Your opinion wanted - Mac processor upgrade!!!

[KenElevenShadows]

I have a Mac G4 466 MHz computer with 1G RAM running OS 9.2.2 Next, I wish to upgrade the processor. I was thinking about upgrading to this one by OWC. Any comments or alternate suggestions before I go for it? Thanks for your opinions!!!!!!

[Rog]

Mucho $$$ but I'd look at a G5.

 

If I'd saved all the money I've spent upgrading older equipment

 

Why keep an outdated pooter on life-support?

[Guitar Geezer]

Ditto...I'd look at the G5. Every Proc Üpgrade that I've done has faced heat problems

 

(My 02¢)

[Rader Ranch]

i've never had heat prob's w/the G3 and G4 upgrades i've thrown in old 9600's, and it's kept the comp's quite useful as PTLE rigs for musician friends who don't need full power systems. it often seems, though, that what specs as a 3x improvement often is a real world maybe 1.5x at best...but if you're doing it for xtra plugs you could always throw it in, do some tests, and end it back if it's not good enough.

 

as an alternative place, i've had good luck w/these folks: http://sonnettech.com/product/encore_stg4.html (not this specific card, this is just the one comparable to what you mentioned). i've also used powerlogix in the past that worked fine.

[KenElevenShadows]

Thank you for the responses. The Sonnet looks good.

 

Thanks for pointing out the heat concerns. I will look into this!!

 

As far as upgrading to a G5, I am choosing not right now to for these following reasons:

 

1. The sheer cost of purchasing a G5.

2. The necessity to upgrade Digi001 to Digi002 - more $$$$.

3. Upgrading several hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars of plug-ins that would be rendered incompatible. More $$$$.

4. Upgrading Adobe PhotoShop, which is not cheap.

5. Spend hours tinkering and learning new programs and operating systems instead of getting on with making music, my primary focus.

6. My system is not on life-support. It works great, and I am very happy with it. I just want it to be faster and utilize a few more plug-ins.

7. I'd rather put my money towards improving the front end and back end.

 

My choice is to spend $500 instead of spending what would probably be ten times as much and having to tinker and learn new programs. I feel that this is the most efficient use of my time, money, and energy at this point. I hope this makes sense. Again, thank you to everyone for their suggestions. If you have other processor upgrade suggestions, please let me know!!!

[KenElevenShadows]

Review of various processor upgrades for a G4.

[Greenshoe]

I upgraded mine about six months ago. I got the Gigadesigns 1.25 (but overclocked to 1.4) and so far without a hitch. I'm still on 9.2.2 with 1.25 gig RAM. The upgrade was primarily for my Digi001 setup -- and I have more than enough juice than I need. And at 1.4Ghz single it'll work fine should I upgrade to OS 10.3

 

Unlike the sonnet cards, the gigadesign processor cards has its own heatsink and fan. I got it based on the reviews (most positive, least negative) on www.xlr8yourmac.com Mind you this was 6 months ago so things may have changed since then.

 

I don't know what the prices are like on the dual processor upgrades but they were rather high, and I believe only powerlogix makes them -- and you can check to see whether your G4 will allow for a dual processor upgrade -- just go to www.powerlogix.com

 

Some here mentioned about just getting the G5 -- if you're planning on getting a new CPU in the next year, then by all means save up. If you're looking for a holdover for two years or so, then it might be worthwhile -- it's certainly made the difference for me as I don't spend craploads of time bouncing and re-bouncing submixes of vocals and background vocals to free up CPU space.

[dementia13]

I haven't dabbled in the upgrade cards yet, but every single bit of word of mouth I've heard says that the Newertech cards are far more stable than the Sonnet upgrades.

[offramp]

Same here. Powerlogix or Newertech; stay away from the Sonnet.

[KenElevenShadows]

Originally posted by Greenshoe:

Unlike the sonnet cards, the gigadesign processor cards has its own heatsink and fan.

According to the review (see my previous post), the Sonnet is a bit of a pain to remove after installation. And not having a heat sink concerns me, especially after the first two posts stating that this was indeed a concern.

 

Thanks.

[KenElevenShadows]

Originally posted by Greenshoe:

I don't know what the prices are like on the dual processor upgrades but they were rather high, and I believe only powerlogix makes them -- and you can check to see whether your G4 will allow for a dual processor upgrade -- just go to www.powerlogix.com

Here's what I've found so far:

G4 Dual 1.2 GHz for Quicksilver

 

This is expected to ship in the middle of April 2004 (I'm writing the year in case someone looks this up several months from now).

 

I have a G4 Digital Audio 466MHz with 133 MHz bus system, so I do not believe it is compatible. But even if it were, would things such as Pro Tools LE 5.1 really benefit from dual processing?

[deanmass]

Ken, if you are in between affording a G5 and an upgrade, I would sit tight until the WWDC in June, because all the mac's except the G5 are due for at least a speed bump.

 

If you have to do something now, and do not need PCI slots ( i.e. you are firewire or USB based, I'd get a refurbed eMac. You can get them with a superdrive for about $700 refurbed, and you can eBay your old mac, so you net investment should be about $350.00.

