What about 970 upgrades?????

[amnesiac1984]

Hey all,

I've had my dream mac (PowerMAC DUAL 1GIG MDD) for about 8 months now and it took me beasically 5 or 6 years to get it, one thing I am interested to know is will I be able to get a PPC 970 upgrade card to replace my 2 g4's in a yaer or two or maybe longer, seeing as I had my beige g3 for 4 years before I got a g4 upgrade for it. DO you reckon upgrade makers will be able to do it? I know they'd probably go out of business if they couldn't.

 

[CubeHacker]

Getting a bit ahead of ourselves, aren't we? No one knows if Apple will even use the PPC970's.

Its impossible to answer your question, but considering that the PPC970 architecture is very different from that of the current G4's, i'd say no. How would these upgrade cards get around the slow FSB of the current Powermacs?

 

[praetorian_x]

Nope.

Enjoy what you have. When the 970 comes, and I'm convinced it is coming soon, apple will have an entirely different motherboard for it. I remember reading that it was thought to be based on a socket (like the pentium) rather than a card like the current macs.

The likelyhood of wedging one of them into a current powermac is nil, or very close to it.

Start saving again or (horrors!) sell your mac now on ebay, go macless through WWDC, and then buy a low end 970. (Sure you are gonna do that, based on rumors and a strangers advice on an internet board.... <smile/>)

Cheers,
prat

 

[Kwyjibo]

I would not sell my current mac but thats just me. You guys have to remember all the stuff is speculation...there were los of ppl who sold their ipods pretty cheap back in december and january because they *knew* ipodu pdates were going ot happen the next tuesday. Most of them went without ipods for an extra 5 months (4/28) so thats something to consider. personally start saving and see where you end up when theyy release the 970, but i would keep the dual ghz machine, its still really fast.

 

[amnesiac1984]

Originally posted by Kwyjibo
I would not sell my current mac but thats just me. You guys have to remember all the stuff is speculation...there were los of ppl who sold their ipods pretty cheap back in december and january because they *knew* ipodu pdates were going ot happen the next tuesday. Most of them went without ipods for an extra 5 months (4/28) so thats something to consider. personally start saving and see where you end up when theyy release the 970, but i would keep the dual ghz machine, its still really fast.

Yeah I'm perfectly happy with this one. Although If a powerbook 970 comes out next year I'll consider going portable. LAck of power was the reason I went desktop. I held out for DDR, thats why I waited to get the MDD (not really sure whethers its worth it but psychologically it is).

I'm just glad I'm back in the game, with my Beige G3 it was load sof generations old and anything I bought for it was useless for anything new. At least I know that MY 17" studio will go well with a new 970 and if I get a 20" as well, then that will too. Hard disks are likely to be compatible with 970 machines etc? Wiht my old Beige G3 it could not support slave as it was a Rev A.

 

[jholzner]

Macosrumors.com actually has a sort blurb about 970 upgrades and states that it really isn't possible to put one of the new chips into a G4 motherboard. Take a look...it's the Thursday, May 8 update on Macosrumors.

 

[dhdave]

Yeah, forget it. Even if you could why would you? The machine still has a 133 mhz bus. The 970's will be much higher (400mhz?) which is where you will see the greatest increase in performance (IMO). You would be crippling the 970 by putting it in there. It would be akin to putting a G4 in my quadra 950.

--dh

 

[amnesiac1984]

Originally posted by dhdave
Yeah, forget it. Even if you could why would you? The machine still has a 133 mhz bus. The 970's will be much higher (400mhz?) which is where you will see the greatest increase in performance (IMO). You would be crippling the 970 by putting it in there. It would be akin to putting a G4 in my quadra 950.

--dh

166mhz bus thank you very much

Yeah I guess its not worth it, one interesting point though is, what will upgrade manufacturers do? Will they just be making faster and faster G4's? If not then there will be a gap of a year or so when business will be extrememly slow because the owners of the last G4s won't be bale to upgrade them.

Anyway there's gotta be one option out there for me, I bought my beige g3 6 years ago after reading that I will be able to upgrade it to a 1 ghz G4 when they come out.

 

[hvfsl]

Originally posted by dhdave
Yeah, forget it. Even if you could why would you? The machine still has a 133 mhz bus. The 970's will be much higher (400mhz?) which is where you will see the greatest increase in performance (IMO). You would be crippling the 970 by putting it in there. It would be akin to putting a G4 in my quadra 950.

--dh

The PPC970 bus is 900Mhz, but putting a PPC970 in a G4 PowerMac would still see a big increase in performance. The PPC970 is compatible with the G4/G3 so it should be technically possible.

 

[KershMan]

What about Apple selling main boards?

Here's a thought, why doesn't Apple either sell themselves or allow selling of Apple approved motherboards to PowerMac owners who want to upgrade to the 970.

You could probably make a killing selling boards, chips, and RAM while the PowerMac owners could save by reusing existing cases, drives, burners, etc.

I know it has not been the norm in the past, but if, and I think it is really a matter of when, Apple adopts the 970 the hardware is dramtically different in the past.

You do not want to alienate your current customer base who may not be able to afford a complete new toy for a few years. But you could gain some from it.

 

[dhdave]

Originally posted by amnesiac1984:

166mhz bus thank you very much

LOL. Sorry, I couldn't remember if it was 133 or 166/7. The only Mac I can use (at least for another couple weeks) is my son's and that's running at 100mhz so you're ahead of me regardless.

--dh