G5 running slooow

[TerryP]

My MAC runs slow and I'm seeing too much of the spinning wheel and lag time. Please look over what I have, what I do with what I have and please offer any suggestions for speeding things up. I'm a recent PC convert.

My stuff:
Machine Name: iMac G5
Machine Model: PowerMac8,1
CPU Type: PowerPC G5 (3.0)
Number Of CPUs: 1
CPU Speed: 1.8 GHz
L2 Cache (per CPU): 512 KB
Memory: 1.25 GB
Bus Speed: 600 MHz

What I do with my stuff:
Normally 10 Firefox windows open at the same time.
Mail
Photoshop with anywhere from one to three images open
Bridge
Finder
At the moment I have a PDF file open
iTunes (sometimes playing sometime not)

Bridge is most aggravating. I used to be able to move windows around as I moved the mouse but no longer. There is a terrible lag time. Even typing this shows a lag. I am a heavy photo and Internet user as I am a photographer and went to MAC for this reason.

Do I need more RAM? Faster processor for my needs? Can either be done without buing a new machine (this is a hand me down from my son who we upgraded to a laptop for college). Any ideas? Or if you need more info please let me know. Your help is appreciated!

TerryP

 

[mklos]

You're probably running out of RAM. Believe it or not, you are. Here's what you can do to see. Go to the Activity Monitor (Applications/Utilities/Activity Monitor) and then under the System Memory tab see how much is free when it starts to get slow. Also see if you have any page-outs. Page-outs will occur when you run out of RAM and will decrease system performance. Processors cannot be changed in the iMac G5, nor in any G5 based Mac for that matter without some serious work. Thats the nature of the Mac vs the PC. That doesn't make the Mac a bad thing necessarily as most people any CPU they use in the Mac is more than fine with them.

Also, is it absolutely necessary to have 10 webpages open at one time?

Perhaps you do need a more capable Mac if you do this everyday. Maybe a dual CPU PowerMac G5 with 2 or 3 GB of RAM? If you deal with large size (file size I mean) photos, it will use a ton of RAM to do just about anything with it. An iMac isn't really a professional computer and isn't designed to manage tons of 1 or 2 MB photos, especially the rev A iMac G5 like you have.

If you can't afford a new(er) Mac right now, then put as much RAM as possible into it.

 

[Belly-laughs]

I have a G5 Dual with 1.5 GB Ram and do pretty heavy graphics work & 3D.

I´ve experienced similar behaviour, but only when Safari or Firefox is running, displaying ad-heavy news sites. It brings everything down, I can hardly move around. And that´s just displaying one page.