 

If you have to do something now, need the slots, I'd get a G5 single before I would get a Dual G4. The G5 is gonna hold it's value better right now.

[KenElevenShadows]

Originally posted by deanmass:

Ken, if you are in between affording a G5 and an upgrade, I would sit tight until the WWDC in June, because all the mac's except the G5 are due for at least a speed bump.

 

If you have to do something now, and do not need PCI slots ( i.e. you are firewire or USB based, I'd get a refurbed eMac.

 

If you have to do something now, need the slots, I'd get a G5 single before I would get a Dual G4. The G5 is gonna hold it's value better right now.

Got it. The dual G4 was more a question of curiosity since that one's not even compatible with my computer and I don't believe PT LE 5.1 will benefit from dual processor anyway.

 

I will try and see if I can sit tight until WWDC. And yes, Digi001 requires a PCI slot. I wonder how much faster the G4 processor upgrades are gonna get??? They're up to 1.5 MHz already. Just wondering "out loud"!

 

I figure that this processor upgrade, when I get it, should hold me over approximately 2-3 years. Then I'll get whatever is current (G6? G7? ). I prefer to keep working on what I've got as long as it is useful, and skip a generation. It's much cheaper for me, and I don't have to learn as many new operating systems and applications.

 

Thanks for your advice! And to everyone else, also, thanks.

[Groovepusher Sly]

Its an unpleasant fact of life we have to deal with, UPGRADING. I would not go the upgrade route. Rather, I would start planning your migration to OS X. I kept my G3/266 studio machine running while I upgraded my desktop to an iMac. That allowed me to get totally familiar with OS X. Saturday I killed the last vestiges of OS 9 I had.

Check out some used Mac prices, I just bought an office machine from here, Power Max they have a G4 dual/800 for $1450. you can probably find better machines cheaper, but it gives you a reference.

Take your time and plan your upgrade. I didnt get a chance to finish mine cause the thieves came and made sure Id have to start fresh from scratch. But I know OS X and Im really ready for a G5 now.

Waiting till after WWDC is a good idea too.

 

Sly

[Geoff Grace]

An engineer I work with bought an upgrade that not only sped up his computer, it sped up the metronome on his DAW so that 120 bpm sounded like 133.78 bpm or so. This was at least a decade ago, so I doubt something like that would happen today. Even so, I'd call Digidesign and ask the questions you're asking here before going this route.

 

Good luck Ken.

 

Best,

 

Geoff

[dementia13]

I have a G4 Digital Audio 466MHz with 133 MHz bus system, so I do not believe it is compatible. But even if it were, would things such as Pro Tools LE 5.1 really benefit from dual processing?

As long as you're using OS 9, your benefit from using dual processors is going to be limited. So: do you upgrade the proc and the OS at the same time, go with a single processor upgrade, or hold out for a new system? If you go dual and stay with OS 9, you're paying for power that you'll never fully utilize.

[KenElevenShadows]

Originally posted by Geoff Grace:

An engineer I work with bought an upgrade that not only sped up his computer, it sped up the metronome on his DAW so that 120 bpm sounded like 133.78 bpm or so. This was at least a decade ago, so I doubt something like that would happen today.

See, now, that's not a problem, Geoff. We don't use a metronome here because that would expose the fact that we can't play in time...

[KenElevenShadows]

Originally posted by dementia13:

If you go dual and stay with OS 9, you're paying for power that you'll never fully utilize.

Yeah, that's kinda what I figured since dual processors weren't really out when OS 9/PT LE 5.1 were out. Thanks!!!

[KHAN]

I just upgraded my Dual 450 G4 with the Powerlogix Dual 1 GHz card from OWC for $579. This card has the new 7457 chip that can only boot into OS9 with a firmware update that has to be re-installed every time you zap the P-Ram. I didn't care about that though, because I am not using OS9 anymore. Classic mode in OSX works fine though.

 

Best $579 I've ever spent.

[KenElevenShadows]

Khan, that's bizarre. Why would you have to keep reinstalling the firmware by zapping the P-RAM? I know that installing the firmware can sometimes change your P-RAM settings, so maybe they're somehow related?

 

Anyway, I just installed the firmware update that's needed by both the Giga or the OWC processor upgrades, if that's what I decide to get. Hopefully it won't get buggy, as I intend on continuing to run 9.2.2!

[KHAN]

I think that the 7457 chip is in the later G4's that don't boot in OS9, and they created this "band-aide" patch to give people OS9 compatability. The CD I got with the card called the OS9 patch "firmware", but since it's stored in the P-RAM, I guess you could call it 'pseudo-firmware'.

 

It's Firmware-esque...

[Groovepusher Sly]

Originally posted by Ken/Eleven Shadows:

.... as I intend on continuing to run 9.2.2!

That's OK, but at least start thinking about how you're going to get to OS X. You could even run OS X on your current machine (with or without the upgrade), from a partition or another drive.

 

Sly

[Philter]

You will get a big, big improvement in the performance of native audio software with a processor move like you mentioned.

 

Most recently I upgraded my G4/466 to the GigaDesigns G4/1.25GHz Upgrade. It was a huge boost and I got a big improvement in performance and plug-ins. It has also been perfectly compatible- same machine, just a lot faster.