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upgrade Pre G3 Powermac, or buy a used G3 or G4 powermac?

W

WannabeSQ

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Oct 24, 2002
361
0
I have this old Powermac 8600 200mhz, and my little sister is going to junior high next hear, and I was gonna give her the computer as a "graduation present" Then I got to thinking, she uses iTunes on my Mom's 333mhz iMac among other programs, and is constantly pissed about how slow it is. This is with OSX 10.2.6. I was thinking of buying a G3 450mhz processor for the 8600 and maybe some more ram, which would be around $200. She just uses email, AIM, iTunes and word processing, nothing too cpu intensive (on a side note, is it just me, or is iTunes 4 less of a CPU hog?)

Also, would it be worth it to get a Radeon 7000 for it? I would like it to run OSX at an acceptable speed (i have a G4 500 powermac that is plenty for what she needs, so that would be a sort of "goal" for this upgrade)

Or should I just sell the thing on ebay for $100 and buy a $300 mac on ebay? Any thoughts on this?
 
MacsRgr8

MacsRgr8

macrumors G3
Sep 8, 2002
8,284
1,753
The Netherlands
I would try the latter.

The problem with installing a G3 upgrade card in old PM's is that "the rest of the hardware (RAM, HD and so on)" still is very slow. Even installing a Radeon 7000 in it will not help alot. Using a 33 MHz PCI slot for graphics isn't going to feed that card alot.....
In my opinion, only every Quartz Extreme capable Mac is worth OS X. Even running Jaguar on a 400 MHz iMac DV isn't pleasing.
Try to get an AGP equipped G4 with a Radeon Mac edition grfx card, or GeForce2. They can't be that expensive 2nd hand nowadays.
 
W

WannabeSQ

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Oct 24, 2002
361
0
yeah, I was afraid of that, slow bus speed etc. I am kinda waiting for WWDC just in case, as I want to either upgrade or replace my G4 500 AGP. If new 970/g5 machines come out, ill probably get one of those and pass on my G4, it would be more than enough for my sis. If they dont release new computers, I think ill just buy a CPU upgrade for my tower.

On a side note, would it be worth it for the cpu upgrade to get a 133mhz bus system? I could probably find an old 466 tower cheaply on ebay and use that for the processor upgrade and still pass on this tower. Is the extra 33mhz in the bus worth the hassle?
 
MacsRgr8

MacsRgr8

macrumors G3
Sep 8, 2002
8,284
1,753
The Netherlands
Originally posted by WannabeSQ


On a side note, would it be worth it for the cpu upgrade to get a 133mhz bus system? I could probably find an old 466 tower cheaply on ebay and use that for the processor upgrade and still pass on this tower. Is the extra 33mhz in the bus worth the hassle?
Click to expand...

That's a tough one. I think it depends on "how much" of an upgrade you are thinking about. If you want to go all the way up to 1 GHz or beyound, I think you should. Remember that the 466 also has an AGP 4x bus, which makes this choice even better (and Gbit ethernet).
But, I think the price of the 466 could still be up there.
But it's a good idea to wait till after WWDC anyway. <I can't wait...> :)
 
C

cubist

macrumors 68020
Jul 4, 2002
2,075
0
Muncie, Indiana
If your goal is to get something for your sister, how much do you want to spend? You can get her a jellybean iMac for around $300-$400. If you give her your tower, she'll need a monitor.

I suggest you try to separate the "sister computer" deal from the "upgrade my own computer" deal.

I wouldn't mess around with the cpu upgrades because you never really get your money back on those things, so unless you're really attached to your TAM or Cube, it's not worth it. YMMV.
 
W

WannabeSQ

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Oct 24, 2002
361
0
Originally posted by MacsRgr8
That's a tough one. I think it depends on "how much" of an upgrade you are thinking about. If you want to go all the way up to 1 GHz or beyound, I think you should. Remember that the 466 also has an AGP 4x bus, which makes this choice even better (and Gbit ethernet).
But, I think the price of the 466 could still be up there.
But it's a good idea to wait till after WWDC anyway. <I can't wait...> :)
Click to expand...

yeah, im gonna wait, just in case. And yes, i would be gong to upgrade above 1ghz, probably to the Giga Designs 1.4ghz upgrade (that is overclockable with jumpers to 1.5ghz)

Another reason for the 133mhz bus is more options for overclocking that upgrade, as it only has a 16x multiplier, which would max out at 1.6ghz on a 100mhz bus system.
 
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