Processor upgrade question, G4 Sawtooth 350
Paul Soderman
spirit of the new century and installing OS 10.3.3, I got a Pioneer
Superdrive for DVD recording then picked up the iLife suite. I was bummed to
learn that apparently I need a faster CPU in order to use iDVD. (Apple
certainly didn't go out of their way to advertise this!). Anyway, I'm ready
to upgrade the processor, as a new Mac ain't in the cards right now.
I presume that this is not a terribly hard install, but I thought that I'd
check in with other folks to see if I'm on the right path. I believe, but am
not sure, that my G4 is what was known as a Sawtooth model, though I
understand that there were also Yikes models. I did some Web/Usenet
searching and saw that the Sawtooth has 2 audio jacks (mic in and the
speaker/sound out) directly over each other, as does mine. The Apple System
Profiler control panel reveals only that this is a G4 w/AGP graphics, speed
350MHz, and a machine ID of 406. Is this indeed a Sawtooth?
It would seem that I may not need the absolute fastest processor available,
since the hardware itself might not be able to accomplish very much with the
added speed. I was unable to determine the "bus speed" via the Profiler; I'm
just guessing that it is 100 but I'd like to determine how to find out for
sure before I splurge on the CPU. Am I correct that a bus speed of 100 would
pretty much limit a speed increase via the CPU upgrade? I really need only
about 800MHz I'd think, to use iDVD and if something over 1GHz would not do
much for me, I'd consider the slower CPU.
Lastly, any recommendations as to where to look/shop for the upgrade?
Thanks much for any help!
_____________________
Regards, Paul Soderman
I'm also on AOL as Kidpocono
Slartibartfast
Paul Soderman <Kidp...@comcast.net> wrote:
I upgraded my G4/400 Sawtooth over the holidays. I got a Powerlogix
1.2Ghz card for about $325. It took about 10 min to install, and that
included unplugging the Mac and moving it to the table, installing the
card, putting everything back together and booting it up.
As for iDVD, you need a built in Apple superdrive to burn to. iDVD
doesn't support anything else. I just bought a Lacie 8X external DVD
drive and was going to buy the iLife suite, but decided against it since
I don't have an Apple Superdrive.
--
Winner of the Prestijiouse "Fijords" Award
Gregory Weston
> I've had this G4 for maybe 4-5 years now; since finally getting into the
> spirit of the new century and installing OS 10.3.3, I got a Pioneer
> Superdrive for DVD recording then picked up the iLife suite. I was bummed to
> learn that apparently I need a faster CPU in order to use iDVD. (Apple
> certainly didn't go out of their way to advertise this!).
They kinda-sorta did. They made very clear the iDVD is only supported on
machines that _shipped_with_ a DVD writer. Yours is not such a machine.
> The Apple System
> Profiler control panel reveals only that this is a G4 w/AGP graphics, speed
> 350MHz, and a machine ID of 406. Is this indeed a Sawtooth?
If it's got AGP it's a Sawtooth.
> It would seem that I may not need the absolute fastest processor available,
> since the hardware itself might not be able to accomplish very much with the
> added speed. I was unable to determine the "bus speed" via the Profiler; I'm
> just guessing that it is 100 but I'd like to determine how to find out for
> sure before I splurge on the CPU.
It is.
> Lastly, any recommendations as to where to look/shop for the upgrade?
I like Sonnet as a company and have had good experiences with their
products. I would avoid PowerLogix. If you get a working product from
them, I think it'll be fine, but if you have trouble I've found their
support to be distinctly suboptimal.
--
Standard output is like your butt. Everyone has one. When using a bathroom,
they all default to going into a toilet. However, a person can redirect his
"standard output" to somewhere else, if he so chooses. - Jeremy Nixon
Henry
> Lastly, any recommendations as to where to look/shop for the upgrade?
Other World Computing (OWC) has a very informative website and their
prices aren't bad either.
http://eshop.macsales.com/MyOWC/Upgrades.cfm?model=89&type=Processor&TI=
%23TimeFormat%28Now%28%29%2C+&shoupgrds=Show+Upgrades
cheers,
Henry