[G4] G4 info needed

[Eric Smith]

Hi Robert,

Every Mac after 1998 (with the so-called "NewWorld" ROM) had a
machine ID of 406. But since this is a 667 MHz Power Mac G4,
I believe it is a "Digital Audio" model:

http://lowendmac.com/ppc/digital-audio-power-mac-g4.html

All of the other specs you give match this model.

First of all, if you want this to be an internet machine,
running Classic OS (9.2.2) is not going to cut it. There simply
are no acceptable modern browsers for OS 9. You have to upgrade
to OS X. And I'm not an expert on video editing, but I suspect
that the same is true for video editing software. As I think I
said before, OS X 10.4 (Tiger) is a great OS for this system.
OS X 10.5 Leopard could also be used, but it would want a bit
more CPU/memory capability.

My guess is that for video editing you are probably at the low end
of CPU/memory capability with the current configuration. To look at
CPU upgrade possibilities check the "Guide to Power Mac G4 Upgrades"
link on the above page.

Your current configuration should be fine for internet stuff if
you install Tiger.

As to disk space, you don't say what is the capacity of the second
drive. The Digital Audio model does not support drives over 128GB,
so that can be a limitation if you want to do heavy video editing
(if you add an ATA drive larger than 128 GB, you will not see the
additional space). Replacing the second drive with a SATA drive
plus controller (PCI card) is a way to get around this limitation,
plus give you faster disk IO.

So I would advise you to start by installing OS X. But don't get
rid of OS 9.2.2; you can use it to run Classic mode apps from
inside OS X. You could install OS X on your second drive. Or you
could do something like partition your second drive into two
partitions, install OS X on one and copy your OS 9.2.2 drive
onto the second partition, using SuperDuper or Carbon Copy Cloner.
Then your entire first drive could be used for video stuff.

After that you can just experiment and see if the system is fast
enough for your needs. If not, you have the option to upgrade.

Eric


Robert Fort wrote:
> I have found what i can about the G4 i bought I'm hoping that someone 
> can give me some idea of where to look for what i need.
> The G4 is...
> Machine ID 406
> Power PC G4
> Speed 667 MHz
> Memory built in 1GB
> Dimm0/J21 - 256   
> Dimm1/J22 - 256
> Dimm2/J23 - 512
> All are SDRAM
> 
> HD 80 G + an added HD
> 
> Disk Cache - 8160
> 
> L2Cache - 256K
> L3Cache - 1MB
> 
> OS is 9.2.2
> 
> So what i want to do is upgrade this machine to do video editing or if 
> thats not going to happen then at least a nice fast internet machine 
> would be ok.
> 
> Thanks for all your help.
> 
> Robert
> 
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