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Running Leopard on a Power Mac G4?

V

VT-Vincent

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jan 26, 2008
4
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I just purchased a PowerMac 933MHz Quicksilver from eBay and I'm wondering what kind of performance I can expect running 10.5.x. I understand this system is teetering on the edge of Leopard's system requirements, but with 1.5GB of RAM and a 80GB hard drive, I'm hoping this machine will have a little bit of life left in it.

Obviously, I won't be doing any type of video editing, gaming or graphics work, but I am wondering what kind of performance I can expect in regards to day-to-day basic use such as web browsing, office work, etc. Will I notice any major UI lag or other such anomalies?

Unfortunately, most of my experience on the Mac side has been with Intel hardware and as such, I don't have much perspective as to where the PowerPC systems fall in terms of performance. Any info and recommendations would be appreciated!
 
It will work, but not that fast.

I have Leopard installed on an iBook G4 with 1GHz and 1.25GB of RAM and it runs not that smoothly.

You'd be better of with Tiger (10.4).
 
I have Leopard Server installed on that model. The UI runs fine, though I'll be running it headless when it gets moved in the the server closet.

I wouldn't expect anything great with some multi-media, but otherwise web surfing should be very acceptable.
 
It won't be that bad for day to day stuff, but unless you really need some of the Leopard-only features I would stick with 10.4.11.
 
My 1.33 PB with 512mb ran Leopard pretty well and smooth. 5+ tabs open in Firefox and one or two other apps open at once.

Your QS will run Leopard just fine since you got the 1.5gb(Max) memory. I'd suggest upgrading the graphics card though since you only got 32mb/64mb for video. Core image will look much better :).

You also got the 2002 model so you don't have any limitations for hard drive sizes(128gb cap). You could also purchase a dual 1ghz CPU from the high-end QS if you want a little speed boost.
 
Certainly you can run Leopard on a Power Mac G4. In fact, if you need to run a Leopard on an upgraded (i.e. a G4 cpu) Power Mac 9600 or 8500, you can do so too! Help is just clicks away. See links for details.

OWC: Link 1
MacMod: Link 2
 
Leopard runs fine on all G4 models. Apple's choice of the 867mhz "requirement" was arbitrary. Even a lowly 350mhz PowerMac will do well.
 
I'm glad to hear there's still a bit of life left in this machine. I will probably end up buying a new mini or 15" MBP later this year, but I think this will be a fun hobby box to have around.

I am definately considering some hardware upgrades such as adding a USB 2.0 card, but I didn't realize components such as the CPU were so interchangeable on the Power Macs, I may look into doing that at some point. On the subject of video cards, it currently comes with a GeForce4 MX 64MB, so I am considering upgrading that to something higher. Any cards in particular you would recommend? and possibly any stores other than eBay that might still carry some of this equipment?
 
i believe many of us cannot find in good conscience to suggest/advise you in going this path. Simply because for a little bit more money, you can get the lowest end mac mini and still get a much better experience with Leopard (not to mention upgradable to Snow Leopard in the very near future at a low cost).

If noise is an issue to you or the users of the system. They will have to endure a little bit (could be an understatement) noise from the fan(s). One nice thing about these desktops over the mac mini, you can house internal hdds and also add PCI cards etc. Sigh ...

Bottom line, I personally do not suggest you go with this route. However, if you do know what you really want, I'm in support of you going this route.

p.s. I don't exactly know where you can get those items. A nice place to check for upgrades is http://www.macsales.com
 
VT-Vincent said:
I'm glad to hear there's still a bit of life left in this machine. I will probably end up buying a new mini or 15" MBP later this year, but I think this will be a fun hobby box to have around.

I am definately considering some hardware upgrades such as adding a USB 2.0 card, but I didn't realize components such as the CPU were so interchangeable on the Power Macs, I may look into doing that at some point. On the subject of video cards, it currently comes with a GeForce4 MX 64MB, so I am considering upgrading that to something higher. Any cards in particular you would recommend? and possibly any stores other than eBay that might still carry some of this equipment?
Click to expand...

This machine has some life left in it and can definitely be used for other tasks after you upgrade later in the year. There's a great technical forum called MacGurus where you can get information and possibly purchase new or used products. There's a for sale section in the forum that has used stuff for sale. Check it out here. Best of luck.
 
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