How Much Would You Pay for a PowerMac G4 CPU Upgrade?

[timidpimpin]

I want to get more use out of my PowerMac G4 Gigabit Ethernet. The thing holding it back in my opinion is the 1.3GHz upgrade already in it. I believe it's a 7455 because it has 2MB L3.

Lately I've been pricing upgrades around the internet and some seem a bit expensive. I'm not taking the risk of posting them as the mods may mistake them for my items for sale.

The ones I'm interested in are 7447 or 7448 because they have higher clock speeds. I found a couple 7448 available... the one I would possibly buy is a 1.7GHz 7448 single for $105 US. Not only is the 7448 more advanced, but it has double the L2. Is it worth $105 though? I think so... but it would be nice to know what others think.

What PowerMac G4 upgrade would you want and how much would you pay for it?

 

[DearthnVader]

I want to get more use out of my PowerMac G4 Gigabit Ethernet. The thing holding it back in my opinion is the 1.3GHz upgrade already in it. I believe it's a 7455 because it has 2MB L3.

Lately I've been pricing upgrades around the internet and some seem a bit expensive. I'm not taking the risk of posting them as the mods may mistake them for my items for sale.

The ones I'm interested in are 7447 or 7448 because they have higher clock speeds. I found a couple 7448 available... the one I would possibly buy is a 1.7GHz 7448 single for $105 US. Not only is the 7448 more advanced, but it has double the L2. Is it worth $105 though? I think so... but it would be nice to know what others think.

What PowerMac G4 upgrade would you want and how much would you pay for it?

$105 is a good price for the 7448, they normally run $200+.

Be aware, you'll need a Firmware update patch to use it, so make sure you can get the CD or find it otherwise before you buy.

 

[timidpimpin]

$105 is a good price for the 7448, they normally run $200+.

Be aware, you'll need a Firmware update patch to use it, so make sure you can get the CD or find it otherwise before you buy.

I actually just bought it. And it comes with the firmware disk. It's a "Newertech" upgrade, which I believe is an Other World Computing brand. I'm going to try and overclock it to 2GHz. Maybe 1.8 or 1.9GHz is more realistic though.

 

[Dronecatcher]

How about some before and after real world benchmark/tests?

 

[timidpimpin]

How about some before and after real world benchmark/tests?

Sure thing, but I need to get it first. It's in Florida and I'm in Seattle.

I will do 1.3GHz 7455 vs 1.7GHz 7448 and then tests with overclocked frequencies if I can get it above 1.7GHz. I have read somewhere that all the 7448 are actually 1.25GHz that have been overclocked. There was a 2GHz 7447, but I'm pretty sure the 7448 topped out at 1.8GHz. Maybe the 7447 is more capable with overclocking?

 

[eyoungren]

I paid a bit over $250 for a Sonnet Duet 1.8Ghz Dual. @bunnspecial has a Newertech 2.0Ghz SP. No idea what he paid, but it came in the G4 he bought.

There is a 1.8Ghz Newertech DP out there though. Those are EXTREMELY hard to find. I've never seen one, but they do exist. Here's the info on that: NewerTech MaxPower MAXG48D1800

I bring that up because the Sonnet uses 7447A while the Newertech dual uses 7448.

 

[timidpimpin]

I gave myself a $150 budget for this and those dual upgrades are well above that.

 

[eyoungren]

I gave myself a $150 budget for this and those dual upgrades are well above that.

You asked what I would pay, so I answered.

This was back a couple of years ago though. I was willing to pay then and I am still willing to pay that now. Of course, things are different. Back then I was trying to get the most I could out of a Quicksilver and it turned out it just couldn't handle all of that. I tried, but oh well.

Now my expectations are far more moderate, but the price is still worth it to me. That is not to say though that if I found something I wanted for $150 I wouldn't jump on it.

 

[1042686]

Going from a single 733 to a dual 1ghz worked for me so what ...

$20 bucks I guess?

