G4 upgrade ?

[theone]

New member here with my first question.

I've got a G4 PowerMac. I believe it's a Mirrored Drive. It's got a single 1.25G processor, 256m of sd-ram in slot 1. It states it version 3.3 under the model # and a 160 or 166 bus speed.

I want to upgrade to 10.4. I tried once and all heck broke loose. I backed up everything and re-installed 10.2.
So I want to add some RAM but I'm unsure of which (specs) to buy. I also dont know if the RAM should be installed in any specific manner. Ideally I want the MAX possible but it depends on $$$$$$.


Vinny

 

[Avalon]

From your specs it is an MDD.
256MB isn't really enough to work nicely with any version of OS X actually.

The MDD uses PC2700 memory (aka DDR 333), and the maximum i will recognise is 2GB. It has 4 memory slots, and eventhough it can take 1GB modules, it will not recognise more than 2GB because of a memory controller limitation.
I had one too, with 1.5GB, and it worked like a charm...if I hadn't gotten such a good opportunity to get the G5, I would still have my MDD.

 

[theone]

Please excuse my ignorance but is PC2700 memory all I need to know as far as pin configuration and speed of different memory?

And Do I need to double up with same speeds or could I have say a 256,a 512 and 1G in different slots?

 

[Avalon]

PC2700 specifies the type of memory, speedwise and the physical module. It is a SDRAM-DDR module, made for 167MHz bus speed, and due to DDR (double data rate) runs virtually at 333MHz (double bus speed).

You can mix sizes, there's no benefit of putting matched pairs in the PowerMac G4 (any model). You can even have different speeds, as long as you don't go below the minimum specified, which is PC2700. PC3200 will work as well, but will run at PC2700 speed, so the only benefit would be that nowadays it's probably cheaper to get PC3200 than PC2700 RAMs.

Last time I checked, a 512MB PC2700 module was around $50-60,- If you can afford 4 of those, you will max out the RAM, and it will work like a charm with Tiger. Jaguar (10.2) is sluggish and slow compared to Panther and Tiger, even with 2GB of memory.

 

[theone]

Thanks Avalon, now I can actually go and buy some.

 

[theone]

Just took out the original memory and counted the pins, Its 184.

Cant wait to get Tiger