Mac Forum / General / Hardware / May 2008

Yes, some of the dual 867mhz, 933mhz and 1ghz from the MDD series are
quite cheap now...

But no, it is not possible to mount - or use - a CPU from neither a
QuickSilver nor a MDD in any of the earlier models like the Sawtooth or
GigabitEthernet models.

What you can use in a Sawtooth are CPUs from other Sawtooths or
GigabitEthernet - fx. a Dual 533mhz from a GigabitEthernet will fit
directly into your Sawtooth.

You can also buy new CPUs that will work perfecdtly well in your
sawtooth. - Fx. Sonnet, PowerLogix, Newertech or GigaDesigns.

The very best are the CPUs from GigaDesigns followd closely by those
from PowerLogix. Take a look here on the OWC site to see which CPUs you
can use in a Sawtooth. NOTE The Mercury CPUs are equal to PowerLogix.
http://eshop.macsales.com/MyOWC/Upgrades.cfm?model=164&type=Processor&TI=2710&sh
oupgrds=Show+Upgrades

Here you have a short view of which CPUs you can use in which models.
- PCI Graphics G4
  Non-AGP G3 and G4 processors
- AGP Graphics aka Sawtooth, GigabitEthernet
  Any CPU from any of these models fit into each others
  You can use a DA or QS CPU in a GigabitEthernet, if
  you change jumper settings from 12v/133mhz(QS) to
  5v/100mhz(ST/GE)
- AGP DigitalAudio
  You can use CPUs from the DA in a Sawtooth og GigabitEthernet.
  Just remember to be sure that the motherboard jumpers are set
  to correct speed.
- AGP Quicksilver
  You can use any CPU from any QS in another QS
  You can use any CPU from a QS in a DA, if you change jumper
  settings from 12v/133mhz(QS) to 5v/133mhz(DA).
- AGP MDD
  You can use any CPU from any MDD in any other MDD models

Through the last 6-7 years I've upgraded lots of Sawtooths,
DigitalAudios and Quicksilvers with fraster CPUs. - Right from a single
or dual 1,4ghz in a Sawotth to a dual 1,8ghz in a Quicksilver. The
'host' machines have been Sawtooth 400mhz and 450mhz, GigabitEthernet
500mhz, Dual 500mhz, DigitalAudio dual 667mhz, QuickSilver 733mhz,
800mhz, 867mhz, 1ghz, dual 800mhz and dual 1ghz with single processors
from 1ghz to 1,6ghz and dual processors from 1ghz to 1,8ghz.

The benefit upgrading these machines is first of all that you get a
quite lot faster machine, and you keep the possibility of booting into
Os 9.x along with all OS x systems.

So if your G4 Sawtooth is full equipped with memory, disks and other PCI
cards like SCSI and soundcards and more, such an upgrade indeed will
make the 'oldie' into a 'speed monster'. - Fx. have I a QS upgraded to a
dual 1,8ghz with a GigaDesigns Dual G4/7447A. This machine is so fast
that I nearly regreted that I spend the money buying a new MacPro.:-) -
The 'bad thing' here is that it can only handle 1,5gb RAM. - But towards
the macpro, the QuickSilver can still use my M-Audio Delta 66 soundcard
- even with leopard 10.5.2!

The last one I've upgraded is also a Sawtooth 400mhz, which got a dual
500mhz from a GigabitEthernet. This macine was meant for two of my
friends, who still need to be able to both boot and run classic within
OS X. - This machine replaced an old PowerMac 96007300mhz. - the problem
tohugh is that they aren't quite used to use OS X yet.:-)

So if you can find either a dual 500mhz from a GE or a used GigaDesigns
G4/7447A, a similar PowerLogix or NewerTech with a speed from dual
800mhz to dual 1,4ghz, I can only recommend you to do this, if the price
is reasonable. - Here I mean apprx. up to 50% of new price for a similar
CPU - fx. compared to those mentioned in the link from OWC.

Hope you can use this for further exploring and decisions...
cheers, Erik Richard