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Mac Forum / General / Hardware / February 2006CPU upgrade
I have a Mac G4 dual 500MHz with 100MHz bus speed. I've been looking at the PowerLogix PowerForce47 G4/1.7GHz with 512K 1:1 L2 Cache Per Processor for PowerMac G4 AGP Graphics/Sawtooth and Gigabit Ethernet Models. Will the speed difference be significant enough to warrant the price (at least $600) ? And does the 100MHz bus speed act as a bottleneck and negate some of the impact of the upgrade? I am assuming I have to purchase 2 - one for each processor? How tricky is this to install myself? And does it wipe out memory anywhere? I know a back-up is the best thing to do before such an upgrade......but even getting my system back to how I like it after a back-up is a huge pain in the you know what.......not to mention requiring much more time than I have right now. And last question - anyone out there got a line on dependable but cheap processors??? LOL - and thanks for any knowledge and experience you might be able to share!! Vickie >I have a Mac G4 dual 500MHz with 100MHz bus speed. ... >I am assuming I have to purchase 2 - one for each processor? This is an excellent Machine for upgrading. The 2 CPUs are on the same card, so you can upgrade with either a single CPU or dual CPU upgrade. The difference in bus speed for the most part is masked by the PowerPC's caches. You'll read many things down playing the advantages of CPU upgrades on the web. Most of these are from PC users, in which the systems is bottlenecked by slow drives, limited RAM and very slow bus speeds. On the Mac, the systems are shipped with components, in which the CPU is just about always the bottleneck. http://barefeats has a number of "real world" reviews. Normally if budget is an issue, I suggest, going for a faster single CPU G4. The second CPU adds a small amount of performance in everyday tasks, but due to the overhead of managing the 2nd CPU, the real performance boost only comes from heavy duty video encoding/decoding (like Quicktime), or during intensive Phooshop/Video Editing use. In both cases maxing out RAM will provide the biggest boost over the 2nd CPU. >How tricky is this to install myself? We sell and install a variety of upgrades at Daystar, all are pretty easy to install. I suggest browsing the CPU owner database at http://forums.xlr8yourmac.com/cpureview.lasso . PowerLogix has been going through a very rocky road on support and quality. Installation is normally just a few minutes. You do have to do a firmware update (run installer, reboot holding programmer button) with the latest CPU upgrades. I suggest purchasing from a company with "live" support, should you get stuck. >And does it wipe out memory anywhere? No, Totally screwing up a system or drive is very rare. >And last question - anyone out there got a line on dependable but cheap processors??? I like the 2 GHz G-Celerators. Fast to install, instant support, and max speed on both normal and intensive tasks. Plus it won't break your back at $418: http://daystar-store.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=139 . The 1.6 will still triple your speed at $268 as well. Gary Dailey http://daystar-tech.com - http://daystar-store.com |
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