[driven]

Since I purchased a new car my G5 dreams are back on hold for a while. (Rememeber I kept holding off for the "perpetual Tuesday"?) Anyway: The need for a car came up in the meantime and I want to pay off that note before any big expense. (It's the first time that I have a car note in like .... forever ... I usually pay cash.)

As a result I want to save some money and upgrade my G4 Cube and get some more spunk into it.

In the past the Sonnet upgrades have been the high-priced upgrade boards and the PowerLogix have been the cheaper alternative that work, but have sleep issues.

I now see that the roles have reversed. The PowerLogix is around $477 for the 1.2Ghz, while the Sonnet is down to $398 for the 1.2Ghz. I see that both have 2MB cache.

So: Why has the PowerLogix gone up so dramatically in price? What else does it offer of the Sonnet?

Thanks in advance. (And sorry for taking so long to get to the point.)

[Luca Rescigno]

Go to eshop.macsales.com and look around. They have a lot of Gigadesigns and OWC Mercury processor upgrades. It's not just Sonnet and PowerLogix anymore.

Keep in mind that Sonnet requires you use the factory heat sink instead of supplying one, so you can't get as much for your old processor if you want to sell it. And neither one allows overclocking via dip switches on the processor. Overclocking is nice - my brother has a Gigadesigns 1.33 oc'd to 1.467. However, PowerLogix's expensive upgrades are a result of using newer chips - 7457s instead of 7455s. I think the 7457s have more L2 cache. I doubt they're worth the huge premium, but it's something to keep in mind.

[driven]

Actually since I have a Cube I think it is just Sonnet and PowerLogix. (GigaDesigns is no longer supply Cube upgrades AFAIK).

Maybe I'll just go with an 800Mhz upgrade until I can afford a G5 ... hmm ...

AFAIK both PL and Sonnet have the same cache size, albeit you are correct in that the PL is a newer chip. (I'm not sure what that buys me other than perhaps cooler operation.)

[Xaositect]

The 7457 chips run enough cooler to make it worth it. The biggest speed increase, however, is from video. If you haven't upgraded the video card, get a new video card first. You can get GeForce 3 or Radeon 7500 cards relatively easy. There is one GeForce 4 reference card short enough to fit (don't have the model number on me, if you want to spend the time to find it, pm me and I'll find the model number for you. It's $expensive$ even if you can find it!). GF3 and R7500 can be heat sink only (GF3 requires heat pipe), GF4 requires active cooling.

On the processors, you can put an 800MHz processor in without a fan (if you run in a cool room), but I recommend active cooling for an 800MHz, and higher than that requires active cooling. If silent operation is important to you go with a GF3 and/or an 800MHz 7457 based upgrade, or switch to a silent active cooling system (peltier device or similar).

If you want more info, pm me and I'll send you info on some of the stuff I've done (it may take me a while to respond, work has been hopping for several months and isn't letting up).

[freakboy2]

i have as sonnet 1.2 running in a cube and it's been rock solid, but running folding@home it gets REALLY hot even with a fan. If i were doing it now, i'd seriously consider going with a pl upgrade simply for the heat issue.

fb