 

[bunnspecial]

I think $105 is a more than fair price for a 7448. In fact, if I'd seen it for sale I likely would have bought it.

I did get a good deal a while back on a new in box Sonnet dual 1.8, but mostly because I was willing to read the not-so-great English description and wait on(and pay for shipping from) Germany). I want to say I paid in the $175 range.

My 2ghz 7448 was part of a big lot of stuff I bought-IIRC the individual price for the G4 tower that had it installed was $175ish, but there were a bunch of other really good upgrades in that tower(and I did pay shipping on top of it). I'd have been willing to pay a fair bit more just to get that upgrade.

Probably my nuttiest purchase was a 1ghz G3 ZIF where I bought the complete B&W G3, had it shipped to @LightBulbFun in England, and had him pull the CPU and send it to me. Around the same time, I bought a second B&W G3 in England that had a Voodoo 5 5500-he two B&Ws for free for helping me out by stripping rare/valuable upgrades out of them.

 

[timidpimpin]

You asked what I would pay, so I answered.

Absolutely... I was just meaning that I would like a dual, but feel that's too much personally. A few years ago I would have bought a dual.

 

[AphoticD]

I remember spending AU$600+ on a sonnet G3 upgrade card back in the days of my 603e workhorse, but I wouldn't pay that much for a CPU upgrade again.

Just thinking through my more recent CPU upgrade purchases;

• G5 DC 2.3GHz (CPU and heatsink kit) from the UK for ~AU$50 inc shipping
• G4 DA 733 CPU only w/ the L3 cache (for a Sawtooth G4) from the USA for ~AU$60 inc shipping
• C2D 3.33GHz with 6MB L2 cache, CPU only (for an iMac Late 2009) from China for ~AU$25 inc shipping

I guess it depends on what you intend to do with your G4. If you can get your hands on a high spec 7448 for less than $100 $105 then sure, why not. BUT.. will the GE really see much improvement with this over the 1.3GHz CPU? System bus, memory speed, ATA bus bottlenecks... If you're keen, go for it, but realistically, you're likely to score a higher spec G5 system for much the same (or less).

 

[1042686]

I remember spending AU$600+ on a sonnet G3 upgrade card back in the days of my 603e workhorse, but I wouldn't pay that much for a CPU upgrade again.

Just thinking through my more recent CPU upgrade purchases;

• G5 DC 2.3GHz (CPU and heatsink kit) from the UK for ~AU$50 inc shipping
• G4 DA 733 CPU only w/ the L3 cache (for a Sawtooth G4) from the USA for ~AU$60 inc shipping
• C2D 3.33GHz with 6MB L2 cache, CPU only (for an iMac Late 2009) from China for ~AU$25 inc shipping

I guess it depends on what you intend to do with your G4. If you can get your hands on a high spec 7448 for less than $100 $105 then sure, why not. BUT.. will the GE really see much improvement with this over the 1.3GHz CPU? System bus, memory speed, ATA bus bottlenecks... If you're keen, go for it, but realistically, you're likely to score a higher spec G5 system for much the same (or less).

My inner pragmatist agrees with the above sentiment. Now that's not to say that if I had the money (not at the moment) and the systems (I certainly do) to hunt down and install these rare and collectable G3/G4 powermac upgrades, I wouldn't do it because I probably would if the price was at least decent. I do agree that even with them, the hardware surrounding these collectable cpu upgrades would limit practical results but freaking cool power macs they most certainly would be.

Still, my inner money grubbing pragmatist beats up on my inner ppc hobbyist idealism ALL OF THE TIME. Fluid capital means way too much at the moment.

So I settle for my sub $20 dual 1Ghz QS upgrade and dual 867 MDD finds. Both were neat to find cheap and swapping cpus is always a fun affair. The QS upgrading from a single 733 iirc is now a very usable powermac and is one of my favorites.

