WOW! Upgraded my G4!

[Lucky736]

Well. I decided after having done a few systems in the past my next project would be an upgraded G4. Heres what I started with:

G4 400 AGP Sawtooth
256MB RAM
16MB Rage Pro Video Card
8x Sony CDRW Drive
Ultra SCSI Card w/ IBM 10k RPM Ultra SCSI Drive

It ran Tiger reasonably well believe it or not, but I needed more. Here's what it is now:

G4 1.8 AGP Sawtooth
896MB RAM
128MB Radeon 9800 Pro
16x Dual Layer NEC Superdrive
Seagate 120GB 7200 RPM 8MB Cache Hard Drive
Airport Card

WOW. I just got done testing some Quicktime HD feeds, Halo... yeah yeah but we all know what a bloated power hungry port this was, Photoshop, and a few others. Holy cow. For anyone thinking about upgrading that old G4 they have, instead of dishing out much bucks for a brand new system, jump right in. Slower bus speed, yes, but you know what? You have all of that expandability. BTW, all of this runs fine on the FACTORY 237W power supply and it's not even warm after a few hours of hard use. Next upgrade is to 2GB RAM, then we can really have some fun.

Just thought I would share with everyone. Again, lot's are saving up for some new new new system when in fact they could do something like this and be amazed.

 

[joecool85]

Awesome! I love hearing about people upgrading their old systems instead of just buying new ones. This is part of the reason why I will be buying a PM instead of some other mac, upgrades in the future.

 

[macorama]

dual in to singles?

Anyone know if you can use the dual cpu upgrades in macs that were single cpu originally?

 

[topgunn]

Anyone know if you can use the dual cpu upgrades in macs that were single cpu originally?

Try this link.

 

[Cuckoo]

Anyone know if you can use the dual cpu upgrades in macs that were single cpu originally?

Yes you can upgrade single into dual systems. From the Sawtooth up. But please note, early sawtooth models (G4-400) weren't able to be upgraded. The sites who sell the processors have extensive documentation on this...

 

[Lucky736]

Processor upgrade works fine in mine, and no sleep or video issues at all.

 

[kalisphoenix]

Glad to hear your success story.

I upgraded a Performa 5400 to a G3/500 using a Sonnet card (cache upgrade), but I haven't had the cash to spring for anything more involved.

I'm going to upgrade my B&W to a 1.1GHz G3 (don't think the bus speed decrease is worth paying a higher price for Altivec) and 1GB RAM. Might stick a PCI card and three more HDs in it too, but that hardly counts as an upgrade. Definitely keeping this beast around for a long time.

 

[dmw007]

Nice job on the upgrade!

 

[Norouzi]

Glad to hear about your upgrade, I recently upgraded my Sawtooth with a 1GHz CPU and WOW I can only imagine what your 1.8 does That's why I love the PowerMacs, so much room to grow even after years.

 

[Lucky736]

Thank you yeah it's working really well. The video card is amazing with the rest. Also, I have an old performa 6116 downstairs. Originally 512k video, 60mhz powerpc 601, and 8mb RAM!

Now has 136MB RAM, AAUI Ethernet, HPV Video, and is a g3/300 with 1MB cache. Lol. That was more the first test years ago. it was funny, i found the box that had a price of 800 each for a 16mb edo simm, lol, and there were 2 of them!

 

[bodeh6]

If I were to buy a home computer, it would definitely be the PowerMac w/23" ACD. I have many upgrades to my Old Dell XPS T450 and it is still running Windows 98 strong. Actually it is strongest right now. Increased RAM, upgraded video card, added ethernet card for cable modem, ditched 56K modem. That is what I really like about desktop mini towers/towers: easy expandability.

 

[G5power]

G4 Upgrades

Nice post and good to hear about your results.

I have a MDD dual 867 that I've installed several more hard drives, a Pioneer 16x DVD burner and 1.5GB of memory. Also took a 4 port USB card straight out of my PC and dropped in the G4. I really like the easy access for the upgrades.

It's interesting to see what you did with the 400MHz G4. I hope to find a good deal on something similar soon to upgrade and switch my wife over from her current PC.