I want to upgrade my G4 400MHz Sawtooth to take advantage of iDVD which requires a min. of 733MHz. Has anyone upgraded their processor? What did you use? Has it worked out OK?
Thanks,
Bob
Thanks,
Bob
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
G4 Processor Upgrades
- Thread starter bobditch
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
bobditch said:
I upgraded my Quicksilver from 733MHZ to 1.467 GHz using a OWC Mercury Extreme processor upgrade. It couldn't have been easier. Best thing to do is to first read reviews for processor upgrades for your particular machine on xlr8yourmac.com There you will find lots of reviews about the different processor upgrades for your particular system. Once you are ready, check out http://www.macsales.com
I upgraded a Sawtooth for server duty recently with a 1 Ghz Sonnet upgrade. Nice bang-for-the-buck and easy!
Good luck,
JT
Good luck,
JT
I upgraded QS 733 to FastMac 1.467
I upgraded my QS 733 with a FastMac 1.467. I understand this upgrade is very similar to the Mecury Extreme upgrade.
Installation is easy enough. You have to set the speed jumpers on the thing. Other than that, it works great. Price was good. Everything is faster. Still, I wonder if a dual would have been a better (faster) choice (e.g. gigadesigns).
I upgraded my QS 733 with a FastMac 1.467. I understand this upgrade is very similar to the Mecury Extreme upgrade.
Installation is easy enough. You have to set the speed jumpers on the thing. Other than that, it works great. Price was good. Everything is faster. Still, I wonder if a dual would have been a better (faster) choice (e.g. gigadesigns).
doucy2 said:
Since OS X is dual processor aware, the system will be faster regardless. Just make sure you have enough memory for this system at the same time. Any of the iApps will see a speed increase as well.
I went from a single 500 to a dual 533, and was amazed at how much faster my Dual G4 was afterwards. That system is on loan currently, and when it returns I am going to see about getting it in the dual 1ghz range (it is a Digital Audio (133mhz) logic board).
I put an OWC Mercury Extreme 1GHz CPU upgrade in my 450 sawtooth earlier this year. It took 5 minutes, had no jumpers to set or other settings to adjust and has worked flawlessly since. Best $195 I ever spent on computing gear - the system is like a whole new machine!
za9ra22 said:
Thats the one looking at. Now I'm wondering if the 1.4MHz for $100 more would show a noticeable difference in speed - worth the money?
The OWC 1.467 is an incredable card. Mine works great. I highly recommend upgrading older G4's. You can get them to run pretty fast. (Especially now that the prices are coming down for processor upgrades)
bobditch said:
Don't forget to upgrade your video card. iDVD 5 will freeze your computer with the OEM 128 Rage Pro card (only has 16 MB VRAM). You probably will need at least a 32 MB vid card.
I had serious problems with iDVD crashing until I figured out that my video card did not meet the minimum requirement. I would check to see what video card was installed with the 733 MHz PowerMac to see how much VRAM is minimally required.
My setup works great now!! See signiture.