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Walker · Oct 25, 2003, 08:25 AM

I'd love to be able to pop a 1 gh G4 into my B/W, but the fastest G4 processor available is a 500 mh G4. I know there is a 900 mh G3 available but I do a lot of photoshop/final cut work and would prefer to stick with the altivec-ready G4. Anyone here any rumors of faster G4 processors coming out?

lw

Lateralus · Oct 25, 2003, 01:52 PM

I would not count on any G4 upgrades faster than what are currently available. As far as I know, there is some sort of architectual barrier involved with the Yosemite (B&W) boards that makes the development of G4 upgrades for it very difficult. The issue was covered by PowerLogix on their site some months back, and along with covering it they explained that people should not expect any further G4 upgrades for the B&W from them. And if PowerLogix won't/can't develop further G4 upgrades, I would not count on any of the other manufacturers being willing or capable either.

Dr. Wahnsinn · Oct 25, 2003, 06:29 PM

If you check out the Sonnet website, you'll see that they indicate that they are currently working on faster G4 ZIFs that will work on the B&W. Let's hope that they are able to deliver.

sodamnregistered2 · Oct 25, 2003, 06:32 PM

At this point, prolly better with a dual G4/450, dual G4/800, dual G4/1GHz, etc from e-bay. A lot of selling going on.

I'm about to hawk my loaded dual G4/800.

At some point it's not worth it.

I have a 9500 with a Newer G3/400 card in it. The G3 card got an extra year out of the computer, then it hit a wall.

Superchicken · Oct 25, 2003, 09:11 PM

Take the money you'd spend on an upgrade and buy a new eMac, faster processor, CD Burner, new monitor, new mouse and keyboard etc and it's a whole new computer

bowwowman · Oct 26, 2003, 01:40 PM

re: >>.but the fastest G4 processor available is a 500 mh G4.<<<<

which IS easily overclockable to 600-650mhz....like mine from OWC hehehe

rambo47 · Oct 26, 2003, 05:03 PM

I've been waiting to see about faster G4 upgrades than 500 or 550 MHz for my B&W. I'm not so optimistic anymore. As the basic requirements to run the new versions of OS X go up and up, the old machines will be left farther and farther behind. With less and less current owners willing to upgrade a machine that can't run the latest and greatest, it's becoming less and less prifitable to make these upgrades. I've now got a Dual-Gigahertz PowerMac and will most definitely jump on the next revision of the G5, so unless the G4 upgrades for the B&W's are dirt cheap there's no way I'm buying. If all the B&W will do for me is host a printer and act as a server for iTunes, why should I bother?

Walker · Oct 28, 2003, 08:30 AM

I received an email from Sonnet. 700 mh and 1 gh G4 zif upgrades are in the works.

lw

Chinasaur · Oct 28, 2003, 09:33 PM

I've also received emails from Powerlogix (I have an 800Mhz G3 upgrade) concerning upgrades after the latest round of upgrades were announced.

I asked about faster chips and they said "give us a few weeks to get it sorted out.."

Take that for what it's worth....

Lateralus · Oct 28, 2003, 11:31 PM

Wow, this is certainly great news. Though I must admit I am surprised to see PowerLogix reverse their position on this matter.

Oh well, more upgrades for us!

DrBoar · Oct 29, 2003, 01:21 AM

Lovely as the B&W is, it has the shortcoming of lacking AGP. Even if you do the hack to enable Quartz Extreme the most "powerfull" card you can buy for it is the ATI 7000. That is pretty limp with ATI 9100 or nvidia 5200 as the current low end (and also aviable as PCI cards on the PC side).

Dont spend more to much on upgrading that old computer, love it for what it is

Lateralus · 06:46 PM

Originally posted by DrBoar:
Lovely as the B&W is, it has the shortcoming of lacking AGP. Even if you do the hack to enable Quartz Extreme the most "powerfull" card you can buy for it is the ATI 7000. That is pretty limp with ATI 9100 or nvidia 5200 as the current low end (and also aviable as PCI cards on the PC side).

Dont spend more to much on upgrading that old computer, love it for what it is

The Radeon 7000 is more than enough for me.

Chinasaur · Oct 30, 2003, 06:55 PM

PowermacMan...you're killing me with that 450 you are running!!

Our setups are nearly identical except for your RW drive and I have a GB of RAM.

The 800Mhz upgrade was great and the Quartz Extreme hack w/ 10.3 allows for Expose goodness without lagging.

That said, I am seriously considering a refurb'd dual 1.25 G4 w/ Combo. I've had dual AMD boxes and I miss the throughput ability. Also, with AGP, UT2K3 or MoH would be playable.

If you are going to be keeping your B&W at least put in an 800+ upgrade. You'll thank yourself later

I'm still going to keep my B&W because I dig the case design and it's a good cruncher at D2OL.

Best of luck and best wishes whichever way you go.

Lateralus · Oct 30, 2003, 08:08 PM

Hah.

I love this setup, Quartz Extreme works flawlessly, and yes Expose' is a lot of fun. Overal the machine is still very capable.

I have been considering the $249.99 PowerLogix 900MHz G3 upgrade from Other World Computing. Upon looking on eBay, I see that 450MHz G3 ZIFs from B&Ws fetch almost $100, which if I sold mine would bring my cost on the 900MHz upgrade into the $150 range. Seems pretty unbeatable to me. But I'm going to have to wait a few weeks until I have the cash to spare. ;-)

Walker · Oct 30, 2003, 08:42 PM

Originally posted by PowerMacMan:
Hah.

I love this setup, Quartz Extreme works flawlessly, and yes Expose' is a lot of fun. Overal the machine is still very capable.

I have been considering the $249.99 PowerLogix 900MHz G3 upgrade from Other World Computing. Upon looking on eBay, I see that 450MHz G3 ZIFs from B&Ws fetch almost $100, which if I sold mine would bring my cost on the 900MHz upgrade into the $150 range. Seems pretty unbeatable to me. But I'm going to have to wait a few weeks until I have the cash to spare. ;-)

I'd wait until the 1 gh G4 upgrade is available before you plop the bucks down for the 900 mh G3 card. Maybe the 1 gh G4 card won't be too expensive.

Just curious about your experience with the ATI 7000 video card. I'm about to pop in a different video card into the B/W. Did you have any upgrade issues when you installed panther? I've read that some people with older video cards had problems upgrading to panther.

lw

Lateralus · Oct 30, 2003, 09:48 PM

Originally posted by Walker:
I'd wait until the 1 gh G4 upgrade is available before you plop the bucks down for the 900 mh G3 card. Maybe the 1 gh G4 card won't be too expensive.

Just curious about your experience with the ATI 7000 video card. I'm about to pop in a different video card into the B/W. Did you have any upgrade issues when you installed panther? I've read that some people with older video cards had problems upgrading to panther.

lw

Yeah, I'll probably end up waiting until G4 upgrades hit whether I like it or not ($$$). And for the moment, the 450MHz chip is fine for my needs.

As far as the Radeon, no problems at all as of yet. Everything about Panther has been perfect on this machine, from the initial install process to every aspect of the GUI, etc...

Chinasaur · Oct 31, 2003, 12:46 PM

Walker,

Also no probs with Radeon 7000 w/ Panther.