eMac - Upgrades

Hi guys and gals,

I am currently using an eMac as listed below. It also has a small 40 gig hard drive and a lite on cdrw/dvd drive. What can I update to make it at least fast enough to be usable while I save for a MBP 17" or iMac 24". It is ok for internet but suufers from being a bit slow. I would also like to run iLife 06 and make DVD's but cannot as it is. Maybe a external DVD might be the go but I would prfer all in the one box.

Thanks in advance as I know I will get plenty of educated advice.

Mark (aka MaDDoG) with a new nice guy attitude.

P.S. this is probably in the wrong thread ocation so if the mods wouldlike to relocate thats fine.

Machine Name: eMac
Machine Model: PowerMac4,4
CPU Type: PowerPC G4 (2.1)
Number Of CPUs: 1
CPU Speed: 800 MHz
L2 Cache (per CPU): 256 KB
Memory: 384 MB
Bus Speed: 133 MHz
Boot ROM Version: 4.6.4f1

Well, there are a number of things that you can do to max out the performance. Some of the options would cost more than others. No matter what you do, there are really only two options for increasing speed though. Install RAM, and modify the CPU. Here are a couple links (one, two)giving you some ideas for what to do, and how to do it.

Your RAM is expandable to 1,024Mb, and you are pretty far from that.

You could overclock the CPU, but that requires soldering on the motherboard, and that's proably not what you are looking to do.

Final solution- add RAM.

Changing a hard drive and dvd burner internally is doable, but not for the faint of heart. If you have some knowledge of electronics disassembly you can then replace both the hard drive and the dvd which are attached to the logic board. The logic board is not high voltage but if you don't know what your doing it isn't hard to accidentally touch a high voltage (up to 24,000 volts) component on the analog board. There are service manual available on the internet, but I would suggest using externals or find someone who is qualified to do the job. As I'm sure you are aware, the ram is an easy swap.