Upgrading my handmedown PowerMac

[mactib]

It is an AGP. So can somebody suggest some upgrades with the computer?

1- 120 gig hdd
2- 512 mb ram or 1 gb ram.
3- a new graphics card. The one i have is ATI rage128. (Do i need an upgrade?)

Thanks,

P.S. I am not thinking of getting a new processor.

 

[DZ/015]

I own the same model. Just so you know:

1. The ATA controller on the motherboard cannot recognize volumes larger that 128GB. So stick with a hard drive of 120GB or less (as you stated). Seagate has the best warranty (5 years).

2. Up the ram to at least 1GB or you will not be happy.

3. A new graphics card is not necessary for web surfing, emailing etc. The 16MB rage will handle all of that. If you want to play some games, a Radeon may become necessary.

4. You can run Tiger, but even with 1GB of ram the slow processor will hold you back. You will see the spinning beachball often. In my opinion, Jaguar (10.2) will give the best performance with the 500MHz processor.

My system originally had a 400MHz processor. I got tired of waiting for it, so I bought a 1.8GHz upgrade from Giga Design. Well worth the price. Runs Tiger very well.

 

[Lord Blackadder]

I can't really tell conclusively from the photo, but the three connectors in the photo are PCI slots. If that card on the right is your video card and is in a slot that doesn't look like the others it's probably an AGP Sawtooth. Just to make sure you should look on the back of the computer. Somewhere on the back is a sticker that lists the original configuration of the machine in a CPU Speed/RAM/HD size/optical drive type format. This will help determine which machine you've got.

 

[RacerX]

if they're all the same, that means its not an AGP - and therefore not eligeable for the upgrades that pertain to the AGP macs only...

followed by...​

It is an AGP. So can somebody suggest some upgrades with the computer?

Before confusing this poor kid any more... the video PCI slot on the Blue & White G3s and PCI Graphics G4s is shorter than a normal PCI slot... and it looks just like an AGP slot.

The way to tell them apart is that the audio ports on the PCI Graphics G4 are side by side while the ports are on top of each other in the AGP Graphics G4.

I've attached a diagram to help.

 

[mactib]

........then I have an AGP guys..the audio ports are on top of each other. Thanks for the clarification.
Can somebody suggest some decently priced..
1- 120 gig hdd (Should I go for seagate?)
2- 512 mb or 1 gig ram
3- a new graphics card (Mine is a ATI rage 128)
4- a new processor (it will be most likely an OWC)
Thanks again..

Thank god the identity crisis of my G4 is solved

 

[ricgnzlzcr]

I'm in the same boat as you. I'm going to upgrade the hard drive to 120 and get 3 sticks of 256 ram into the machine. I will have a dual 450 Gigabit Ethernet and am also wondering whether the ATI Rage 128 Pro can handle a 21 inch LCD with DVI

 

[RacerX]

I will have a dual 450 Gigabit Ethernet and am also wondering whether the ATI Rage 128 Pro can handle a 21 inch LCD with DVI

It should be able to handle that size display (remember that Apple's first wide screen LCD display was introduced with the original G4s... using that graphics card).

Still, more video memory never hurts. But I thing in your case I would put it after a new drive and memory... and maybe even after a processor upgrade on my list of things to do.


When looking at processor upgrade you should keep in mind what you want to do with your system in the end. For example, not all apps take advantage of dual processors. But if you use a lot of different apps for your work, Mac OS X will spread them out over two processors (or four) so that no one app can slow down the others. But if you are a single task type of person and your main app doesn't use multiple processors, a very fast single processor would be the best "bang for your buck".

I usually sit down with my clients and discuss what they know they want to do and what they may want to do in the future before giving recommendations on upgrades.

 

[ricgnzlzcr]

It should be able to handle that size display (remember that Apple's first wide screen LCD display was introduced with the original G4s... using that graphics card).

Still, more video memory never hurts. But I thing in your case I would put it after a new drive and memory... and maybe even after a processor upgrade on my list of things to do.


When looking at processor upgrade you should keep in mind what you want to do with your system in the end. For example, not all apps take advantage of dual processors. But if you use a lot of different apps for your work, Mac OS X will spread them out over two processors (or four) so that no one app can slow down the others. But if you are a single task type of person and your main app doesn't use multiple processors, a very fast single processor would be the best "bang for your buck".

I usually sit down with my clients and discuss what they know they want to do and what they may want to do in the future before giving recommendations on upgrades.

That's great advice. My monitor has a 1680 x 1050 resolution and I wasnt sure if that video card would be able to handle it. If it does, then I will go for the ram and the hard drive upgrade first. If I see Leopard won't run on a dual 450 processor, I will upgrade it. I may also get a nicer video card in the future

 

[mactib]

I think my monitor is the old crt studio. So, i guess updating the video card will not make any sense? I also want to know whether I really need a processor upgrade.

 

[ricgnzlzcr]

I think my monitor is the old crt studio. So, i guess updating the video card will not make any sense? I also want to know whether I really need a processor upgrade.

What do you plan on doing with your powermac?

 

[mactib]

What do you plan on doing with your powermac?

I might be using it for email, college stuff, some photoshop, illustrator...I really want to do some finalcutpro but i guess i have to go to the college media lab for that...
I just want to use it for normal stuff basically

 

[RacerX]

I think my monitor is the old crt studio. So, i guess updating the video card will not make any sense? I also want to know whether I really need a processor upgrade.

Well, in order of importance...

I would do the hard drive first. Once you get things set up the way you want, your not going to want to keep moving everything around. Your hard drive is your foundation.

Next would be memory. Mac OS X works pretty nicely on just about any system... but when it starts using swap disk rather than real memory, that is when it starts to feel slow.

