imac G4 to emac

[snickrep]

I got my imac G4 in 2002. Already its dated and it is showing in terms of performance. Now im not a big gamer, but I do happen to purchase a recent game for the mac once in a while. But im not big on DOOM III, Halo, and all those other first person shooter games.

My main concern with my mac is graphic design with photoshop, creating digital music, and 3D animation. It seems performance isn't all that great and could be a bit better.

Here are the specs for my mac:

imac G4 15-inch flat planel
PowerPC G4 800Mhz
256MB of RAM
60GB Hard Drive
Geforce2 MX 32MB of VRAM
SuperDrive

The only thing I can really upgrade is the hard drive and memory, but will that improve my mac any in terms of photoshop, digital music, 3d animation, gaming (splinter cell, TR:AOD, black & white).

Or I can trade in my imac G4 for a used imac or a new/refurb emac at powermax.com. I could go for a 1Ghz Emac with an Ati Radeon 7500, but nvidia cards are better for 3D animation, so I was thinking about going for a imac G4 with a geforce4 MX 32MB. But I hear that wont make a big differance since the geforce4 MX is a overclocked version of the geforce2 MX.

So if anyone has any suggestions or comments, that would be great.

Thanks,
Jack

 

[miloblithe]

More RAM would help, but the fact is an 800Mhz G4 is getting old. Most new games seem to require 700 at least, which means games that won't run on your system are just around the corner. Still, memory is cheap. I'd get some and wait a while before upgrading. Hopefully something truly worthwhile will be available by then.

 

[cubist]

Another way to get a 10% improvement in your xbench score is to upgrade to a 7200RPM hard drive (if you don't already have one).

But the RAM is the main thing. The 800MHz takes a PC133 (?) SO-DIMM, right? You can get a 512MB for $50 to $100 depending on where you shop, and in those applications it will make a noticeable difference.

 

[snickrep]

so I should diffiently go for upgrading rather than trading?

 

[snickrep]

so I should diffiently go for upgrading rather than trading?

bump

 

[jsw]

bump

512MB or more RAM will definitely help you a lot. As has been noted, a fast HD - if yours isn't 7200 RPM - will also help. Aside from that, I don't think you'll see a lot of improvement in a 1GHz eMac or iMac. Some, yes, but not a lot. Maxing out RAM will make a lot more of a difference, and isn't that expensive.

 

[Opteron]

You could always jump ship

PC's are faster, cheaper, and (despite what people here will tell you) Extremely stable.

You can pick up an Athlon 64 3200+ with all the trimmings for around $1500.