Pro Opnions Needed Please

H

Hidden Gekko

3 Years and 100 Posts 0_o
I'm planning to buy a new G4 for college, where i plan to get into digital artwork using photoshop, but i also want a computer that can play online shooters well, namely Medal of Honor.

My options are :

867MHz PowerPC G4
512MB SDRAM - 1 DIMM
60GB Ultra ATA drive
CD-RW drive
ATI Radeon 9000 Pro dual-display w/64MB DDR
56K internal modem
Apple Pro Keyboard - U.S. English
Mac OS - U.S. English

Subtotal $1,487.00


Power Mac G4 Dual 867MHz w/133MHz system bus
60GB Ultra ATA drive
Optical 1 - Combo Drive (DVD/CD-RW)
512MB PC2100 DDR SDRAM - 1 DIMM
Mac OS - U.S. English
Accessory kit
ATI Radeon 9000 Pro dual-display w/64MB DDR
Apple Pro Keyboard - U.S. English
Optical 2 - None
56K internal modem

$1,785.00

My questions are this :
1.Should I not spend the extra 94 dollars on a 9000 pro? how well does the geforce 4 perform? I will probably end up getting the 9000, but i was wondering how well Medal of Honor or a game similar to it will perform on each card.
2.Do i really need the dual g4's? This is probably the most important question
3.I don't know much about L2/L3 caches... perhaps you can enlighten me.

So should i spend $300 on a better computer or will the cheaper one suffice for my photoshop and gaming needs?

Thanks for talking to me!
:D
 
For photoshop probably as well the cheaper .. but with as much ram as you can afford. How big images do you do? How big is the difference of those 300 $ to you really? How long do you think you will keep your computer? 3-4 years? 1/2 year and change it? How big are your gaming needs? Why no dvd in the first choise? If you think on having the computer for a couple of years, i could imagine you to like one there (or add it later) .. How is the alternative of those dollars, on games??
 
yes i thought about the dvd thing and many other things as well. I could actually have 620 megs of RAM if i move the 128 one from my current imac to the g4. The g4 tower has 4 slots for ram right? My rage 128 pro usually plays Medal of Honor at about 15 frames per second, which is bad...

The DVD player would be nice, but i already have a dvd player. Still, it's cool to play em on your computer and the usually load much faster too.

The Dual g4's i've used at my art school work perfectly with photoshop, so i guess a single g4 should compete well...

But it's such a hard choice...

I'm getting this as a graduation/birthday/partially paid for by me, and i have a small budget... hmm... so tough to decide.
 
... you can always add the second proc. there (or wait for the 970's ..) and add more ram and the dvd ot whatever you need - a good point of the tower (compared to laptops) so don't worry for upgrading it later if you will need
 
Yes I know. I didn't know you could upgrade the processors though. Thx for that info!

One last thought...

Is Cache that important and to what is it good for?
 
it's a matter of cost now or cost later. The dual is going to be a good bit faster and significantly more responsive under P-shop. Games, they'll mostly ignore the second processor and only the graphics card will matter if current gaming trends are indicative. Though with Intel pushing multiple virtual processors, we might even see game makers really refining their threading architectures.

Anyway, the dual machine is going to be fun to play on longer, so you can put of the upgrade to a faster box. I have a dual 450, and although I look at the new machines and think how sweet they are, I don't buy them despite that I have the cash because their speed won't improve my workflow. I will be grabbing a phat video card and a 17" or so flat panel shortly though.

I'd go dually, unless you totally plan on getting a new computer in 2 years anyway. And DVD's (at least for data) may become fairly essential in the near future.
 
I guess i'll have to take it up with my parents... i'd prefer the better one but i'd be just dandy with the cheaper one. As long as i have any oppurttunity to upgrade it, it's a good buy.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top