The most important thing to remember about an upgradable Mac is that you don't have to do all the upgrades at once. I usually get a good base setup, and then add upgrades as my needs or finances dictate.


For example, the system I'm typing this post on right now is a PowerBook G3 Wallstreet (from 1998). I added a G4/500 upgrade in spring of 2003, I added a second hard drive that winter, I upgraded the CD-ROM to a CDRW in the summer of 2004 and last fall I upgraded both hard drives and added a USB 2.0 card. Little by little I've been adding to it, because that was how I could afford to do it. I surely wouldn't have made all those modifications at once because it wouldn't have been cost effective. But doing it over time let the system pay for itself.

I may own a lot of equipment (my wife thinks I have too much), but all the major pieces have earned their way into my collection. When I look at my main core of systems, all of them have paid for themselves many times over.

 

[mactib]

Well, in order of importance...

Next would be memory. Mac OS X works pretty nicely on just about any system... but when it starts using swap disk rather than real memory, that is when it starts to feel slow.

What is the difference between swap disk and real memory?

 

[mactib]

Well, in order of importance...

I would do the hard drive first. Once you get things set up the way you want, your not going to want to keep moving everything around. Your hard drive is your foundation.

judging by what you say about "moving things around", it seems like doing hardware stuff is hard.(no pun intended). I am going to do it for the first time....so...

 

[xfiftyfour]

judging by what you say about "moving things around", it seems like doing hardware stuff is hard.(no pun intended). I am going to do it for the first time....so...

You could just save yourself the trouble and buy the already-upgraded G4 in my sig...

 

[mactib]

i would rather do it myself and learn something

 

[xfiftyfour]

i would rather do it myself and learn something

I know, I wasn't being serious - as I'd hoped to convey via the smileys.

 

[RacerX]

What is the difference between swap disk and real memory?

Swap disk (virtual memory) is when the system starts using the hard drive rather than real memory... real memory is always going to be much much faster, so keeping as much of your open apps in real memory as possible speeds things up quite a bit. That is why most people will recommend getting as much memory as you can afford as one of the first upgrades for a system running Mac OS X.

judging by what you say about "moving things around", it seems like doing hardware stuff is hard.(no pun intended). I am going to do it for the first time....so...

The hardware stuff isn't nearly as much trouble as the software stuff. That is why doing the hard drive first is helpful. It lets you get your software stuff set up and working and then you can worry about the other pieces of hardware as you feel the need.

Usually things like upgrading memory, replacing the processor and replacing the video card don't require much in the way of modification to your existing software setup... but replacing a hard drive can be very involved as you generally have to start over setting up your software.

 

[Lord Blackadder]

I agree that you should probably upgrade the Mac in this order:

1. Hard drive

2. RAM

3. CPU

4. Video Card

The video card only becomes a priority if you play a lot of games, run Motion, or want a very big display but have a card with 16MB vram.

 

[penter]

If i were you, i'd jsut stick to the MBP and not complicate things. youve got a pretty good set up in your MBP as it is.

 

[rjphoto]

Hard Drive upgrade

I put a Western Digital 120Gig in mine. That was 3 years ago. Prices have come way down. You should be able to find a Seagate or WD for around $80 or less.

If you are going to do video editing make sure to get at least a 7200RPM drive.

Don't worry about the grahics card unless you need a really big monitor...really BIG.

More RAM, MORE RAM...DID I SAY MORE RAM? Get as much as you can afford or as much as it will hold, which ever tops out first. You can add more later if you run out of cash. If it has 512Mb you can put in another GIG at least (if the 512 is 2 sticks of 256) or 1.5GIG (if there is only 1 512 stick in it already.)

This unit should be able to take an original Airport Card also. Their price skyrocketed after the newer cards came out but you can still find them.

Oh, I almost forgot...you can put a Pioneer DVD burner in for some extra fun if it doesn't already have one. I used the the DVR-107D, but others should work.

Good luck.

 

[mactib]

Thanks a lot guys,

I will now go on to buy the stuff off the net. and..
1- install my hard-disk
2- and some extra ram.

finally can anybody tell me how to install the next hard drive on my g4?

Thanks

 

[rjphoto]

Thanks a lot guys,

I will now go on to buy the stuff off the net. and..
1- install my hard-disk
2- and some extra ram.

finally can anybody tell me how to install the next hard drive on my g4?

Thanks

You should see a ribbon cable coming off of the mother board and plugging into the back of the exisiting hard drive and a white plug with a red, black and yellow wires. That's the power cable.

There should be 2 plugs on each of these.

WITH THE COMPUTER TURNED OFF...just plug in the new hard drive to the other plug on ribbon cable and power cable just like the old one is plugged in. Note the direction of the colored wires on the power cable and sit it on top of the onld one for now.

Boot up the computer and see if it sees the new HD. It may need to be formatted.

Here's the fun part. Do you have OSX Yet? If so, boot up from the CD/DVD and run Disk Utilities to format the drive. Then Install OSX on the new drive. The old drive will still be there with OS9 (if that's what it has on it.)

If the old dirve already has OSX you can use Carbon Copy Cloner to move everything over to the new drive (after it is formatted.)

Somebody check me to see if I missed anything.

 

[KingYaba]

I would love to have a hand-me-down G4 tower to upgrade. It would be fun.

Just to let you know, OWC has some nice video tutorials so if you get confused you can check them out. They have a lot on upgrading g4s.

 

[Lord Blackadder]

I also recommend Other World Computing's video tutorials for upgrade installation - they are easier to understand than any explanation that I could give you, though swapping a hard drive in a G4 tower is pretty easy.