[jhonizzle]

So this weekend, I bought a Power Mac G4 Yikes! 350Mhz, 1GB of RAM, 100GB HDD, ATI Rage 128. Got if off CraigsList for $140.

I'm for the most part happy about the purchase, I realized at the time I was getting it that it was going to be a project machine. To be totally honest, I wanted it to have something wrong with it so I could have some work to do...but alas nothing wrong. The person had an Install of Tiger on it that he freshly Installed, which I promptly took off and put my copy on.

I was hoping that this machine could have a few purposes, 1. Media Center, 2. Web Browser, 3. File Host.

File Host is easily done, the 100GB Hard Drive is failing but I'll probably put a new one in. I've been playing around with overclocking the ATI Rage 128 but to no avail. I need to know a few things/have a few opinions is upgrading the Graphics Card worth it (probably flash a PC PCI Card for Mac) and Is it worth doing the $149 for the 500Mhz upgrade?

I want to be able to play XviD and DivX, and maybe 720i....maybe... Can it be done? or am i kidding myself/putting gold teeth in a dead horse?

Thanks in Advance for the Input/Help!

[Lateralus]

Originally Posted by jhonizzle 

Is it worth doing the $149 for the 500Mhz upgrade?

No.

PowerLogix 1GHz 750GX G3

Yes.

Much, much better bang for the buck than the G4 ZIFs. The 750GX G3 is faster than the 7400/7410 G4 even at equal clock speeds. The only area where the G4 is going to excel is going to be in AltiVec dependent tasks, and even so that task is going to have to be massively dependent on AltiVec for it to run better on a 500MHz G4 than it would on a 1GHz G3.

The 750GX upgrades all overclock to 1.1GHz without so much as a blink as well.

[reader50]

With a 1 GHz G3, 720i playback may just be possible. 480p should run, 720p will not. Use one of the utilities to add the Quit command to the Finder, so you can quit everything but a player program. Use TinkerTool or Onyx for this.

For a player, try using BitPlayer instead of the QT player - it uses less CPU on the front end, so it can manage a more demanding file. Install the Perian QT plugin, so QT (and BitPlayer) can play Xvid / Divx files. Add VLC to make the mix complete. One way or another, you should be able to play nearly any file type. Provided the Yikes' limits are not exceeded.

The Rage 128 Pro is too old to manage real media playback. It can handle DVD playback, but HD is too much. Plan on a Radeon 7000 as an absolute minimum, preferably something juicier like a 9000 or 9200.

[bowwowman]

Agreed w/ all of the above, BUT forget the Radeon 7000 & go for a 9200. The added vram (128mb vs 32mb) will help that old puppy ALOT with the tasks at hand. Also consider the QuartzExtreme enabler/hack, as well as ATIcellerator-II utility to o/c the 9200 to squeeze a bit more performance out of it

[jhonizzle]

ok So for now most of the input that I've been receiving has lined up exactly with what i was thinking. For now I'll post my up coming purchases.

Processor 1Ghz G3 PowerLogixItem Info at OtherWorldComputing.com

Saphire ATI Radeon 9250 PCI (windows card to be flashed for Mac) http://http://www.newegg.com/Product...82E16814102533

I'm unsure about the graphics card, it's a little iffy flashing something to be Mac. If anyone knows an easy card to flash that would be awesome so i don't need to spend double the cost to get the same card for Mac.

Thanks for the continued Help/Support!

[chichow]

but if you go G3, won't you miss out on Leopard?