A PowermacQS for my emac, a good deal?

[ndeal]

Hi there, i just registered on this forums because i need some feedback on a lame mac-upgrade plan that i have...

I recently purchased.. an Emac 1ghz, well.. not that recently.. about.. 6 months. its a good machine.. but i dont know.. its getting old;

A friend of mine has a lil apple store and he wants to trade his powermacQS 733 machine for my emac...

I feel like its a hell freaking good deal, but im unconfident now because i readed some bad posts about powermac's upgrades over at IMG..
I saw the specs of both macs on everymac.com and they seem to be very similar (a 133mhz bus and.. well -not very- similar G4 processors)..
So i was wondering, if i get this powermac, and then lets say i upgrade it with gigadesigns 1.3 ghz processor upgrade, and i put a radeon 9800 on it.. it will give me a good performance? like lets say.. hmm.. top line g4 powermacs? (the latest ones with dual processors)

Im a graphic designer.. and quite a unreal tournament junkie too.. i wont play a lot though.. so i wanna know if this is a good plan to upgrade my main work machine..

I kind of hate the emac because sometimes its slow for some tasks, it has that ugly A$$ -elcheapo- radeon 7500 card on it.. .. and well this thing its getting old pretty quick.. You may say, "save your money for a G5!!".. - but no, i dont want to buy a Powermac G5 until the 3ghz model comes out, until that happens, i'll stick with G4's (dont ask why :P)

So yay, or nay?

Also, how different would be the performance using the gigadesigns Dual processor upgrade than the single processor upgrade?


ahh! and the powermac will come with a kick ass Sony trinitron 19" monitor, and like 1gb of ram :) all for this cheap emac... sweet ;)

[Rod Rod]

it sounds like a good trade, except that 733MHz machine is about 3 years old. also, by the time you upgrade the graphics card and the processor, you'll have spent more than the $1299 it would take to get a closeout / refurb 1.6GHz G5.... assuming you're looking at a dual-processor GigaDesigns upgrade. even if you're instead looking at a single-processor 1.2GHz upgrade (about $400, iirc) and an ATI Radeon 9800 (about $350), well that adds up to a lot of money. I suppose the only case where it would really be worth it is if you need to run OS 9.

otherwise, you can get about $600 on eBay for your machine, and upgrade to a refurb 1.25GHz PM G4 (complete with 1-year warranty) for another $500. this way you'll get a 167MHz fsb. you can part out the 64MB Radeon 9000 and maybe get $50 or $60, and get a 128MB Radeon 9000 for $160.

the RAM your friend's including makes a difference though.. anyway I'd lean towards newer equipment. another thing is the QS models have a reputation of being especially loud (wind tunnel). the MDD PM G4s aren't silent, but they're more of a burble than a whoosh.

[BrianKonarsMac]

with the upgrades you're talking about you'd be better off getting a G5. A radeon 9800 will never be worth your money on a G4, and I own a QS933 trust me. buy a used 1.6 G5.

my QS is pretty much dead silent compared to any other computer with a fan i've heard, but you seem to have your expectations set pretty high, so the G5 would seem to fit your needs. If your doing anything other than 3D modeling/Number Crunching, your fine with a G4.

Don't forget you still need a monitor.

[ndeal]

Don't forget you still need a monitor.


ahh! and the powermac will come with a kick ass Sony trinitron 19" monitor, and like 1gb of ram all for this cheap emac... sweet

Well yeah.. i want a G5, but it would be much trouble to bring it down here, to Mexico.

I saw a Refurb G5 for 1299 ant that hafta be one hell of a deal. But then, add the shipping the taxes, and all that jazz. Pus if i sell my emac, i would need a MAC ASAP, coz i do a lot of freelance job.. and being mroe than 2 days with my mac would kill me.

An smal gigadesigns update, (lets say 1.2) and a radeon 9000 card would do the job for me, i think.

In mexico, G5 are like 2800.. they are nuts.. ....yes the standart ones, as far as i remember. O_O And yeah i have my hopes high on the G4, mostly because i use it for work, intensive Photoshop.. and some flash maybe..

Plus getting this new mac with the monitor means higher resolutions, and higher res for designers: good. (IMHO) -- hmm but..

But now that i think about it.. it might be worth getting a G5.. 1299 for a G5 its a good damn deal.. Does anyone here knows how much the ship and taxes will cost to ship it to mexico?

[BrianKonarsMac]

i do photoshop, flash, director, and illustrator on my 933 and 1.33, they both work perfectly. i use the same apps at school on a G5 and notice no difference in speed (these are NOT number crunching apps, Photoshop filters aside). If you're a heavy filter user (read huge files, several complex filters) G5 is the way to go. Otherwise a nice PowerLogix dual G4 upgrade would do the trick just fine (~$500-800 dual 1.2-1.47) and a radeon 9000 ($150) plus several HD's (the G4's are far more expandable than the G5's).

hey if people can smuggle massive bricks over the border, i'm betting you can make it with a powermac!!