Leopard on G4

dtravis7


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The Simple answer is no. The Leopard installer will say that your machine is not supported and let you go no farther.

There is a way but you have to install it on a faster Mac with at least an 867Mhz G4 and then transfer the hard drive to the 533 Mac. It would be pretty slow also.

You can get a CPU Upgrade for your 533Mhz G4.
 
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i have seen some articles on upgrading the cpu. is there any brand that is preferred. it seems to be pretty easy install.
 

dtravis7


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i have seen some articles on upgrading the cpu. is there any brand that is preferred. it seems to be pretty easy install.

The one thing I forgot to say in my last post was they are pretty expensive. I really like Sonnet but anything from OWC will be just fine.

Here is the URL for OWC.


http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/accelerators/


Here is the URL to Sonnet.

http://www.sonnettech.com/product/processorupgradecards/index.html

Hope that helps. It sounds like you have a G4 Digital Audio. Single 533 Mhz G4.
 

dtravis7


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Some will tell you no. Depends on how much you spend on the upgrades. I have a Digital Audio and slapped a 1.8Ghz G4, 1.5GB RAM and ATI Radeon 9800 Pro and it's not a bad machine, but my 2.1Ghz G5 is still a lot faster, but it runs Leopard very fast and is a very good overall machine.

If you put out too much $$$ on it upgrading you can get a better machine that is faster to begin with and more modern.

Up to you in the end. I like mine.
 
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No doubt the 2.1 or higher is much faster but it all comes down to bucks.

Not having any to throw on computers, I installed a Mercury Extreme 1.3GHz from OWC and the product and their after sales service has been tremendous. Have Leopard installed on mine (up from 400MHz no problems at all) and suggest in time maxing RAM out.
 
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well with the dollar now at 2 to the pound - a processor upgrade doesn't look that expensive for me
 
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i found a Sonnet Encore/ST G4 - Processor upgrade - 1 / 1 x Motorola PowerPC G4 1 GHz - L3 2 MB for $160.00 free shipping
 
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Great I am sure you will be pleased with it.

The secret is the 2MB L3 cache. Techheads with MacTalk here is Australia advised they believe my 1.3 with the 2MB L3 cache operates equal to about a 1.8GHz SP.

Digital Audios are also 4XAGP so you can use, in most cases, up to 8X cards.
 

dtravis7


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Great I am sure you will be pleased with it.

The secret is the 2MB L3 cache. Techheads with MacTalk here is Australia advised they believe my 1.3 with the 2MB L3 cache operates equal to about a 1.8GHz SP.

Digital Audios are also 4XAGP so you can use, in most cases, up to 8X cards.

Agreed! When I got the 1.8Ghz Giga Designs I had not really checked into the slightly lower clocked but with 2Meg L3 CPU's. If I had it to do over again I would go with a 1.4 with 2Meg L3. They are faster at a lot of things.

I got a really good deal on the 1.8 Giga though so I am not too upset.
 

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