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iMac G4 didn't get performance boost after RAM upgrade

You also need to consider that you might be expecting too much out of an old G4 computer. A lot of the tasks you described (playing back video, recording video, etc) are all CPU intensive, not RAM intensive. You could put 8gb of RAM in that machine if it supported it, and it still wouldn't make it any faster at the tasks that you listed.
 
CubeHacker said:
You also need to consider that you might be expecting too much out of an old G4 computer. A lot of the tasks you described (playing back video, recording video, etc) are all CPU intensive, not RAM intensive. You could put 8gb of RAM in that machine if it supported it, and it still wouldn't make it any faster at the tasks that you listed.
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I know all that. What is not good is that the OS itself is too slow, even with Tiger with 1.5GB of RAM.
 
rabidz7 said:
Any 74xx under 1.8GHz will be extremely slow. Upgrade that CPU!
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Really? How about 7445Bs? They are faster than the 7447 at the same clock speed due to the 1MB of L3 cache they have. So really there isn't much difference between a 1.45Ghz 7445B or a 1.8Ghz 7447A. Dual 1.6Ghz 7448 are also faster. And the difference in performance between a 100Mhz, 133Mhz and 167Mhz buses is enormous too. So there are fast >1.8Ghz G4s.

ihuman:D said:
Too complicated? You can't upgrade the CPU.

By 74XX he means any G4 CPUs.
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You can desolder the processor and put there a 7448. But it will cost a LOT and I doubt any company would do it now with warranty (some companies have offered processor upgrades for Macs with soldered processors, like G4s for slot-loading iMac G3s, 7448s for PowerBooks...etc).
 
Andropov said:
You can desolder the processor and put there a 7448. But it will cost a LOT and I doubt any company would do it now with warranty (some companies have offered processor upgrades for Macs with soldered processors, like G4s for slot-loading iMac G3s, 7448s for PowerBooks...etc).
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I know but they're companies though, not individuals.
 
I may have missed this suggestion being posted already, but one thing I don't think I've seen mentioned - have you tried doing a clean OS X install? Sometimes system files become corrupted/fragmented/etc., and simply upgrading the OS won't do a whole lot of good. A fresh start with a clean slate just might. 🙂
 
garirry said:
I have upgraded my 1.25GHz iMac's G4 RAM from 512MB to 1.5GB. It was running Tiger. It was quite slow with 512MB of RAM, but I saw on this forum someone said that 1.5GB run Tiger flawlessly. Well, it haven't boosted AT ALL. 1.5GB is 3x more memory than 512MB, so it's supposed to be faster. It was still laggy, and I think it got slightly worse. iShowU recording was very laggy with 512MB but it freezes my computer and I am lucky if I manage to stop the video with 1.5GB of RAM. Can't even watch 480p videos. iMovie lags while previewing video, and the list goes on. G4 is supposed to be a powerful machine, but not mine. I upgraded to Leopard, nothing really changed. Can somebody explain it to me?
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It WAS a reasonable machine back in the day but one of my biggest mistakes was falling for the beauty of the iMac G4 and moving from an MDD dual 1.42 to a 1.25 iMac. Boy oh boy was it sloooooow, anything CPU intensive took for ever and a day. I know they are absolutely one of the most wonderful looking machines but I will always remember them as too slow for anything 'creative'. I think maybe you are expecting too much in 2013 for such an old machine, having said that you say it freezes - by that do you mean you have to switch it off and on again? If so then it might be something wrong with the machine, like a thermal/fan issue maybe because slow yes - but freezing/locking up is something else wrong.
 
SkyBell said:
I may have missed this suggestion being posted already, but one thing I don't think I've seen mentioned - have you tried doing a clean OS X install? Sometimes system files become corrupted/fragmented/etc., and simply upgrading the OS won't do a whole lot of good. A fresh start with a clean slate just might. 🙂
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When upgrading to Leopard, I did a clean install of Leopard (1 or 2 weeks ago)
 
As a general rule, old hdds always begin having performance issues after you use up over 50% of their space. It's very noticable on machines that have little power, like the imac g4.

The regular hard drive is 70's/80's tech with very little in the way of upgrades. It's pretty much a 286 in a modern world. That's why they get killed by ssds.

May want an external usb drive.
 
Zellio said:
As a general rule, old hdds always begin having performance issues after you use up over 50% of their space. It's very noticable on machines that have little power, like the imac g4.

The regular hard drive is 70's/80's tech with very little in the way of upgrades. It's pretty much a 286 in a modern world. That's why they get killed by ssds.

May want an external usb drive.
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But Sata 3 Platter drives, may be based on old tech but I am yet to see anything 1tb and above from 1 single ssd. Plus you can raid 4 1tb velociraptors and have something even faster than a single ssd.



ssd's are good but not there just yet
 
Lil Chillbil said:
But Sata 3 Platter drives, may be based on old tech but I am yet to see anything 1tb and above from 1 single ssd. Plus you can raid 4 1tb velociraptors and have something even faster than a single ssd.



ssd's are good but not there just yet
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There are SSDs up to 2TB. They're extremely expensive, though. And you can't put 4 hard drives in RAID 0 and expect them to be as fast as a SSD. They may be in sequential reading/writing, but they won't get even close in latency/access time, which is also really important.
 
I have owned a few Imac G4's (buy,fix,sell)...while maxing the ram,and doing a clean install of Tiger does help...you really might also consider installing a newer hard drive (makes all the difference) also over time the insides can get very dusty. So even if you don't replace the hard drive (which I would if your planning on using for some time) a good cleaning of the inside and cleaning both sides of the heat sink (left and right) and reapplying a good thermal paste really does help.
 
tom vilsack said:
I have owned a few Imac G4's (buy,fix,sell)...while maxing the ram,and doing a clean install of Tiger does help...you really might also consider installing a newer hard drive (makes all the difference) also over time the insides can get very dusty. So even if you don't replace the hard drive (which I would if your planning on using for some time) a good cleaning of the inside and cleaning both sides of the heat sink (left and right) and reapplying a good thermal paste really does help.
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Now I fell like my iMac is going to be new after so much effort. BTW, I purchased my Mac with a broken Kensington lock inside (the wire is cut off). How can I remove the whole lock without damaging the Mac?
 
tom vilsack said:
I have owned a few Imac G4's (buy,fix,sell)...while maxing the ram,and doing a clean install of Tiger does help...you really might also consider installing a newer hard drive (makes all the difference) also over time the insides can get very dusty. So even if you don't replace the hard drive (which I would if your planning on using for some time) a good cleaning of the inside and cleaning both sides of the heat sink (left and right) and reapplying a good thermal paste really does help.
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i bought a 17" 1.25ghz a couple of months ago and was so pleased with it that i bought another one a month later. one for upstairs and one for downstairs. a third will soon be purchased as a backup. people complain about what these things can't do but i tend to focus on what they can do. and they can do everything i want a computer to do. by the way, i run tiger. except for the one that sold on e-bay earlier today i find it amazing just how cheap these things go for these days. i suppose that everyone now wants something that is portable and can run flash videos. when i want that i suppose i'll get a cheap chromebook but i'll keep my imacs. hopefully forever.
 
MisterKeeks said:
Why on earth are you trying to use a computer that can barely fit the videos themselves to edit? An iMac G4 isn't what you want to use.
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I have no computer at this moment, and I have no external hard drives, and nothing but an G4 and an iPod Touch! I'm saving for a 21.5" iMac right now.
 
Have a question: Can I clone the whole operating system from hard drive to hard drive keeping all the apps and all the settings? If yes can I temporarily connect the second hard drive to the optical drive connector and clone the data on it?
 
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