eMac > Good Games Machine.

Well forgive me if you think I'm mad for using a so called "education" machine as a games machine, or indeed using any Mac for games, but I bought an eMac for the Internet mostly, but I now wish to run some games.

As you are probabaly all aware, my machine came with a puny 128Mb RAM, whilst in terms of processor I have a good 1Ghz G4 so nothing wrong there, and 60Gb hard disk is not a problem.

So how much RAM do you think I will need to make my eMac into a good games machine, because 128Mb just doesnt cut it (believe me, I've tried).
Also what other upgrades would you recommend which would make it more compatible with games/make them run better (baring in mind I am getting Panther in the new year) ??

Is it easy to get hold of a good sound system for the eMac for example, because as a musician I find the built in speakers with my machine a bit disappointing, they dont seem to go loud/powerful enough.

I am not planning to play Internet games either, so my current 150k broadband connection is fine for websurfing, IRC and MSN.

For games you should top up your memory to 512mb, you should have about this much for panther also.

As for upgrading anything else, like say the graphics card, it cannot be done.

I would reccomend soundsticks for good quality audio....

SoundSticks Powered satellite speakers and subwoofer, jointly developed with Apple Computer's world-class design team the soundsticks System is comprised of two powerful 10-watt Satellite Speakers backed by harman kardon's award-winning 20-watt, subwoofer, which produces stunning bass response down to 44 HZ. Not only are these high performance speakers optimised for iMac, iBook, PowerBook and power Mac G4¿s, but they are housed in a tubular, transparent enclosure that delivers crisp, powerful audio, and looks great anywhere.

Ok Thanks
Any other suggestions would be welcome

I just talked to one of the reps at the Mac store in Tampa yesterday and asked him the same thing.

Here is my findings for Warcraft III, which I play most often.

1)Going from my stock 256mb to 512mb did not make a lick of difference in the game

2)going from jaguar to panther did not make a lick of difference

3)the new video drivers that I got from software update right after I installed panther did not make a lick of difference.

So I'm still stuck playing it in 800x600x16 and everything turned down to minimum and music off.

Also, ever since I switched to Panther (maybe it was the new drivers too), starcraft will NOT reset the screen resolution to 640x480. I just see the 640x480 box with a black screen around it lol. Ohh well, its still playable.

I really wish they would have allowed for at least a video memory upgrade or something. Ohh well, time for a G5 tower.

it is disappointing that upgrading the Mac did not make a difference
But then again I'm not so bothered about games anymore, but I am thinking of upgrading my internet connection

also i've gone up from 128Mb to 384Mb
machine seems a lot more usable