Can I upgrade my processor?

Perseus

Perseus

Registered
I am currently running dual 500 MHz on my G4, and was wondering if it would be possible for me to get a more powerful processor. I dont feel like saving up for a whole new computer and would be perfectly content with a new processor and some new VRAM (thats a seperate upgrade).

If I can upgrade, where can I get new processors?
 
I have a Sonnet 1.2 GHz card in place of my G4 450 (Sawtooth model). No problems. Your machine would probably be eligible for a dual processor upgrade too... lucky!
 
Captain Code said:
Yes you can. I have a G4 400 upgraded to a 1.4GHz and I tell yah, it's like a whole new machine.
check out
http://www.sonnettech.com/product/default.html
and
http://gigadesigns.com/
for some of the upgrade cards available. There are also a few other companies that make them, but I got the GigaDesigns card, and it's great.
Click to expand...
Is it difficult to replace the old processor with the new? I'm thinking of upgrading my single 867mhz to a dual 1.2ghz Gigadesigns card. I'm a somewhat senior citizen, so bear with me.
 
It's easy. There is a metal band holding on the old CPU heatsink that you take off with a screw driver. Then there are 3 or 4 screws holding on the CPU daughter card to take out. The daughter card then comes out of it's slot on the motherboard and you put the new card in.

There are detailed instructions that come with the Gigadesigns upgrade, and no doubt instructions come with the other vendor's products.
 
Please do, and let us know how you like the performance boost: was it as fast as you expected?

Also, if you could comment on the degree of difficulty and any other points you feel noteworthy, we'd all appreciate it!
 
I put a Powerlogix 1Ghz processor in my G4/450/AGP. Was like a new machine. Beofre that, OS X was pretty slow. After, ran great. After that I added an ATI 8500 card, even better performance. 1.25GB memory.
 
I think mac cpu upgrades are just as logical as x86 systems if not more. I upgraded from a G3 350 to a G4 500 cpu and it was well worth it since I use a few altivec apps.
 
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