[Mac Write]

Well just came form a meeting and I will not be getting a G5 in January as planned. So I need to get a G4 CPU 550mhz Upgrade this week.

Who has done it on there Beige G3's? Have you had any problems etc?

funding for the G4 CPU upgrade is fully being covered for so I won't be paying for it.

I currently have the following setup

• Beige G3 MT 266mhz Rev A
• Radeon ME
• 24 CD-ROM
• 768MB RAM
• 80GB/120GB 7200RPM Maxtor Hard Drives
• OrangeMicro USB/Firewire PCI card
• Asanta 10/100 Etherent
• Yamaha Firewire 16x10x40 CDRW

What kind of performance difference will I see? I am now using iChat AV (audio) but it maxes out my CPU so I can't even browse the web. will the 550 allow me to do some basic stuff while doing audio chat? Also will pages in Dreamweaver load instantly instead of taking up to 30 seconds to open?

ALso this computer will become my primary server through 2007 so I don't mind the upgrades I have done.

THanks for the advise. I also need it ASAP since I need to do the upgrade ASAP. I have someone who can do the CPU upgrade (who upgraded his works B&W with the same CPU last year).

[Dr. Wahnsinn]

Well, I don't have a G4 upgrade in my platinum G3, but I can tell you that the performance in OS X was quite improved when I upgraded to a 500MHz G3 ZIF. The original processor was a 233MHz.

Also, make sure that the voltage regulator module on your logic board isn't a short, brown one made by Royal Technology. Only a small number of these are out there but they are incompatable with G4 upgrades.

I hope someone can answer your question regarding iChat AV and Dreamweaver.

[Mac Write]

Originally posted by Dr. Wahnsinn:
Well, I don't have a G4 upgrade in my platinum G3, but I can tell you that the performance in OS X was quite improved when I upgraded to a 500MHz G3 ZIF. The original processor was a 233MHz.

Also, make sure that the voltage regulator module on your logic board isn't a short, brown one made by Royal Technology. Only a small number of these are out there but they are incompatable with G4 upgrades.

I hope someone can answer your question regarding iChat AV and Dreamweaver.

I am so aware of the Royal chip problem.

I know my Mac was built on April 19, 1998.

Here are pictures of the voltage chip I took back in March. I don't have a digital camera now so those are the best I have.

[Dr. Wahnsinn]

That VRM should be fine. It looks like a Raytheon. The ones made by Royal are quite shorter than the other brands.

[Mac Write]

Originally posted by Dr. Wahnsinn:
That VRM should be fine. It looks like a Raytheon. The ones made by Royal are quite shorter than the other brands.

I re-read some info and it said "Brown" and man I for real almost had a heart attack (I mean a real heart attack no joke) I got seceer sharp pains in my upper chest.

Can you confirm that isn't a royal? I will get a friend to look at it but it could take a week to do that. My situation is getting worse each day. I am pushing this computer harfer and harder. I am now using iChatAV for work (Audio) and it's hell. and Not being able to upgrade to Panther which is essentail for performance and work. (I need it for articles, and the improved workflow).

I was so looking forward to this G5. You guys can help me buy buying the CD of the band I am doing the website for when they are listed by CDBaby on the iTunes Music Store. Or buy it from there website when it launches in October. The Music is great so you will like it. It's a mix of everything basicly.

[Grrr]

I popped a G4 550mhz zif into my Beige G3 266 MT. And it runs like a champ in 9. But i've never been able to install OS X on it. Not sure why. Btw, due to the 66Mhz bus, it actually runs at 533mhz.
The zif I got is a Mercury from OWC.

Quick question, How did you get 768mb of ram into your MT, when only the rev 3's support it? Rev 1 & 2's only take 384mb I thought. This is mentioned on the crucial memory sales site too.

[Eug]

Hmmm... So they won't spring for an $999 eMac or something? Or a used one?

I can just see you doing this upgrade, only to get mediocre performance, assuming it works at all.

And what about a 900 MHz G3 upgrade instead of the 550 MHz G4?

[Mac Write]

G3 and X don't mix. I have been running Mac SO X since day one flawlessly.

an eMac is out of the question $2,000 is too much (tax and extra RAM). so $500 for the CPU upgrade is lucky.

