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enhancing my G-4?

R

reetcher

macrumors member
Original poster
Apr 11, 2007
43
14
I really need to buy a MacPro, however I am still going to try and wait for an upgrade. With that said I have a 450 MHz G-4 AGP graphics tower with 1.5 g of memory. Is there anything I can easily upgrade to this machine that can help it with larger photoshop files until after October?

thanks Jeff
 
Adding a Quartz Extreme capable GFX card can make OS X feel a lot snappier. Add any Radeon (I use a Radeon 9000 in my Gig-E) and you'll see a nice difference in everyday usage.
 
thanks for the replys

SuperCompu2 said:
Adding a Quartz Extreme capable GFX card can make OS X feel a lot snappier. Add any Radeon (I use a Radeon 9000 in my Gig-E) and you'll see a nice difference in everyday usage.
Click to expand...

Thanks all for the insights: any chance I could ask for a translation - I am computer illiterate. Thanks again for any help & your understanding. Jeff
 
There are a number of cheap video cards available on ebay that would provide a big step up from the original Rage 128 that your machine likely has. The older ATI cards as mentioned (original Radeon, 7500, 9000) or even an nVidia GeForce 2 mx or 4 mx would work well. Add that with a cheap processor upgrade, around 1ghz or so, and you'd have a machine on your hands that would significantly beat out what you're using now for little money.
 
reetcher said:
Thanks all for the insights: any chance I could ask for a translation - I am computer illiterate. Thanks again for any help & your understanding. Jeff
Click to expand...

QuartzExtreme is the technology in OS X that allows (among other things) the system to offload some or all of the graphical user interface effects from the computer's central processing unit to the video card's processor, and thereby freeing up the alot of the cpu's power for other tasks, which will speed up all other processes like opening apps, applying effects to images in PS etc etc.............

this requires a video card that is QE capable, which means that it's interface to the system's motherboard is fast enough (AGP 2x minimum) as well as having enough video ram (vram) to handle the extra work (32mb minimum) being assigned to it :)

hope this helps, please post back if you want/need further clarification...
 
reetcher said:
I really need to buy a MacPro, however I am still going to try and wait for an upgrade. With that said I have a 450 MHz G-4 AGP graphics tower with 1.5 g of memory. Is there anything I can easily upgrade to this machine that can help it with larger photoshop files until after October?

thanks Jeff
Click to expand...

Ask yourself what you will gain from the next Mac Pro upgrade. If you're sitting out for Stoakley Seaburg, don't think you're sitting out for 'Stoakley Seaburg'...know you're waiting for X performance boost on X task.

Otherwise it just gets ridiculous.

Having taken the wait you're thinking about into consideration, I'm buying a 2.0ghz quad tomorrow. Why faff about? The current machines are smokin'. The performance jump from your current machine to any Mac Pro is immense. And you can wait forever. Could be Jan until SS in a Mac Pro. With all that's going off at Apple at the moment even Leopard got delayed. Massively.
 
Thanks

SmurfBoxMasta said:
this requires a video card that is QE capable, which means that it's interface to the system's motherboard is fast enough (AGP 2x minimum) as well as having enough video ram (vram) to handle the extra work (32mb minimum) being assigned to it :)

hope this helps, please post back if you want/need further clarification...
Click to expand...

So I'm still a little confused how much benefit I'll get from updating my video card for layered PS files, but I'm definitely going to update my processor with either OWC Mercury Extreme G4@1.2GHz with 2MB L3 Cache or Sonnet Encore/ST G4@1GHz Processor Upgrade W/ 2MB L3 do you have a recommendation or opinions? (sorry tried to post links)

As for waiting, know it sounds horribly silly but computers to me are more about workflow and quite honestly I'm waiting for Blue ray - I know I can install it today but man buying a 4 grand system that I still have to put the drive into, rides a tad rough. I will try and hold for the update.

Thanks again for all the help. Jeff
 
well

since you are planning on getting a macpro soon anyway, i would tell you that if anything, put as little $ into your old g4 as possible. yes, you can probably get an old radeon or geforce2 that can support quartz extreme... on ebay you really should pay less that $20 for a low end product from 4-5 years ago.

don't pay money on a g4 upgrade chip, let the next owner make that investment.
 
You will get the most bang for buck with a bigger second hard drive and more ram. Both are easy to install yourself on the G4. Both will make Photoshop layered files process faster because PS eats lots of internal hard drive space and memory while it is working.
 
For PS, extra HD space for use as a scratch disk will speed it up, as will more ram, of which you can add another 512mb to max it out @2GB. A better vidoe card will only really help with the eye candy & other effects in OS X, which are rapidly becoming more & more 3D/animated in nature, but PS is mainly 2D, which is all handled by the cpu anyway, so the chip upgrade would give you more of a boost there.........
 
If I was you, I wouldn't put more than about $50-$60 into the G4. The new MacPro will definitely be soon, maybe the end of July in reality.

That said, question if you need that extra power now, why not pick up a Mac Pro today, or even keep a check on the Apple Refurb section.

Let someone else upgrade your G4, that is unless you plan to keep it as a backup machine… if that is the case, then yes upgrade the GPU, add some memory and larger hard drive.
 
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