Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

PowerMac G4 Handle YouTube Smoothly

S

simplymuzik3

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Jan 29, 2009
590
1
Hi, I currently have a powermac g4 gigabit ethernet model. It has a 400mhz cpu, 1gb RAM, and an ati rage pro video card with 16mb video memory. When i try to watch youtube videos (or any other online videos), it is choppy.

I am looking into purchasing a PowerMac G4 Quicksilver. It would have a 1.4 ghz sonnet PPC cpu, 1 GB Ram, and an upgraded video card (I think ati) with 64mb video memory. I can get this quicksilver system for 250CDN.

Do you think that the quicksilver will be able to handle youtube videos better. Do you think it will be a major overall increase in preformance. I want to run flash cs3/cs4 on it. Currently on my gigabit ethernet model, flash cs4 runs pretty slow. In the end, do you think I will notice a overall increase in everything I do (including video streaming)? Please let me know if you think the quicksilver is a good upgrade. Thanks.
 
The PowerMac G4 is an out of date machine. If you ask me, you should consider getting a new intel machine.

Even the crappiest Intel Mini will run circles around your G4. No sense in dumping money into old technology, IMHO.
 
with youtube on the old g4, try a smaller screen resolution. 640x480 might look terrible, but you won't notice with youtube anyway, and it will be smoother.
 
With that machine, YouTube is going to struggle, no matter what resolution you set the screen to.

Go for a mini, or some other used Intel.
 
Youtube uses the CPU to play the video and, honestly, your 400mhz G4 is very slow.

Don't waste money on another G4, they are very old technology. At the least buy a dual 1.8 G5 or an intel machine.
 
I do plan on buying a new mac mini when they are released. For now, im going to sell the gigabit ethernet powermac and buy the quicksilver powermac. I just want to know if I will see a noticable difference with the extra 1ghz and the 64mb of video ram vs 16mb. Thanks.
 
simplymuzik3 said:
I do plan on buying a new mac mini when they are released. For now, im going to sell the gigabit ethernet powermac and buy the quicksilver powermac. I just want to know if I will see a noticable difference with the extra 1ghz and the 64mb of video ram vs 16mb. Thanks.
Click to expand...

yes it will be very noticeable
 
simplymuzik3 said:
I do plan on buying a new mac mini when they are released. For now, im going to sell the gigabit ethernet powermac and buy the quicksilver powermac. I just want to know if I will see a noticable difference with the extra 1ghz and the 64mb of video ram vs 16mb. Thanks.
Click to expand...

It will be noticeable but the machine will still be very slow.
You're better off buying a cheap dual 500mhz processor card (if your machine will support dual CPU) from eBay and waiting for that mini.
 
okay, I have another question. When I get my quicksilver, I plan on putting the old ati rage pro 16mb card into it from my old powermac g4. If I do a dual monitor setup, and I set 1 monitor to an extremely low resolution (the one connected to the ati rage pro 16mb), will youtube play okay on the one monitor. I just want to have 1 high res monitor for doing most things, and then the 2nd monitor set to low res for playing youtube videos at full speed. Will this work (the videos being played at full speed on the 1 low res monitor)?
 
simplymuzik3 said:
okay, I have another question. When I get my quicksilver, I plan on putting the old ati rage pro 16mb card into it from my old powermac g4. If I do a dual monitor setup, and I set 1 monitor to an extremely low resolution (the one connected to the ati rage pro 16mb), will youtube play okay on the one monitor. I just want to have 1 high res monitor for doing most things, and then the 2nd monitor set to low res for playing youtube videos at full speed. Will this work (the videos being played at full speed on the 1 low res monitor)?
Click to expand...

yea, that should be fine. but let us know :D
 
simplymuzik3 said:
okay, I have another question. When I get my quicksilver, I plan on putting the old ati rage pro 16mb card into it from my old powermac g4. If I do a dual monitor setup, and I set 1 monitor to an extremely low resolution (the one connected to the ati rage pro 16mb), will youtube play okay on the one monitor. I just want to have 1 high res monitor for doing most things, and then the 2nd monitor set to low res for playing youtube videos at full speed. Will this work (the videos being played at full speed on the 1 low res monitor)?
Click to expand...

Depends on your model!

The Rage Pro could be a AGP card and the Quicksilver already has the agp slot filled with it's newer graphic card.
If you have a PCI version of the G4 it will work
 
The upgraded 1.4ghz processor card will definitely work better for playing Youtube videos. Flash is more dependent on CPU power and not so much the video card.

The sawtooths were AGP so if it's using that slot, you won't be able to install it in the QS. The 64mb card is probably the ATI Radeon 9000 Pro and will have DVI(or VGA) and ADC so with an adapter, it can run 2 monitors. The QS also only has 3 memory slots so only 1.5gb is the max you can run in it. Also make sure it's the 2002 model so you are not limited with 128gb of hard drive space(anything bigger will only read up to 128gb if you have the first gen Quicksilver).

I don't know what $250CA conversion to the $US is but that does seem pretty high for that machine. Good luck on it.
 
OrangeSVTguy said:
The upgraded 1.4ghz processor card will definitely work better for playing Youtube videos. Flash is more dependent on CPU power and not so much the video card.
Click to expand...

+1
flash is written extremely sloppily/inefficiently. very frustrating for users on older architects :(
 
G4 Mdd

...
I am looking into purchasing a PowerMac G4 Quicksilver. It would have a 1.4 ghz sonnet PPC cpu, 1 GB Ram, and an upgraded video card (I think ati) with 64mb video memory. I can get this quicksilver system for 250CDN.

Just two month ago, I have bought an old G4 for my dad with a 1,2 Ghz sonnet PPC, 1,5 GB Ram and the standard ATI Rage 128 with 16 MB.

I was very surprised how fast the machine is for day to day internet surfing. YouTube runs good on it. In your case you have an even faster system with a newer video card (if its the Radeon 9000). The Sonnet upgrade really performs great. However I have only payed 120 Euros here in Germany..

250CDN sounds about right in Canada, since all the G4 MDD's go till up to 500 bucks and more. I love the G4 - I would take it right away and I am sure you will love that Quicksilver.
I have an 1,42 MDD myself and I couldn't wish for more....
 
Thanks for the advice! I definently want this machine now! Unfortunatly, this Mac was on craigslist, and it was sold 2 hours before I was supposed to go pick it up!! I guess Im going to keep looking. Does anyone know where to get the sonnet CPU's for cheap (under 100CDN). Also, has anyone installed it themselves? Is it hard? How did the process go?
 
For a 1.4GHz sonnett? Expect to pay around $200, $500 if you want a dual 1.8ghz.

A FAR better deal would be to get a 1.6/1.8ghz Powermac G5 for $400 or a dual 1.8ghz for $500. Every part of the G5 will be faster than a G4 ever could be.
 
I think I would wait for the Mini update. I have a G4 also, and it doesn't play video very well either because of the lack of L3 cache. Come to think of it, it doesn't do much very well. The main thing I do on it these days is write. I often think of buying a new processor, video card, bigger and faster hard drive, some more memory, etc, but the cost simply does not justify it. In my case the final cost is around US$600. However I don't think it's a smart idea to spend any significant amount of money on something you don't absolutely have to have, especially when you're buying a new one in a few months time.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back