CPU Upgrades

[rjhubb]

I'm currently in the process of upgrading to PTLE 6 and Panther and considering OS X's ability to hog power, was considering a CPU upgrade. I have a POwer Mac G4 933 and while running Pro tools on OS 9, I would get an error message saying more CPU power needed while running only Battery and Sampletank 2 simultaneously. Has anyone else had this problem with these two plugins? Also, has anyone upgraded their CPU and can tell me the best value/where to get it. Is it a do it yourselfer, or to I have to take a trip to the apple store?

[cwhite771]

Not too familiar with it, but I've seen discussion of issues with sampletank 2 so you may want to look into that.

Also, try doing a search in this forum for "cpu upgrades" or "processor upgrade" over the past few months and you should find all the info you need.

If you're comfortable doing stuff to your computer, it's a DIY. Check out http://www.macsales.com/
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[KatTin]

I've been considering a CPU upgrade for my older PowerMac G4 400MHz (Sawtooth). If you go to www.eshop.macsales.com and use their config. tool to select your specific Mac it will give you a list of CPU upgrade products. You can also go into support on their site and read up on this stuff.

I also found a link from Apple's site to OWC (Other World Computing). The upgrade sounds like it can be done fairly easily. However, as I began to weight it, other things come into play that should be considered, at least in my case. I can't upgrade my graphics card on my model, my particular external burner and Epson printer (that both still work great) have no drivers to support OS X and will not in future, so I would need to replace these as well as updating some graphics software I use in OS 9.2.2. I would also need more memory on this system and on and on...

When I start to weigh it all I'm...at a stand-still. I'm thinking I'd be better off saving for a new system down the road. But then, I have a PowerMac G4 1MHz FW800 w /1.5GB RAM that I can use in the meantime.

Also, do a search on this forum. Others have done CPU upgrades with degrees of success. Oh yea, and how much memory do you have? You might want to start there.

Best of luck!

[cwhite771]

I've been considering a CPU upgrade for my older PowerMac G4 400MHz (Sawtooth)... I can't upgrade my graphics card on my model...

Why not? I upgraded my wifes 400MHz sawtooth with an ATI Radeon 9000 Pro video card-- no problems.
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[Muxlow]

Be wary of PowerLogix CPU upgrades. See my post from last week regarding that mess.

OWC is great. Very helpful and courteous staff...

[Phil71]

In my experience, all those frankensteined macs are dodgy at best, and eventually you throw up your hands and buy a newer/faster machine.
The biggest speed gains come from system bus improvements anyway, which a CPU upgrade does nothing for.
Save your pennies... trade up when you're ready.

[tclash]

That's funny...my 1.2GHz upgrade (originally a 867mHz G4) has been working great and it's performance is quite a big improvement.

System bus speed increases have a modest (at best) impact on performance, unless you are referring to the new G5 machines. For G4s, more L3 cache has a much bigger impact.

Seems like processor upgrades get more dodgy when you move into the dual >1.2 because of heat problems. But I think there is a lot of cost-effective room for improvement from a G4 400 before you plunk down $1800+ on a G5.

My 2 cents

[lazymits]

I agree with tclash, my cpu upgrade (giga 1.2 running @1.4) pushed my 'old' 400 into the game again for 1/3 of the cost of a new g4. For my actual needs its enough. Then again when all the g5 issues are resolved, that's when i'll come in. But it all depends on your needs. My upgrade is running great since day 1.
Hasta luego

[jawjam]

I'll probably get an upgrade eventually but am concerned about introducing more noise. The G4 is already loud enough as it is. Did you notice your upgrade being any louder than stock.

Thanks for your input.

[tclash]

The Powerlogix single 1.2GHz that I put into my quicksilver used the existing heat sink & fan (no extra fan on the new processor card) so the noise level didn't change. I think if you got one of these for your 733 you'd be very happy and would notice a dramatic improvement not only from the clock speed but also the addition of 2mb of L3 cache (I believe the 733 has L2 cache only). I believe the other brands have another fan on them, but I could be wrong. Anyway that was one of the reasons I went with the PL.

I think they're running about $350 these days.