THe G4 will be faster then the G3.

[Mac Write]

Also just found out the 550mhz has been discontinued. the 450mhz is not worth it in my opinion and the 1GHZ is over priced.

[Eriamjh]

With Panther not officially supporting Beige G3s (upgraded or otherwise) do you really want to upgrade or will you be happy with Jaguar?

[Eug]

Originally posted by Mac Write:
G3 and X don't mix. I have been running Mac SO X since day one flawlessly.

THe G4 will be faster then the G3.

Not necessarily. A G4 550 isn't very fast. A G3 900 will be much faster than a G4 550 with many appz, but will be slower than others. As for OS X responsiveness, for what it's worth the G3 900 iBook is much faster than the G4 550 TiBook, although much of that has to do with the cr@pola video card in the TiBook.

And anyways, you said the G4 550 has now been discontinued so the argument is moot. (BTW, the G3 900 is cheaper than the G4 550.)

[Mac Write]

Oh ya I want panther. I need it. I use iChatAV allot now (audio) and really want the improved finder. it will improve my workflow thanks to that new unlimited quick folder access on the left pane. Also it has been further optimized. Along with PHP and MySQL packages for the Mac only working on Panther from now on I absolutely need it.


I have no choice to be on this Mac. I can't afford to upgrade so I have to push this Mac to it's limits (and then some).

Wouldn't a G4 450 be faster in some areasdue to altivec?

[Eug]

Originally posted by Mac Write:
I have no choice to be on this Mac. I can't afford to upgrade so I have to push this Mac to it's limits (and then some).

wouldn't the Altivec make the 550mhz faster in some areas then the 900mhz G3?

Yeah, it would. It would be much faster than the G3 in some things. But in others it would not. The IBM G3 900 has 512 KB of L2 cache, which makes it a respectable chip. It really depends on what you do. See here:

In PS Bench, a single G3 800 beats a G4 550 in the same computer (B/W).




In Quake III, a single G3 800 beats a G4 500.




In Cinebench, a G3 800 destroys a G4 600.




OTOH, in the Altivec Fractal bench, the G3 800 runs like cr@p (for obvious reasons).



YMMV.

P.S. The minimum system requirements for iChat AV are a G3 600.

[Mac Write]

I doubt I will be touching video editing. I will be using DW, and PS. would the 900mhz allow me to iChat Audio and still work? That's essential for my work now.


iTunes ripping is impossible on this Mac due to a hardware glitch (personality card?) so that really doesn't matter. I will be doing some light audio work making 30 second samples for the band site I am doing.

ok here's what I will need to do.

• Dreamweaver page loading that doesn't tkae up to 30 seconds
• not waiting 3-5 seconds for dialogues to open.
• not taking 8 seconds to switch slides in iPhoto when it's set to 2 seconds (ok this is for fun not important)
• some light Photoshop stuff it works ok right now since I am working on smaller files, but a slight performance increase would help
• better video play back. on neer videos (G5 intro 480x360, commercial, Maxtrix trailer) this would make like nicer for a few fun and odd work thing. video scaling 160x120 vidoe to 1187x870 is WOW already thanks to the Radeon ME

you see things work well and don't work well at the same time. I am so used to the performance of OS X, I haven't seen a computer that runs it faster.

R U on AIM? maybe we should chat.

iCHat AV (Audio) bigt at mac dot com
text chat bigtmh

[Eug]

Sorry, I don't have AIM or iChat. Well I do, but I'm on my PC right now. I don't actually own a beige G3 either. I'm just saying you shouldn't discount the G3 completely.

I sold my iBook 600, so I can't test it right now, but it did seem to work fine for playback of video trailers on Apple's site (even though I didn't have a Radeon in it). Fortunately though, I'm now running a TiBook 1 GHz.

Photoshop - you already saw the benches.
I don't know about Dreamweaver, but my guess is that it doesn't use Altivec anyway, so a G3 900 would be much faster than a G4 550.

[Dr. Wahnsinn]

originally posted by Mac Write:
Can you confirm that isn't a royal?

