Ram or CPU First? [G4 Sawtooth 350]

A

abyssknight

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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
 
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.
 
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
 
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).
 
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.
 
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.
 
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/Upgrades.cfm?model=89&type=Processor&TI=%23TimeFormat%28Now%28%29%2C+&shoupgrds=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.
 
Thank you all for the responses.

Everything in the machine is stock.

It's almost as if it was untouched since it's initial build.

10gb HD, 128mb RAM, DVD/CD ROM, ATI Rage 16mb, Zip Drive

It's not a bad machine. I really got it just to see if I'd enjoy the other side of the fence. I'm pretty impressed, but I really would like to see if I can upgrade this thing on a budget, and a tight one at that.

RAM will most likely be first, as I thought. I'm thinking 512mb, then if the machine is workable, I'll do the CPU, and get another 512mb stick.

Does anyone know what kind of drive would go stock into this machine? I really don't want to shell out cash for a controller card, but if I have to I will.
 
Any IDE drive will work. The controller will only see 137GB, so don't get a larger drive. But you can add a second drive to the controller.

The original drive should have U Brackets on top of it to mount a second drive, and to the left of the main drive, there are two more drive bays on the floor. Power cables should be in there, at least for the second drive, maybe behind metal posts. Mine has power cables for an additional 3 drives already there.
 
any mac since the rev. B B&W supports slaves with the logic board ide controller. in simpler language you're good to go. I use an ata/33 controller with a 7200 rpm 8mb buffer drive and its snappy. benchmarks have proven over and over that anything over ata 33 or 66 is hardly ever going to be faster.

any drive is fine.
 
Yep...
Generally speaking, most drives max out at about 30-45MB p/sec.
You would notice a difference between the B+W G3 stock ata/33 and a PCI controller which should be ata/66 or higher - but remembering the max out - by not too much.
I would recommend any of the fast, cheap 7200 ata drives out there. And because there would be a slight bottleneck at the ata/33 controller - invest in a 8MB cache buffer over 2MB...
 
My last post was just responding to the previous comments on suitable drives for your system...

However, in regards to the original question of what to upgrade - here are my suggestions (in order of priority):

1. Ram. At least to 768MB (x3 256MB modules).
You have 4 RAM slots (each capable of taking up to 512MB of PC100 or PC133 168pin SDRAM modules. I would say that 768MB is the best minimum for OS X - however if you want to have many applications open and running at the same time; more than 768MB is desired. You can have up to 2GB under OS X / 1.5GB under OS 9.2.

2. CPU upgrade. The only other option to buying a new 3rd party processor (which is expensive) - is searching Ebay for G4 processors. There are many single and dual 500mhz processors for sale these days. But remember you can only use processors designed for your 100MB system bus (which increase in speed by 50mhz - ie: 350 / 400 / 450 / 500). And although a 150mhz speed bump is a small jump - in OS X (and especially with dual 500mhz) the preformance increase would be noticable. But that option is really just a stop gag - probably best to save up and get a decent 3rd party processor.

3. Video Card. Your system currently has a ATI Rage 128 AGP card. Which really isn't cutting the grade! If you want to take advantage of the new Expose and Quartz engine in Panther - look around for investing in a card with at least 32MB VRAM. You have a x2 AGP slot.

4. Harddrive. Like my post above - your easiest option is a 7200rpm 8MB buffered ide ata drive. However if you want to really get devilish preformance at a reasonable price - I would suggest capitalising on the price crash of a SCSI setup. You can pick up a mac 64bit dual channel PCI card for an excellent price these days / and the 10Krpm drives are now more than affordable!

Take from me - someone who has wasted too much time upgrading a beige G3, a blue and white G3, and a G4 digital audio... if you manage to upgrade the first 2 things you will see a greatly improved mac. The video card will make it quicker and smoother - and a fast harddrive setup will improve response.

Good Luck...
 
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