A few upgrade questions: G4 MDD Dual 1.25

[aimfocuscapture]

I'm looking at upgrading a few things on this old bird.

Do I have to use 512mb sticks? I though I read somewhere that this machine could take 1gb sticks in two slots.

Well faster ram clock lower in this machine? 3200 to 2700. It's hard to find the older ram these days.

And is the IDE interface on this limited to four drives like the old PC's used to be? Or perhaps I can get an SATA pci card if I want more or bigger hard drives?

I'm guessing It'll be a hard task to find a video card to upgrade to. Seems I'm pushing this machine to its max. She seems to run slower than it did when it was brand new. I'm assuming 10.4 is more resource intensive than 10.1 or 10.2 were. I have not made the leap to 10.5 because it's prettier on the graphics side, and likely would not run all that smooth. plus it has not got enough advantages for me as far as I've seen.

One other note, on another thread somewhere there was a link to the specs of my machine. But it did not reflect the fact that I have FW 800. I though that was weird.

Thanks

 

[California]

I think you have one of the better g4s made, so it is worth it to upgrade the ram. Max it out. Check the specs on everymac.com. Don't know what you are asking really about it... of course the ram will underclock. I'd get a better video card for it, too.

 

[SmurfBoxMasta]

Although you might be able to fit 1GB sticks in the slots, they will only register as 512's. This is a hardware limitation of the memory controller on the mobo. And yes it should downclock fine....

The mobo is limited to 4 IDE drives total, mainly due to the fact that there are only 2 IDE connections, each of which can support 2 drives.... and YES you can get an SATA card to increase that. In fact I would highly recommend it, as it will also give you a considerable speeeed boost, and new IDE HDD's are becoming harder & harder (& more expensive) to find nowadays.

The best video card for G4's is the Radeon 9800pro. Here you have 3 choices:

A) Get a flashed peecee model for less $$ and use it (FYI this is what I have in my QS, nottaproblemo!)

B) Pay the outrageous retail price of ~$250 for a genuine Mac-rommed unit and be happy

C) Try to find a used card on ebay/craigslist etc and take your chances.....

With maxed ram & video card, 10.5 will run reasonably well in most things but kinda slow in others, but 10.4 will be faster and smoother.

Links to machine specs are all over the place, but personally I like the database/app called mactracker......get it here: http://www.mactracker.ca

 

[fartheststar]

Although you might be able to fit 1GB sticks in the slots, they will only register as 512's. This is a hardware limitation of the memory controller on the mobo. And yes it should downclock fine....

The mobo is limited to 4 IDE drives total, mainly due to the fact that there are only 2 IDE connections, each of which can support 2 drives.... and YES you can get an SATA card to increase that. In fact I would highly recommend it, as it will also give you a considerable speeeed boost, and new IDE HDD's are becoming harder & harder (& more expensive) to find nowadays.

The best video card for G4's is the Radeon 9800pro. Here you have 3 choices:

A) Get a flashed peecee model for less $$ and use it (FYI this is what I have in my QS, nottaproblemo!)

B) Pay the outrageous retail price of ~$250 for a genuine Mac-rommed unit and be happy

C) Try to find a used card on ebay/craigslist etc and take your chances.....

With maxed ram & video card, 10.5 will run reasonably well in most things but kinda slow in others, but 10.4 will be faster and smoother.

Links to machine specs are all over the place, but personally I like the database/app called mactracker......get it here: http://www.mactracker.ca

I had the model after you (last DUAL 1.25 MDD model made with FW400) and it was doing really well - but I sold it for a new UMBP for portability. Was running great for 5 years. Was not slow with Leopard running FCP. (Well, slow is a relative word, considering the new Mac Pros but.... compared to the older OS's.)

Upgraded it with bluetooth, USB2 card. Would have upgraded the video card to a 9600/9800 if I had the patience. I think your upgrades are a good call and I agree with SmurfBoxMasta on the Video card approach

 

[aimfocuscapture]

Thanks

Thanks for all the opinions and suggestions. A lot of helpful information there. I'll have to look for one of those video cards. Dual monitors pull my system down a lot with the old video card I think.

Thanks a bunch!