[PacHead]

Both of these companies now offer 2.0 Ghz processor upgrades and I'm going to choose one of them to put in my trusty Quicksilver. I've read about both of them on various sites and I see that they operate differently though I haven't found any direct shootout or tests between the two on any sites. They both sell for about the same price. I read that the dual proc. upgrades were noisy, anybody know how these single proc. upgrades are ? They should be a lot quieter I hope, as I have little use for the dual processor upgrades. I'm leaning towards the Gigadesigns right now because the system that the Powerlogix uses where it keeps halving the processor speed didn't appeal much to me.

And no smart ass better tell me to get a G5 instead, I like my Quicksilver and it does tons of things that a G5 cannot do, like have tons of storage (I have 3 drives inside now, getting more for a total of 7), boot into OS9 (I do audio and I do in fact use OS9 sometimes). I'll get a brand new Mac desktop when the Intel models come out. In tests on barefeats a G4 modded with the 2.0 Ghz processor did well compared to a 2.0 Ghz G5.

So basically, anybody have a single processor 2.0 Ghz upgrade in a G4, either from Powerlogix or Gigadesigns ?

[Todd Madson]

(Smart aleck yells from behind a fence: "GET A G5!")

If you're bound and determined to get an accelerator for your G4 it's not
that hard to decide: get the one with the largest L2 or L3 cache and highest
clockspeed and you will be reasonably well taken care of.

The questions are: what is the support like and warranty service from the
third party accelerator manufacturer?

[PacHead]

Originally Posted by Todd Madson

get the one with the largest L2 or L3 cache and highest
clockspeed and you will be reasonably well taken care of.

I think both the Giga and Powerlogix are identical in terms of specs, they're both running at 2.0 Ghz and they both lack an L3 cache because I think the new Freescale chips (motorola) doesn't support it. They both have the same L2 cache.

[new newton]

I was considering the same thing not so long ago. Here's what I came to: it's a fool's errand to spend much money upgrading a G4. You'll always have a system that is badly out of balance. Upgrade the processor, and the stock graphics card will be the bottleneck. Upgrade the graphics card, and the processor will be the bottleneck. Upgrade them both, and it won't run on a warm day because the power supply can't handle the load. Stick seven drives in it, and you'll be lucky to get the thing started. Even if you could, the 1.5GB of slow RAM is another bottleneck, to say nothing of the slow system bus. Oh, and did I mention the heat? You know, the heat of seven drives and a processor upgrade? Think about it a little.

It's like stuffing a 350 in a Chevette--yeah, it's been done. No, nobody has enjoyed it.

The prices on G5s are incredibly low. I got a Dual 2.0 for $1,200. Minus the residual value of my G4, it's almost a wash compared to upgrading it--and it's a heck of a lot quieter!

[mduell]

Echoing new_newton's post:
$369 for a 2.slow Ghz G4 makes mduell cry.

[waxcrash]

To all who say the 2GHz G4 is a waste of money and a G5 is better…

http://barefeats.com/kwik.html

[new newton]

Notice that all of those are CPU-intensive tasks? It's an unbalanced system. Select benchmarks do not a system make.

[Kristoff]

I just stuffed a Powerlogix 1.7 GHz G4 in my old cube and am very happy with it.

It's a very nice system now and plenty powerful for what it's used for and the GeForce3 that I put in there a while ago does just fine. Heat is not an issue so far.

[PacHead]

Originally Posted by new newton

Notice that all of those are CPU-intensive tasks? It's an unbalanced system. Select benchmarks do not a system make.

That's basically all I'm looking for, the system I have now which I'm pretty much happy with and just being able to get much better speeds and power on certain CPU tasks. To be honest I didn't notice much of a speed difference (in average tasks, surfing, finder) when using a G5 1.6 awhile back compared to my G4 (933).

Getting a G5 also means getting a bunch of new different ram, all new SATA drives (400 & 500 gigs are too pricey right now) and the G5 only lets you put 2 of them in, unless you get some third party kits. At the moment, doing the G4 upgrade will be way cheaper than me getting some G5 along with all of the new accessories that I would need (drives, ram, pci cards etc.).

[Biggerfoot]

I just recently upgraded to the PowerLogix 2.0GHZ G4.

I had a failed OWC processor and received a store credit and was able to grab this one for a few extra dollars.

I have a QuickSilver that is just what I want (dual 120 gig hard drive, 1.5 gigs memory, ATI second video card, etc) and I did not want the expense up having to update everything.

