50-$80).

    Cons: Slower bus, high price to upgrade all these things.



    Buying a iMac $1299-$1799:

    Pros: Better than both the mini or the Sawtooth in every way except for the lack of PCI

    Cons: Expensive and your current monitor will be wasted (unless you use the monitor spanning hack), spotty reliability record.



    Prices are approximate. I'd personally upgrade the sawtooth. BTW, the 1.4GHz G4 upgrade is faster than the 1.42GHz in the mini because the upgrade has 2MB of L3 cache while the mini doesn't have any L3 cache.
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  • Reply 6 of 10
    mikefmikef Posts: 698member
    The Mini seems like the logical choice, however with it's slow hard drive, the faster CPU/bus is severely choked. I think I'd probably upgrade the Sawtooth instead, if you can do it affordably.
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  • Reply 7 of 10
    cj171cj171 Posts: 144member
    just wondering...will the sawtooth take pc133 sticks as well as pc100? and can I use 512 sticks or am i limited to 256? thanks



    guess i'm gonna wait a week or two anyway to see if the upgraded mini rumor is true...that'd probably trump my sawtooth
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  • Reply 8 of 10
    hirohiro Posts: 2,663member
    Yes it will, but they will only run at PC100 due to the bus clock. You can put 512's in there as well. I'm not sure about 1G DIMMS.
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  • Reply 9 of 10
    hirohiro Posts: 2,663member
    effin wrong button, sorry!

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  • Reply 10 of 10
    cj171cj171 Posts: 144member
    alrighty, thanks again everyone, the AI forums really rock!
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