Powermac G4, possible project?

[ricof]

Was thinking of getting this http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Power-Mac-G4-733Ghz-512GB-RAM-40GB_W0QQitemZ120498630766QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_Computing_Apple_Desktops_CV?hash=item1c0e47306e as it looks a fair price and I fancy a wee project. Was thinking of maxing out the memory and HDD. What sort of performance could I expect from this? Would it be able to run photoshop CS4 or would I have to install CS2?

Any help and advice would be appreciated.

Cheers

 

[oculus42]

At 733 you cannot install Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard (I have an 800 MHz G4 iMac that I modified the Leopard DVD to let me install it, but it's always been a bit wonky).

Adobe CS3 will run on the G4, provided you have Mac OS 10.4 Tiger (10.4.8 or later required). It's no slouch in desktop apps, even OK for most Flash, though I haven't used my iMac G4 with YouTube HD. Don't bother using it to transcode video... it just can't compare to the hardware available now.

 

[Willis]

As above, don't expect uber performance. I had a Dual 1.25GHz recently and my old Macbook was better at most the things I threw at it.

If you want a cheap project and stepping stone into Macs then sure go ahead, but HDD's are ATA-66 or 100 on these machines and Ram is only upto 2GB.

 

[ricof]

Thanks for the quick replies, will have to think about it. Since getting my MBP I spend every waking minute on my mac, I want to expand my horizons though!

Or maybe a base model Powermac g5, whats the opinion on them?

 

[frimple]

Thanks for the quick replies, will have to think about it. Since getting my MBP I spend every waking minute on my mac, I want to expand my horizons though!

Or maybe a base model Powermac g5, whats the opinion on them?

If you're looking for a project, why not think about a hackintosh? The real problem with buying old Macs as a project machine is that they annoyingly hold their value for some time. Maybe you're budget would be twice or three times what the G4 was listed at, however I think you'd have a hard time getting into a G5 tower for that money.

Plus building a hackintosh is cool!

 

[Willis]

Baseline G5's are ok... but in benchmarks, Dual 1.25's are good, but if you can, find a Dual 1.42 G4. They are like hens teeth to find so good collectors item.

Otherwise, look at a dual G5 as those are better machines

 

[OrangeSVTguy]

Also be aware that that Quicksilver won't support/access more than 128gb of hard drive space on the system bus. Adding a PCI IDE.PATA/SATA card or using external firewire/usb drives will be OK though. They also max out to 1.5gb as they only had 3 PC133 memory slots.

If that were US$65 than that might be an OK deal.

Like someone else mentioned, if you want a G4, try finding the dual 1.42ghz(FW800) model G4.

A G5 across the pond still fetch a premium from what I've seen lately.

 

[ricof]

Are the dual 1.42Ghz models also known as the 'mirror drive' G4? If so there are one or two but around the £200 mark. And nearly all items require me to collect them in person which is a pain as i'm at university.

Still, i'm interested so i'll keep looking. Are there any other places I could look for second hand Powermacs? Like a dedicated second hand dealer?

Cheers for your help.

 

[Techhie]

Also be aware that that Quicksilver won't support/access more than 128gb of hard drive space on the system bus. Adding a PCI IDE.PATA/SATA card or using external firewire/usb drives will be OK though. They also max out to 1.5gb as they only had 3 PC133 memory slots.

A relatively cheap updated IDE controller can be found that lifts the limit to several TB (IIRC)

 

[Techhie]

Are the dual 1.42Ghz models also known as the 'mirror drive' G4? If so there are one or two but around the £200 mark. And nearly all items require me to collect them in person which is a pain as i'm at university.

Still, i'm interested so i'll keep looking. Are there any other places I could look for second hand Powermacs? Like a dedicated second hand dealer?

Cheers for your help.

You should look around on Craigslist, seems like folks are practically giving away these G4s now. I picked up a dual 1 GHz QS for $150 a few months back, piled high w/ upgrades.

 

[Willis]

Are the dual 1.42Ghz models also known as the 'mirror drive' G4? If so there are one or two but around the £200 mark. And nearly all items require me to collect them in person which is a pain as i'm at university.

Still, i'm interested so i'll keep looking. Are there any other places I could look for second hand Powermacs? Like a dedicated second hand dealer?

Cheers for your help.

Yeah MDD was the last generation. These also came with FW800 so still useful if you need this port.

End of the day, it does depend on how much you're willing to spend, but I wouldn't want to spend much money on one unless you knew you were keeping it for some time. Otherwise invest your money elsewhere