[G4] Processor upgrade advice

[Mel Krewall]

I would suggest an upgrade to your Sawtooth or go for the new machine. 
The price/performance on the Dual G4 is not going to be what you are 
after. It will make OS X a little snappier, but you won't see a lot of 
boost in most other other programs from a dual 450 and the video 
performance wouldn't be any better. You can also get a lot more life 
from the Sawtooth for quite a bit less than $1200.  That 1.25 upgrade 
looks really good from a cost/performance standpoint. Add back a new 
Radeon 9800 and your machine will be pretty hot.
Just my $.02
Mel

"The only time my prayers are never answered is on the golf course."
~ Billy Graham


On Dec 8, 2003, at 2:59 AM, csean at poc.it wrote:

> Hi all,
> I've been thinking of a processor upgrade for my Sawtooth G4/400 and 
> see
> that single processor upgrades have started falling in price. e.g. OWC 
> has
> 1.25 Gigadesign processors at $389; I've even seen G4/800 processors 
> below
> $200. As the new dual processors have appeared, I expect these prices 
> to
> fall even more.
>
> I got the Sawtooth, used, at a very good price and I have upgraded 
> most of
> the innards: combo drive replaced the DVD, Radeon 8500 replaced the 
> Rage
> 128, big HD, lots more RAM - all at very good prices. Let's say I've 
> put
> about $750 into it overall.
>
> Selling it used I'd get a lot less than that, but some parts I could 
> carry
> over to any new Mac I bought. The G4/1.25 is still being sold at around
> $1200 (here in Europe), which is a pretty good deal.
>
> Another option is a used Mac. e.g. I've been in contact with a guy 
> selling a
> Dual G4/450 with 1GB RAM and a Superdrive for $600-650.
> By the way, how would that Dual 450 do in Panther? I don't have a need 
> for
> blazing speed in high performance Altivec applications, but I want 
> something
> that runs OS X with at least the speed of OS 9! (My current G4/400 is 
> a dog
> in X).
>
> My needs: as I said, a Mac that can run Panther fast for another year 
> or
> two. No special application needs.
>
> So, the options are:
> 1) keep Sawtooth and add G4/1000-1250 processor for price in $300-350 
> range.
> 2) used Dual G4/450 (also more upgrade options down the road): price 
> around
> $600-650 (*has Superdrive): move Radeon 8500 to Dual, resell Sawtooth 
> for
> ??? 350-400? so maybe net price of around $300
> 3) new G4/1.25 for $1200 (*net price after selling Sawtooth + Radeon = 
> 750?)
>
> Any advice is much appreciated. Thanks,
> Chris
>
>
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