strider42 said:
I guess it would depend on the upgrade.
One of the problems with processor upgrades is that if you just sold your current mac, and take the money you would ahve spent on an upgrade, you're often almost at a new, used or refurb mac of comparable speed and power. often the enjwer machiens have other features too, like a newer operating system, better software, and perhaps better built in ports and whatnot. Also, a processor upgrade only upgrades the processor, you're still on the same system bus and on the same graphics card, both of which can have a big impact on your speed as well.
Frankly, I think you're better off with a new computer, but I guess it really depends on the upgrade youa re looking at and how much it costs.
1- Selling a used 466Mhz G4 on eBay will bring you nowhere near the price point of a G5
2-If you do video editing, the only new "ports" you could really benefit from are the FW800 ones (if you use external FW HD's). You can buy a PCI FW800 card for below $75
3-While the bus speed on the G5 is much faster, real life tests have shown that at equal clock speed, G4's and G5's performances are virtually identical in Final Cut Pro and Compressor (see barefeats.com for detail on their FCP shootout).
4-The only components I would recommend you to change are the CPU and the GPU. You can add as many FW hard drives as you want.
For the CPU, check out Gigadesigns.com. They have Dual 1.8GHz G4 upgrade cards. If a single processor is enough for you, get the single 1.73Ghz G4 for $499. Gigadesigns cards come with jumpers that allow you to overclock them. The 1.73 can be overclocked pass the 1.8 mark and may run at 2Ghz if you try it. You shouldn't be worried about the word "overclocking". Apple sold overcloked 1.25Ghz PowerMac G4's at Dual 1.42GHz when Motorola failed to produce faster chips, then an overclocked Dual 2.2GHz G5 @ Dual 2.5GHz when IBM couldn't reach faster speed, Gigadesigns (and others like Sonet and Powerlogix) sell 1.6Ghz cards at 1.8 or 1.73 Ghz. Motorola chips have a certain scale within which it remains perfectly stable.
For the GPU, you have no choice but to get the Radeon 9800 128mb. Not only is it the most powerful GPU (and probably the last one) to be released for the G4's AGP 4X slot, it is the ONLY G4 card that can support Motion and 10.4's Core Video. So for you it's a no-brainer. The card retails for $249 new.
Therefore, you can get a powerful machine for about $899. A single 1.8GHz G5 (with a non upgradable CPU stuck to it's motherboard) + a good video card will cost you TWICE as much and will perform at about the same speed. You decide.
P.S. Don't forget to sell your used GPU & CPU on eBay ;-)