I'm 99.99% positive that it isn't a Royal VRM. If you like, I have a .jpg that show the different VRM modules and explains how to identify the Royal. It's about 100KB. Just e-mail or PM me your e-mail address and I'll send it to you.

By the way, OWC has a Sonnet G4 500 ZIF and a PowerLogix G3 900 ZIF - each for less than USD$300. I don't know if this is within your acceptable price range, but I thought I'd tell you anyway.

[Mac Write]

upload the jpeg to my AFP server bigt.ca

I am leaning towards the 900mhz. Is it only the G4 that is a problem with the Royal? or is it the G3 upgrade as well?

Also I hear Sonnet isn't as good an upgrade. So it is looking like the 900mhz G3 is the best option. BUT

I also heard from soneone on xlr8 that the Rev A only supports up to 533mhz???

Thanks for all the advice.

[iMacfan]

I'd just like to chime in that selling your current box and getting a low end/sh eMac would be a far better deal - faster, supported more and will take up less desk space!

[Mac Write]

selling my box for an eMac would not be a bertter deal.

eMac $2,000 configred with enough RAM
G3/G4 upgrade $500 big difference in price.

also my Mac has a far better video card for more HD space and so on.

Also eMac doesn't support RCA, Video in/out, Zip drive, and the list goes on and on.

I will be keeping my G3 indefinitely as a server once I get a G5 late next year.

[Grrr]

Did you miss my previous post??

Yes.. As previously stated, a 550mhz card wont run at 550mhz while perched on a 66mhz bus. It has to be clocked slightly higher, or slightly lower, unless some other modifications are made. Which in my opinion is not worth the risk.
Which is why, as I already said, my G3 266 MT now runs at 533mhz with a G4.

I highly doubt this has anything to do with the revision of the mobo, as the basic architecture is identical.

PS, I dont get this..
G3 and X don't mix. I have been running Mac SO X since day one flawlessly.

[Mac Write]

I ordered (or was ordered for me) the Sonnet G4 500mhz.

I hope this gets me through the next year. Thanks for ther advice.

OS X is Optimized for altivec, so a G4 performs better in X.

[Dr. Wahnsinn]

I don't know what an AFP server is so I just put the .jpg on my webspace. The warning is from Newer Technology, but the info is applicable to all G4 upgrades. Here's the link; http://members.aol.com/rick36212/warning.jpg

Grab it quick. I'll remove it soon.

Good luck with your platinum G3. You should be able to squeeze some more life out of it.

[Mac Write]

Thanks I found that earlier this evening through another xlr8. I have the left most one on the second row.

AFP is an AppleShare. use the connect to menu under the go menu in OS X.

I hope things go well. I am ready getting 20fps in iTunes I wonder if I can hit 30fps with the G4 . I don't use the visualizer at all.

Anyone here installed the Sonnet G4 500mhz upgrade in a Beige?

[Keda]

I have alot of experience w/ G4 upgrades. Personally, I have been running a Sonnet G4/500 for over two years in my Beige MT. The only problem I had was my initial install of OSX. The Mac kicks ass! It is faster than my G4/500 agp at work and has been really stable.

At work, we have upgraded several G3 & 604 (8/7600) to G4s. The Sonnets have been the best performers by far. On top of that, you can get halfway decent support. My opinion of the Newer Tech G4 is tainted because that Mac has some HW ghosts in it. And an OWC G4/500 has just left a bad taste in my mouth because it was a real PITA to get configured and the documentation left alot to be desired.

For that Mac, an upgrade does make sense if you are only trying to get 6mos-1yr of life out of it. But, make sure everyone is aware that this machine wont support newer releases of OSX. This little piece of info has allowed me to work a G5 into the budget for Jan-Feb. Good Luck!

[Eug]

I ordered (or was ordered for me) the Sonnet G4 500mhz.

I hope this gets me through the next year. Thanks for ther advice.

OS X is Optimized for altivec, so a G4 performs better in X.

Congrats on the new G4, and I'm sure it should do you fine for the coming year.

However I just want to say your last statement above is a bit misleading. A G4 500 blows away a G3 500, but a G3 900 is arguably faster overall than the G4 500.