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Longevity of a G4

wdlove

wdlove

macrumors P6
Original poster
Oct 20, 2002
16,568
0
I have a Power Mac G4 dual 450 that I purchased September 1st 2000. It has all the original equipment. I added memory up to 1.25 GB SDRAM, Adaptic SCSI Card, and Zip 100. Now running Mac OS X 10.3.5. I use it for fiances and web browsing. Since the end of January it has been running 24/ folding. No problems encountered. Just would like an estimate of what I can expect. Many have told my wife that they are surprised that we are still using a machine of this age.
 
dude i was just playing halo on my dual 450MHz cube, dont let them put you off many people still use original g3 macs as there main mac, the only thing that is draging that tower down is that rage get a radeon 9000 in there, quartz extreme gives you a nice proformence boost and some nice eye candy. and also booting from a fast 7200rpm HD gives a big bost get a nice 120GB one

that upgradeing will only cost around $250 but the difference in speed will be very big for day to day tasks.

any post g3 mac is still usefull (and you can use xpostfacto for non 10.3 macs)

if you check on ebay you mac still has a large resale value.
 
Many more years.
At the university where I work, we have PPC 6100 STILL in service on a daily basis to analyze output from specific apparatus.We also have Performa 6300 and 6400 series online and active. Older powermacs are still used with Hypercard to control Video Disks at museums all over the world.

I have some beige G3's running folding (slowly) 24/7 as well as some older Blue and White G3 that I use for real work, and a bunch of upgraded G4's and all are rock solid.

As long as you do some periodic maintenance your machine should last for a LONG time. Clean the fans every few months with canned air, and monitor the hard drive. It will fail first, as they have the most limited life expectancy. But in general, barring user screw up and power surges, etc. the Mac should just keep on ticking.

As for your mac, there are numerous CPU upgrades and video card upgrades available. If you want to invest and keep your machine around. Since you have a dualie you could get a Gigadesigns 1.3 dual for about 699. That would give you 2 processors at 1.33 each, with better cache than yours. Add a video card, and for the cost of a new eMac, you have a machine that clocks faster, performs faster, and has PCI slots and extra drive bays. BTW a dual 1.33 gigadesigns/Sonnet/Daystar upgrade even with the 133 buz still clocks in close to a single 1.6 G5 in benchmarks. Check out the XBench web site and look at the results. Its not a bad way to upgrade, gain some speed and maintain the benefits of the tower G4 over the emacs and iMacs.
 
seamuskrat said:
Since you have a dualie you could get a Gigadesigns 1.3 dual for about 699. That would give you 2 processors at 1.33 each, with better cache than yours. Add a video card, and for the cost of a new eMac, you have a machine that clocks faster, performs faster, and has PCI slots and extra drive bays. BTW a dual 1.33 gigadesigns/Sonnet/Daystar upgrade even with the 133 buz still clocks in close to a single 1.6 G5 in benchmarks. Check out the XBench web site and look at the results. Its not a bad way to upgrade, gain some speed and maintain the benefits of the tower G4 over the emacs and iMacs.
Click to expand...

his g4 has a 100MHz bus so a giga cpu would run at 1.3GHz or 1.4GHz
 
Hector said:
his g4 has a 100MHz bus so a giga cpu would run at 1.3GHz or 1.4GHz
Click to expand...

Even better, it will run at 1.4

M5D-1214G Dual Processors at 1.4GHz** <-- from their web site.
I have a 133 bus and I am maxed at 1.333. Unless I overclock it - which does not void the warranty on a gidgadesigns card.
 
The thing about computers is that they will run until they break or you want to upgrade to the latest and greatest. I used a Rev. B iMac (233Mhz G3) up until a few months ago when it gave up the ghost (may it RIP). My dad's old Mac Plus is still working.

The only reason we don't use it is that it stopped running the software that we wanted to run. As long as you are satified with the programs you are running, then your computer is fine. It's when you want (or need) to run the latest stuff that old hardware is an issue.
 
The people who are surprised a 4 year old Mac "still even runs" are people who don't know Macs. Your computer continues to be the standard in graphic design and other artistic industries. People make money with those! In fact, depending on where you go, that might be one of the newer Macs! There are plenty of shops still running 9600s or other pre-G3 PowerMacs.

So what I'd expect in the future is more of the same. Eventually something electronic may fail but apart from that the computer will perform as it does now for many years. Apple will still support it for a long time as well. The real danger to it's life is that cool application you want to run that won't run on that computer. Then it's upgrade time. Enjoy the time between now and then.
 
Thanks to everyone for the very kind posts of information about my G4. Now the hard decision.
 
i do the same thing, except i have an x86-based computer. unfortunately, i don't have enough people over to have them comment on my computer. or my apartment for that matter.
 
If it suits your needs and makes you happy, then keep it. Whether or not you upgrade is all about what you can justify to yourself. Would spending x amount of money on an upgrade make you as happy as spending that money else where would?

Personally, I think my dual 2ghz G5 isnt fast enough for my taste. A friend of mine was until just a couple weeks ago using a 700mhz Duron
 
Chaszmyr said:
If it suits your needs and makes you happy, then keep it. Whether or not you upgrade is all about what you can justify to yourself. Would spending x amount of money on an upgrade make you as happy as spending that money else where would?

Personally, I think my dual 2ghz G5 isnt fast enough for my taste. A friend of mine was until just a couple weeks ago using a 700mhz Duron
Click to expand...

no kidding. i had a celeron 800, which is slower, up until last month. i finally broke down and got a duron 1.6 since the deal was simply too ridiculous to pass up.
 
Speaking of upgrades (and sorry, wdlove if this veers away from the original topic), is it possible to get one of those new 8x Superdrives in a flat screen iMac?

I considered selling my iMac a few weeks ago until I realized that it was worth far more to me than its actual monetary value. The Superdrive seems to be a bit moody and it shakes and rattles a lot. Are the new Superdrives compatible?

Thanks,

Squire
 
Squire said:
Speaking of upgrades (and sorry, wdlove if this veers away from the original topic), is it possible to get one of those new 8x Superdrives in a flat screen iMac?

I considered selling my iMac a few weeks ago until I realized that it was worth far more to me than its actual monetary value. The Superdrive seems to be a bit moody and it shakes and rattles a lot. Are the new Superdrives compatible?

Thanks,

Squire
Click to expand...

some fit some dont you have to find out how long the drive is, and also when opening imac you have to replace all the thermal goop which is annoying
 
wdlove said:
Many have told my wife that they are surprised that we are still using a machine of this age.
Click to expand...

i used my powerbase 200 (PPC 604e) til the summer of 2002, when i replaced it with a 800mhz QSII. Treat it well, and they last for a long time, as long as you can handle working at a more leisurely pace ;D

Pretty much all the info you need has been posted already, so Good luck with whatever you decide. :D
 
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