Hi! I am a long time PC user and I have recently received a grant to purchase a computer. I'm unsure of purchasing the current line of the PowerMacs because of the subtle upgrade that was introduced last week. I fear that my hasty purchase will lead to a huge disappointment when the '970MP' is introduced to the public at WWDC. So my question is... Will the current line be upgradeable to the new processor once it is released? Will I be able to utilize the dual capacity of the system with two dual core chip making it a quad system (I don't know how the system will handle 4 'processors' when it was intended to handle 2)? I don't mind the other aspects of the system, since computers get slow from 'outdated' cpus and bus speed. Thanks in ADVANCE!
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Current PowerMac and upgradeability?
- Thread starter rca420
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Well you better see if you can find any units that fell off the back of Hon Hai/Foxconn's delivery trucks.
These modules are an order of magnitude more difficult than current upgrades, don't expect upgrades.
Sell old machine and buy a new one...
Edit: I'm talking the current modules being a heck of an engineering challenge that current upgrade companies might not be able to toss enough cash at. The PPC970 is a literal PIA to do a simple power on reset, the rest of the PPCs were literal cake to bring up to a stable clock.
These modules are an order of magnitude more difficult than current upgrades, don't expect upgrades.
Sell old machine and buy a new one...
Edit: I'm talking the current modules being a heck of an engineering challenge that current upgrade companies might not be able to toss enough cash at. The PPC970 is a literal PIA to do a simple power on reset, the rest of the PPCs were literal cake to bring up to a stable clock.
rca420 said:
Two words - you can't! More words - it would not be possible to "upgrade" from the current Power Macs to a dual core system, if you're imagining replacing the CPUs or the motherboard etc. The 970MP is not pin compatible with the current 970FX processors - so you cannot replace the CPUs without changing the motherboard. As for changing the motherboard, which is the most expensive part of the Mac, it may not even be worth attempting it - you never know what kind of "other components/subsystems" the new 970MP based Power Macs would come with.
As indicated in the previous reply, your only option is to sell the old one and buy the new one.
On the other hand, it's highly unlikely that there'd be 970MP systems just a couple of months after the recent updates.
The historical trend (see the "Buyer's guide" on macrumors) is at least 6 months between updates. I doubt if Apple would screw its customers by releasing a major upgrade such as 970MP within a few months of updates to the current Power Macs.