PowerMac G4 - Upgrading processor & RAM?

Macadelic · Jul 22, 2008

I just bought a PowerMac G4 from a friend of mine and I am wanting to try and upgrade if possible.

The specs are Dual 450mhz Power PC Processor's, 1GB Ram, 250GB HD & 20GB HD with 10.4.11 OS.

Is it possible to upgrade the processor and Ram?

Thanks in advance.

louishen · Jul 22, 2008

Hop over to everymac to get the specs on that computer

The processor is upgradeable, but they are not exactly cheap

OWC does ram and processor upgrades for the G4

www.macsales.com

cwa107 · Jul 22, 2008

NOTE: Moved to more appropriate forum.

Macadelic · Jul 22, 2008

louishen said:
Hop over to everymac to get the specs on that computer

The processor is upgradeable, but they are not exactly cheap

OWC does ram and processor upgrades for the G4

www.macsales.com

Sounds good, I'll check it out now. Thanks a lot!

Edit - So a new processor would be anywhere from $200-$450. From 1ghz to Dual 1.8ghz's. Hmm...

cwa107 said:
NOTE: Moved to more appropriate forum.

Thanks!

harryb2448 · Jul 22, 2008

Depends to a very great extent where you are as the avatar does not say.

For instance louishen in England and myself in Australia really pay through the neck for used Macs and parts. Here a MDD 1.25GHz DP is still fetching about $500-600 so the CPU upgrades become more attractive. Have used a Mercury Extreme 1.3GHz upgrade from OWC at www.macsales.com and was very happy with the product and service.

Macadelic · Jul 23, 2008

Ok, probably going to go with the Dual 1.8ghz's later but for now, I think the memory card definitely needs an upgrade. It's the cheapest upgrade I can do for right now. A 128mb video card on macsales is $100 or something like that, but my question is, Can I get a bigger video card? Will it work and such? Thanks!

dtravis7 · Jul 23, 2008

This should be your machine. There was no G4 Tower with Dual 450Mhz G4's other than the Gigabit Ethernet.

http://www.lowendmac.com/ppc/mystic-powermac-g4-gigabit.html

It has AGP 2x. Check OWC and see what they recommend for your machine. I will check also and get back to you.

Macadelic · Jul 23, 2008

CPU: dual 450/500 MHz PPC G4 < The link you gave me says this?

My system says:

Processor: Dual 450mhz PowerPC G4
Memory: 1GB SDRAM

Now I'm confused. Do you think the processor was upgraded?

I'm looking at these video cards:
http://desc.shop.ebay.com/items/_W0...es+RADEON+9800+PRO+mac&_fromfsb=&_trksid=m270

And this processor: Dual 1.3ghz processors
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=320277367424&ssPageName=STRK:MEWA:IT&ih=011

Will the 128mb video card listed and the Dual 1.3ghz Processor be able to work with my computer? I assume yes because they say they are compatible.

It says; however, that the 256mb video card "Does not fit in any 2x AGP G4 Macs (Sawtooth, Gigabit Ethernet, G4 Cube)". Why is that?

dtravis7 · Jul 23, 2008

No, there were 3 models of the Gigabit. Yours is a Dual 450 G4 PPC. Trust me, I know your machine very well. Upgraded a few of them. The 500Mhz is a later model of your system with a faster processor.

The CPU will work. Not sure about the Video cards. Check OWC and see what they recommend.

Macadelic · Jul 23, 2008

dtravis7 said:
No, there were 3 models of the Gigabit. Yours is a Dual 450 G4 PPC. Trust me, I know your machine very well. Upgraded a few of them. The 500Mhz is a later model of your system with a faster processor.

The CPU will work. Not sure about the Video cards. Check OWC and see what they recommend.

I believe what you were saying, I think there was a misunderstanding somewhere. lol. my bad..

Ok, OWC recommends the Radeon 9200 or 9800. There is a 9700 on ebay that says it supports 2x AGP. So I believe that card will work as well, and is $80 cheaper.

So, I think I'm going to go with the Dual 1.3's and the 128mb 9700. Unfortunately the 256 doesnt work! That sucks! :Shouting:

Thanks for the info!

dtravis7 · Jul 23, 2008

That's cool. I just wanted to be sure you know what model you had.

Is the 9700 a Mac compatible card? Can I see a URL to it? If it is it should work fine.

Macadelic · Jul 23, 2008

http://cgi.ebay.com/Mac-ATI-Radeon-...257964236QQcmdZViewItem?hash=item270257964236
It says its compatible but I've made up my mind I'm going to go with the 9800 for $30 more just to play it safe and have a little bit better video card.

harryb2448 · Jul 24, 2008

Go to Apple Discussions and check out the fan problems with the 9800 before you commit. Personally like the 9600 which has no fan unit and runs much cooler, but probably not quite as fast if you are an avid gamer.

Also do a Google on the effectiveness of the L3 cache in CPU's. Sonnet do not use L3 and when using a Mercury Extreme 1.3GHz upgrade in a Gigabit Ethernet, really flew because of the 2MB L3 cache.

Macadelic · Jul 24, 2008

harryb2448 said:
Go to Apple Discussions and check out the fan problems with the 9800 before you commit. Personally like the 9600 which has no fan unit and runs much cooler, but probably not quite as fast if you are an avid gamer.

Also do a Google on the effectiveness of the L3 cache in CPU's. Sonnet do not use L3 and when using a Mercury Extreme 1.3GHz upgrade in a Gigabit Ethernet, really flew because of the 2MB L3 cache.

The video card wont be as much for gaming as it will be for 3d Animation and such.

I think I'm going to go with the Dual 1.3's because some of the programs I want to use require more than 1.5 and the only game I play, requires 1.8 or more.

Thanks for the input though!

harryb2448 · Jul 24, 2008

1.3GHz DP will not run at 2.6GHz but still at 1.3GHz so the programs may not run at all, particularly the 1.8GHz requirement, or much slower than you anticipate.

To illustrate my 1.25GHz Dual Processor FW800 will still only ever run at the 1.25GHz. The DP comes in handy for running intensive programs such as photoshop and graphic design programs but stays at the 1.25 speed..