Power Mac G4 Memory Upgrade

Hey techs,

A customer just gave me a Power Mac G4. It came with the OS 9.2 disk which I have now installed. I want to move up to Tiger 4.11. It has 128 MB of ram and I''ve learned (My first mac, I've been a windows user) that it needs a min of 256 mb. Actually, I want to install 1 gb but need help on this. It has 3 memory slots and all are filled. 2 x32 and 1x64. Can I pull these out and install a 1 gb stick or does it have to be in pairs (2x512)?

also, my friend has a mac book with Snow Leopard installed. Will Tiger's dock bar look like that?

Thanks,

Techsent

We would need to know what spec the G4 is specifically really, processor etc, but you can certainly pull the existing memory and add new, but it will need to be in 2 blocks of 512 for example.
As for the dock, yes, it will look the same.
With regard to Tiger, I assume you have the full reatail disc (Black face, big silver X), otherwise you won't be able to install it.

If possible some specs please. 3 memory slots sounds like either a G4 Digital Audio or G4 Quicksilver. If we knew the CPU speed, we could tell more.

Thanks Kevriano,

Here it is Power Macintosh G4 (Quicksilver)
it's the G4/867 model.

I found this memory here http://www.crucial.com/store/mpartspecs.aspx?mtbpoid=46B60C2AA5CA7304.

I didn't know that. The 2 disks I have are white with the leopard skin theme X. It's 10.2. I figure I can upgrade to .4 from that?

Techsent

That memory will work fine.

You can not just upgrade for free to 10.4. 10.2, 10.3 and 10.4 are like say Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Vista. You have to purchase the new OS. Only the point updates are updates like Windows Service packs. Example 10.2.1, 10.2.2 ETC.

Also since you have an 867Mhz G4, you can upgrade to 10.5 Leopard. It's not cheap though as it's the last Power PC version of OSX and people are charging a lot for it.

Also consider OWC for your memory as it seems quite a bit cheaper. with three slots you could install 1,5GB, 3 x 512MB, and look for Leopard OS X.5. Make sure you get the black so loured full retail install.


Apple PowerMac G4 QuickSilver 867MHz (2001)

Thanks Dennis & Harry. Appreciate the info. Right on, OWC is much cheaper. Since I have the CL3 version installed, I'll have to buy the $19.95 option. Or, can I use the CL2version and buy the high performance ram $31.99 instead?

Mainly, Im using this mac to learn everything about it and also setup and practice networking to windows networks and setup a vpn connection into an office network. I also want to buy an airport card and install that so I can practice setting up and connecting to wireless networks.

I found the user manual on this machine and it recommends installing 9.2 and 10.x together so it will support classic apps. Is there a need for this now as I figure to use apps designed for 10x and later?

also, until I install 10.2, is there a decent web browser usable with 9.2 because as it is now, the installed IE 5 and netscape 4.7 won't display web pages properly. I tried Icab and it wasn't mutch better.

Thanks,

Pat

You have got CL3 memory installed, then stick with that. Faster memory will work at the slower rate of the existing modules. Back in Classic days liked iCab:-


http://www.icab.de/download.php?os=Classic&lang=en