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  1. #1
    studiobellezza is offline Registered User
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    Smile G3 900 or G4 500 Upgrade?

    Hi!

    Need some buying advice here!
    I have a B&W G3 400mhz with 640ram running 10.3.2
    What do you think the best bang for the buck would be
    G3 900 or a G4 500 upgrade? I wil be using it as a home
    machine for web and music. I have a quicksilver G4 allready
    for the more heavystuff.

    Regards

    Stuart Sharman

  2. #2
    chevy's Avatar
    chevy is offline Maverlous Da Vinci
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    90% chances that the G3 900 MHz will help you more than the 500 MHz G4. And you'll have less compatibility problems.
    My current machine is an iMac Core 2 Duo 2.16 GHz 24" and a MacBook Pro 13" with MacOS X 10.6. My oldest Apple was born in 1977.
    GS/P/>SS d-(++) s+: a+ C+(C) U* P L+ E--- W++ N- o+ K? w O-- M++ V PS+ PE+ Y- PGP t+ 5 X+ R tv-- b+++ DI++ D+ G e+++ h---- r+++ y?
    Time is not changing, I'm just traveling through time.

  3. #3
    Zammy-Sam's Avatar
    Zammy-Sam is offline Desertchild
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    Definitely G3 900!
    iBook 600; 12''; 640mb; 8mb Rage; DVD-CDRW-Combo, 20GB
    P4 1.6; 2x80GB Raid1 (file-server)
    tiBook 1Ghz, Superdrive, 768MB, 64mb 9000, 60GB

  4. #4
    Randman's Avatar
    Randman is offline HA! HA! HA!
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    G3
    This is a computer-generated message and needs no signature.

  5. #5
    GraphicUmp is offline Registered User
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    G3 900. It's faster than the G4 500 (which isn't that much faster than what you have).

    The G4 500 would only be a better choice if you used graphic-intensive applications all the time, like Photoshop, that take advantage of Altivec.
    GraphicUmp :lol:

    1.83 Core Duo mini w/lots of goodies
    12" iBook G4/1.2 w/100 GB HD & 1.25 GB RAM
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  6. #6
    Krevinek's Avatar
    Krevinek is offline Evil PPC Tweaker
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    Nah, the G4 500 isn't a better choice, period... the boost even from Altivec isn't enough to match the G3 900. Go with the G3 900 and you will be glad you did. The only reason why I would opt for the slower G4 is if you do development and want a proper testing senario for Altivec code.
    iMac G5 2.0Ghz (10.4.x, Main System)
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    "Sometimes I drive to run from all my demons \ Sometimes I drive so I can be alone \ Sometimes I drive to see the world in different light \ Sometimes I drive for no reason at all" - Assemblage 23, Drive

  7. #7
    naodx is offline Registered User
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    http://www.xlr8yourmac.com/G3CARDS/p...800/index.html

    This is a series of tests between a g4/500 upgrad and a g3/800 upgrade, it should give you an idea of which one will suit you best.

    Of course you could always go with one of the newer g4 upgrade cards, now up to 1 Gig.....

  8. #8
    Viro's Avatar
    Viro is offline Registered User
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    I'm actually quite surprised that the G4/500 does that well. I had expected the G3/800 to stomp all over the G4/500 but it doesn't appear to be the case. And that's with OS 10.1.5. AFAIK, Panther did add more Altivec optimizations, so you might get better scores if those benchmarks were run on Panther.

 

 

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