I am very happy with the processor and can tell a big difference from the OWC 1.33 w/L3 and a huge difference over the 733 stock processor. For example, to rip a 2 hour DVD in iDVD, it took about 14 hours with the 733, about 6-7 hours with the 1.33GHZ, and just about 4 hours with the 2.0GHZ.

The other nice this is that I noticed that the PowerLogix runs MUCH more cooler than either processor (about 140F at full load) and even the hard drives are about 10 degrees cooler. The Dynamic Power Management probably helps with this.

[PacHead]

Originally Posted by Biggerfoot

The other nice this is that I noticed that the PowerLogix runs MUCH more cooler than either processor (about 140F at full load) and even the hard drives are about 10 degrees cooler. The Dynamic Power Management probably helps with this.

So the 2.0 Ghz is cooler running than a stock 733 Mhz ? Wow, that's good news.



You went from a 14 hours rip (733) to 4 hours (2.0 Mhz), that sounds good indeed.

[iamnotmad]

How about a dual 1.8? Instead of a Single 2.0?

[Todd Madson]

There is the issue that the power supplies in the G4 units weren't ultra beefy.

My G4/400 sits now with three 80 gig drives, a Radeon 8500 AGP card as
well as an aftermarket DVD/RW drive.

Problem: adding much more causes it to not boot. That power supply is
at the very edge of its capabilities with all of that stuff in there.

As far as the G5s go, at least they have beefy power supplies.

[Biggerfoot]

The 2.0 GHZ PowerLogix upgrade is a low power processor...I do not know how much that helps in the scheme of things though.

[waxcrash]

Originally Posted by Todd Madson

There is the issue that the power supplies in the G4 units weren't ultra beefy.

My G4/400 sits now with three 80 gig drives, a Radeon 8500 AGP card as
well as an aftermarket DVD/RW drive.

Problem: adding much more causes it to not boot. That power supply is
at the very edge of its capabilities with all of that stuff in there.

As far as the G5s go, at least they have beefy power supplies.

If your power supply is rated 300-Watts or greater you should be fine.

I have an old Power Mac G4/400 upgraded to a G4/1.4 Dual, 1GB RAM, 2 80GB hard drives, PCI USB2/Firewire card, added DVD±R, and Radeon 9800 Pro. Both the graphics card and the CPU upgrade have molex cables running off the power supply to power them. I have never had a problem.

[PacHead]

Originally Posted by Todd Madson

There is the issue that the power supplies in the G4 units weren't ultra beefy.

My G4/400 sits now with three 80 gig drives, a Radeon 8500 AGP card as
well as an aftermarket DVD/RW drive.

Problem: adding much more causes it to not boot. That power supply is
at the very edge of its capabilities with all of that stuff in there.

As far as the G5s go, at least they have beefy power supplies.

Maybe you have a problem with your model or your machine because I already have 3 drives and an extra pci card in my G4 and I've never had any problems with starting up. Not all G4 powersupplies are the same I would imagine. An early G4 400 only has around 200 watts in their power supply.

G4 933 Power supply

AcBel
344 Watt
Model Number:APL1PC12
Apple P/N:614-0157

I also found out that the G5 itself does not have enough power for many drives.

Bottomline: There is enough power in the G5 Power Mac for 3 or 4 added drives. But if you add 7 drives, depending on the model of drive, you may need an auxillary power supply.


http://www.barefeats.com/hard50.html

[new newton]

Not all G5s have the same power supply. Mine is a 600w.

There have been quite a few reports of G4s not having the juice to power all of the available upgrades. A 9800 Pro draws 75w itself. One of the issues that really dissuaded me from upgrading my G4 was concern about this. ATI says that they've never heard of power problems when a person adds a 9800 Pro to a stock G4, but that's assuming that there's nothing else being added. The accelerator companies knew that the 7455 upgrades at higher clock rates would cause power problems in certain circumstances.

Power aside, the case is only designed to deal with so much heat and ventilation. The reason that you don't see dual 7447 2ghz upgrades is that the single 7447 2ghz upgrade is pushing the limit. You can add more fans and do exotic things, but you'll end up with a noisy, temperamental machine.

The 7448s are supposed to draw less power and run cooler, but who knows when they'll arrive? There's been some doubt lately as to whether they actually will or not. I held off buying a 7447 upgrade because of the promise of the 7448, but we've reached a point now where the economics of it don't make sense. Upgrading a G4 substantially is a choice based more on emotional attachment than money.