 

[timidpimpin]

Regardless of the real world performance I will get... I will simply be content that I have the most advanced G4 CPU (the 7448) available out there. That way I will know that whatever performance I do get is the best I can get on a single CPU. It takes away that nagging need we all have to improve things on our computers.

This to me is more than worth $105. It's a very personal type of thing I guess.

 

[eyoungren]

Still, my inner money grubbing pragmatist beats up on my inner ppc hobbyist idealism ALL OF THE TIME. Fluid capital means way too much at the moment.

I guess I diverge from this viewpoint.

Whatever it is, computers, phones, coffee, knickknacks, etc, I buy what I like and want. Pragmatism or need rarely, if ever, comes into play.

But I'm not rich, hell not even middle class, so this is where my patience or ingenuity kicks in. I get what I want but I often have to wait for it.

I got the QS I wanted and I now have the G5 systems I wanted with all the 'stuff' included. But I got them 10 or more years past the time they were offered new.

When it comes to ingenuity, it's often a matter of right place, right time, or planning the resources I have or expect to have. We (my wife and I) have always had the phones we've wanted because that's part of what we spend our tax refund on. That money only comes once a year and some years gets spent elsewhere entirely. In many cases, it's asking someone if I can have what they don't want anymore.

As I often explain to my wife, it never hurts to ask. If no is the answer, you are no worse off than before you asked. But if they say yes…?

For me this is all okay. I'm willing to wait for what I want and willing to ask or manipulate my resources so I can take advantage of things.

Somehow, 'need' tends to get taken care of along the way.

 

[1042686]

Well if anything, focusing so strongly on one box reels in to a degree or two the use of faster performance as reason to buy more boxes. Focus heavily on the box you have and that becomes one, bad-ass, fully-optimized powermac - like one of Ben or Erik's powermacs (not that that helped them much in the long run ). There's certainly logic in that if you can control the urge.

Anyhoo, would such a sup'd up box make it a MegaMac?
[doublepost=1549135232][/doublepost]

I guess I diverge from this viewpoint.

Nah, you just like to argue

 

[eyoungren]

Nah, you just like to argue

Well, when I'm right and the other person is wrong…of course!

 

[1042686]

I can respect that Erik. For me it's money. I value money & assets much more heavily than I do hobby projects or things I want. This philosophy of wealth creation/retention makes for one mean, buff pragmatist. SO through that lense, you can see that I too strike when opportunity knocks however it has to be one hell of an opportunity which has burned me a few times as well.

Ehh, so is life LOL.
[doublepost=1549135723][/doublepost]

Well, when I'm right and the other person is wrong…of course!

LOL!!

Who can argue with THAT?!?

 

[timidpimpin]

 

[dextructor]

It has been a long time since I post something in the forums, but I'm always reading very interesting opinions, but I had my G4 cube siting and waiting for 8 years at least to have some love and upgrades and in the last 4 months I'm doing it (VGA, RAM, wireless and fan) but the CPU's to find and buy back then was pricey(I started working, so less money) but now they are impossible to find and really expensive. I would love to find some 7448 for the Cube and other to do a "upgrade" in my PowerBook A1139, how do you find this parts this days?

 

[timidpimpin]

It has been a long time since I post something in the forums, but I'm always reading very interesting opinions, but I had my G4 cube siting and waiting for 8 years at least to have some love and upgrades and in the last 4 months I'm doing it (VGA, RAM, wireless and fan) but the CPU's to find and buy back then was pricey(I started working, so less money) but now they are impossible to find and really expensive. I would love to find some 7448 for the Cube and other to do a "upgrade" in my PowerBook A1139, how do you find this parts this days?

The best choice would be ebay. It will open you up to an international market. Just get a paypal account, and you're all set.

 

[dextructor]

The best choice would be ebay. It will open you up to an international market. Just get a paypal account, and you're all set.

I've already have an ebay and paypal account with some email alerts but it's very rare and expensive this upgrades, so let's wait until a next goods opportunity.