[jblaze]

After some shitty luck with an online computer purchase, I am stuck with an old "hand-me-down" Dual 500 machine that could use an upgrade or two. My question is, would it make sense to spend about 200-400 on upgrades (I already have to spend $80 on a new front panel board) for this machine or should I spend the 1500 (educational pricing) for one of the last dual G4s? I am tempted by the single 1.6 G5 but I really need a dual for my video and audio work and I don't think I can afford a dual G5 for months or more.

Here are the specs for the Dual 500 G4:
Dual 500
512mb
40gb
32x12x8x8x Combo Drive
GeForce 2MX
Zip 100

On another note...I have seen that this PowerMac can hold up to 2gb of RAM but the system only uses 1.5gb of it. What would be the point of adding that extra 512mb?

I thank and appreciate any advice given.

[Lateralus]

An upgrade or two wouldn't hurt. But it depends on how you use the machine. Whether or not you *NEED* an upgrade is something only you can decide. That said, your Dual 500 is pretty well spec'd as it is now. A nice glob of RAM, a combo drive, and a Quartz Extreme video card. Must be a nice system.

As far as the RAM, yes, the maximum is 2GBs. OS 9 had a problem with the Sawtooth and GigE machines and would only recognize 1.5GBs. OS X will recognize the full 2GBs. So if you're running OS X, any version of it, feel free to max out the RAM to 2GBs.

[Luca Rescigno]

I have a very similar machine. If that were mine, the first thing I would get would be a second hard drive - probably a 120 GB one with 8 MB of buffer. Having two hard drives is really nice.

Also, what monitor, keyboard, and mouse do you have? Those interfaces with your computer are crucial to your enjoyment of it. If you are fighting with your monitor, keyboard, and mouse, it doesn't matter how great your computer is because it will suck to use it. Maybe you already have a good monitor, keyboard and mouse, and maybe you don't.

I honestly can't think of anything else I would put on the NEED TO UPGRADE list that you have there. The processors are fine, as is the graphics card. You have enough RAM, and PC133 is too expensive these days to justify an upgrade major enough to make a difference. The Combo drive is good enough for occasional CD burning, but if you do a lot of burning you might want to pick up either a faster Combo drive (the LG GCC-4480B is fully compatible and also fast with a 48x CD-R speed) or a DVD±RW drive. But those are only if you think you need more capabilities from your optical drive.

[jblaze]

<<Luca Rescigno

"Also, what monitor, keyboard, and mouse do you have?">>

I have a 15" Apple LCD and a 19" CRT; Pro Mouse and Pro Keyboard.

[jblaze]

What DVD-R or RW drive do people recommend? Either IDE or SCSI drive....Thanks in advance.

[Back up 15 and punt]

Originally posted by jblaze:
On another note...I have seen that this PowerMac can hold up to 2gb of RAM but the system only uses 1.5gb of it. What would be the point of adding that extra 512mb?

I thank and appreciate any advice given.

If you are running OS X then the machine will use the full 2gb of RAM. OS 9 will only recognize 1.5gb. I would add at least another 512 to your machine along with a second hard drive of about 120gb. I use a similar machine (450 DP) and I have the memory max out and a second drive and it runs acceptably fast enough for my needs.

[Luca Rescigno]

Originally posted by jblaze:
What DVD-R or RW drive do people recommend? Either IDE or SCSI drive....Thanks in advance.

I don't even know if there is a SCSI DVD-RW drive available. But if you want the best-supported DVD burner there is, get a Pioneer DVR-107D from NewEgg. It's $125 and you can get a 5-pack of free DVD-R media if you click on the "Combo Specials" on the front page.

It should be pretty easy to replace your combo drive with this one.

[OreoCookie]

Originally posted by jblaze:
After some shitty luck with an online computer purchase, I am stuck with an old "hand-me-down" Dual 500 machine that could use an upgrade or two. My question is, would it make sense to spend about 200-400 on upgrades (I already have to spend $80 on a new front panel board) for this machine or should I spend the 1500 (educational pricing) for one of the last dual G4s? I am tempted by the single 1.6 G5 but I really need a dual for my video and audio work and I don't think I can afford a dual G5 for months or more.

Here are the specs for the Dual 500 G4:
Dual 500
512mb
40gb
32x12x8x8x Combo Drive
GeForce 2MX
Zip 100

On another note...I have seen that this PowerMac can hold up to 2gb of RAM but the system only uses 1.5gb of it. What would be the point of adding that extra 512mb?

I thank and appreciate any advice given.

The single G5 should be faster than the Dual G4 in video applications and video encoding ... Just my experience with a single 1.8 GHz G5 and a Dual 1.0 GHz G4.

[Luca Rescigno]

I think the point is that a single G5 wouldn't be enough of an improvement over a dual G4 to justify a new machine. Why not wait until the currently selling single G5 is not crippled the way the single 1.6 is?