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#1
December 12th, 2004, 05:26 PM
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 Ram or CPU First? [G4 Sawtooth 350] I've been wading in the apple pool a little recently. I was practically given a G4 350mhz Sawtooth, and I've put OS X on it, and really, being that I primarily use x86 architecture machines, I was quite impressed at the speed this dated machine had. So, after spending a grand total of $25 for this little gem, I've decided I need to spend a bit of cash to get it up to speed. I've looked into RAM, and it seems I can get a gig for around $74 if I try PC133 downgraded to PC100. As far as processor goes, I don't want to upgrade if it's going to cost more than a new machine. So the 1ghz Mercury Extreme seems to be the way for me to go ($229). Any advice would be greatly appreciated. -Abyss  |
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#2
December 12th, 2004, 05:33 PM
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| Grow RAM up to 512 MB, then you can think about CPU speed.
__________________ My current machine is an iMac Core 2 Duo 2.16 GHz 24" with MacOS X 10.5. My Apples are here. 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. |
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#3
December 12th, 2004, 07:05 PM
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| Yep -- RAM first, since it's the cheapest. You'll get a subtle boost, but the processor is what's really gonna give it some speed. If you can afford the $74 for 1GB of RAM and the processor upgrade, then I would say go for it. You'll have a swift little machine. If you wanna take it a step further, get a PCI ATA/133 card and a good, fast hard drive to connect to it. I've got a Sonnet Tempo ATA/100 card and a few hard drives hooked up, and it's amazing the performance boost you get from the drives.
__________________ Power Macintosh G4/500MHz "Yikes!" 10.4.11 Server • 1024MB • 3 x 120GB + 320GB • DVR-111D • 2 x Radeon 7000 PCI • 2 x 17" CRT MacBook 2.0GHz Core 2 Duo - White 10.5.5 • 2048MB • 80GB • CD-RW/DVD-ROM iPod Photo 60GB • iPod nano 1GB • AT&T DSL 6Mb/768k http://www.jeffhoppe.com |
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#4
December 12th, 2004, 07:22 PM
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| ram is the cheapest way to upgrade an older system. I went from 512 up to 1gb about 3 months back and I can really feel a difference especially when I have 5+ apps open. you're lucky to have a sawtooth because they have many viable upgrade options. you can go up to 1.7ghz G4 now with the new gigadesign upgrades. the owc 1ghz is much much cheaper though and would be a huge boost over the 350. if I was you I would upgrade the ram up to 1gb or even higher and then get an upgrade. after both are done it will scream for sure. maybe even add a 7200 rpm 8mb buffer hd later as osx runs nice on one. I say 1gb min. because that seems to be a real sweet spot for osx. 512 is nice too but nothing like 1gb
__________________ Blue & White G3 rev. B (painted black & white) / Sonnet G4 500 MHz ZIF / 1024 MB RAM / Pioneer DVR-107D 8x SuperDrive / Western Digital 120 GB 7200 rpm HD 8 MB Cache / Radeon 7000 32 MB with QE enabled / 19" Viewsonic P95f+B flat Trinitron CRT (black) / Panther / Canon iP 2000 printer / Logitech X-230 spkrs Gadgets: HP 3.1MP camera iPod shuffle Sony z200 cell |
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#5
December 12th, 2004, 11:51 PM
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| RAM definitely first...the more you get, the happier your Mac will be. HD...even if you don't upgrade the controller card, it'll make a slight difference. If you really want fast disk access, grab a SATA card and a WD raptor (10K rpm) drive. The new 1.7 Gigadesigns upgrades aren't sawtooth compatible according to their site. Seems their 1.5 version is the highest you can get for the sawtooth models. Might want to e-mail or call them to make sure first. Their 1.2 version is $299, the the 1.4 is $359. Macsales.com has some Sonnet dual 1ghz upgrades for $399. $100 (1gb RAM) + $100 (controller) + $150 (HD) + $300 (processor) = $650 (rough approx.) You could probably grab $200, maybe $300 on E-Bay for that machine without the upgrades. So that would give you $850 to $950 to play with. Might be a better idea to sell her and use the proceeds towards a new 1.6 G5 iMac ($1299), e-Mac ($649, $799), or a iBook ($999).
__________________ . | mdnky@macosx.com | My Homepage | My Music | Restore the Pledge | MacOSX.com Widget | • MacBook Pro Core2Duo 2.33GHz 15", 2GB DDR2 RAM, 120GB, DL Superdrive, OS X 10.5, • Apple 23" Cinema HD Display, Apple Slim-Alum Keyboard, Apple BT Alum Keyboard, Logitech Optical Scroll Mouse • iPhone 3G, iPhone 8GB, iPod Photo 30GB, Nikon D50, Nikon L6, Epson 3490, Epson R1800, HP LaserJet 1200 • LaCie 500GB d2 Quadra, LaCie 160GB d2 FW, harman/kardon SoundSticks II, Mighty Mouse, iSight |
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#6
December 13th, 2004, 11:32 AM
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| ram definately first, but i would go to a gig before starting to think of other upgrades. but the other thing i would look at before the cpu is the harddrive. if that still has the original harddrive in it then you might want to get a bigger and maybe faster drive. that computer might have come with a 5400 rpm drive so a 7200 would be a bit quicker. |
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#7
December 13th, 2004, 11:43 AM
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| I definitely recommend starting with RAM. Forget the harddrive for the time being. The next would be the processor. With that bumped you will get a whole new world of speed and love from your computer.
__________________ iMac G5 with iSight; 20"; 1.5GB RAM MacBook Pro 15" iPod Nano 1GB 3rd Generation 20gb iPod |
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#8
December 13th, 2004, 12:18 PM
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| The best upgrades you can make for this machine; Ram to at least 1GB New Processor New Video card It would be like a new machine. Here are the available processor upgrades for your machine; http://eshop.macsales.com/MyOWC/Upgr...=Show+Upgrades Check http://www.ramseeker.com for ram prices Check http://www.xlr8yourmac.com for recommendations for a video card. I have the 450/AGP. Put a Powerlogix 1GHz processor, ATI 8500 card and 1.25GB of ram. Runs great.
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