[Ryan T.]

I have a 500MHz G4 tower. 100MHz bus speed, and doesn't support Duals. I have it configured with 2GB (4x512) of PC133 RAM and a 32MB nVidia GeForce card that supports quartz extreme. Ideally I'd like to add a card with core image, but that's a bit pricey for the moment.

I'll be adding a PCI ATA controller card soon to help my disk performance.

However, the one thing still completely limiting the computer I think is the CPU. I've been research upgrades, and I think I have it narrowed down to a couple, and I'd hoped someone would have an opinion...

1) 1GHz Sonnet SG4-1800 with 2MB L3 cache...about $170

2) PowerLogix PowerForce47 1.4GHz CPU, no L3 cache...$170

3) GigaDesigns 7A-1800U 1.8GHz, no L3 Cache...about $230

4) Sonnet SG4-1600 1.6GHz, no L3 cache...about $215

Those are my main targets...if you have other suggestions I'd love to hear them. Either way, your advice would be invaluable.

I want a quick machine, but I have a MBP Core 2 Duo as my main every day machine. This will be used mostly for lighter work, but I need it to feel nimble and responsive (the ATA controller should help this too, right?).

[bowwowman]

If you're gonna add a controller, you may as well go for SATA, and get all the speed you can for about the same price as PATA. Yea, you'll need to buy a HD
too, but new HD's are overall way faster than older ones anyways.....

I previously had a Sawtooth DP/450 with an ATA/100 Sonnet Tempo controller & it made things a bit faster than the onboard controller. However, when I switched to an SATA card & Raptors, it was like a night & day difference !

When I got my Q/867 last year, I moved that card & drives to it, and it is also way faster than the onboard controller......

But OTOH, I do lots of stuff that requires heavy I/O data transfers & such, so I probably notice the speed difference more than someone who does different/less disk-intensive things

As far as the cpu upgrades, most people say try to get the most L2 cache you can, as this really helps older machines by keeping the cpu fed with data....

good luck on whatever you choose to do !

[Ryan T.]

Thanks for the advice. I appreciate it. Would love to hear others' feedback as well

[OreoCookie]

That really depends on what you want to do with it: if you want to make it into a server, then you can benefit from putting in extra harddrives. If all you need is just a computer for light work, the only benefit you'll have from a new harddrive controller is to use not just the first 127 GB of new harddrives. Since new harddrives are quicker, you will benefit from them, but not from the new controller per se (e. g. if you want to use only existing drives with the new controller, forget about it, it's a waste of money).

However, it all really depends on what you want to do with it. There are plenty of other uses for such an older secondary machine: print and backup server, storage server, etc.

[Ryan T.]

Thanks Oreo, I'll keep that in mind as I plan future upgrades. Right now the only ATA drive I have over 120GB is in an external anyway...

[Lateralus]

Sorry about not responding to your PM. I read it when it was sent and then forgot about it before replying.

Anyways, the thing to remember is that pretty much all of the G4 processor upgrade sellers are going to the same designer and manufacturer for their cards. Including Sonnet, Giga Designs, and NewerTech.

Sonnet traditionally has a higher reputation for quality. But as I said, with all of the upgrades coming out of the same barn and from the same hands, I don't think their traditional price markup over the others is worth it any more. Yes, their support is good, but Giga's is also excellent and so is PowerLogix' now than OWC is handing it.

That said, if you can hit the $250 mark I would definitely try to. The 7455B was the last generation of G4 to feature L3 cache, and it tops out at around 1.467/1.53GHz after being slightly overclocked by the upgrade manufacturers. And with the L3 cache, the 7455B has a roughly 20-30% performance advantage over the 7447A-based upgrades with only half a meg of L2 cache.

Very few suppliers still carry the 7455B, but one of them is FastMac. I've ordered from them before and was very happy. They also, as far as I know, still include 'bonus software' with their upgrades. Which for me was OS X 10.2, an earlier version of iLife and I believe an OS 9 disc. Quite nice.

There's also The OWC Mercury Extreme. It's essentially a re-branded version of FastMac's 7455B.

But if you can't hit the mid $200s, from the list above I would probably go with the GigaDesigns.

[wubrew]

Originally Posted by Ryan T. 

I have a 500MHz G4 tower. 100MHz bus speed, and doesn't support Duals.

http://eshop.macsales.com/MyOWC/Upgr...=Show+Upgrades

Go for the dual with the lowest price.

[Ryan T.]

Originally Posted by wubrew 

Processor Upgrades for your Apple PowerMac G4 AGP Graphics "Sawtooth" 500MHz (1999) at OtherWorldComputing.com

Go for the dual with the lowest price.

But like you quoted, my machine doesn't support dual processors.

Lateralus, thanks very much for the advice.

[OreoCookie]

Originally Posted by Ryan T. 

But like you quoted, my machine doesn't support dual processors.

Sure it does, you can use any upgrade designed for AGP G4s (which excludes only few G4s whose motherboards were based on the predecessor). What makes you think it doesn't?

[Ryan T.]

Originally Posted by OreoCookie 

Sure it does, you can use any upgrade designed for AGP G4s (which excludes only few G4s whose motherboards were based on the predecessor). What makes you think it doesn't?

This app told me I didn't: PowerLogix Support - AGP Dual Compatibility

[Lateralus]

Yeah, if you're failing to pass the Uni-N revision checker, you can't take any dual, even Apple OEM.

[OreoCookie]

I see.
Thanks for the clarification.

[Lateralus]

As far as I know, all Gigabit Ethernet system boards have the correct Uni-N revision to accept dual processor cards.

So Ryan must have one of the incredibly rare 500MHz Sawtooth machines that made it to market before Apple lowered the top speed to 450MHz because of Motorola's inability to get the house in order on 7400 production.

Or it's a 350-450MHz Sawtooth with a 500MHz Gigabit Ethernet CPU card.

[Ryan T.]

Originally Posted by Lateralus 

As far as I know, all Gigabit Ethernet system boards have the correct Uni-N revision to accept dual processor cards.

So Ryan must have one of the incredibly rare 500MHz Sawtooth machines that made it to market before Apple lowered the top speed to 450MHz because of Motorola's inability to get the house in order on 7400 production.

Or it's a 350-450MHz Sawtooth with a 500MHz Gigabit Ethernet CPU card.

It's definitely not a transplanted CPU, says 500MHz right on the back. Lucky me I guess

[wubrew]

Originally Posted by Ryan T. 

It's definitely not a transplanted CPU, says 500MHz right on the back. Lucky me I guess

Sorry, for assuming the best.

[Ryan T.]

Just as an update, I ended up picking this CPU up from eBay: FASTMAC 1.33 GHZ G4 PROCESSOR UPGRADE FOR AGP GRAPHICS - (item 290141963027 end time Jul-22-07 15:49:16 PDT)

I believe this is the 7455B Lateralus was speaking of, and will likely run at 1.4GHz in my 100MHz bus system. With 2GB of RAM and a 32MB nVidia graphics card, I believe this system should serve as a nice secondary system for years to come, and run Leopard quite well.

Now to add a Superdrive and an ATA/SATA controller and really max this puppy out

[Kenneth]

Aside from the processor upgrade, a SATA PCI card is also a nice upgrade. My supervisor dropped a SATA PCI card in his older G4 and very happy with the speed improvement.

[Ryan T.]

Okay, is a Radeon 9800 to compliment that card a worthwhile investment? I have a 32MB GeForce quartz-supported card now, but Core Image would be great.

Am I alright going with a flashed card from eBay? Any downside?