Best Upgrade for a G4?

[SuperPro]

Hi everyone,

I'm looking to upgrade the processor on my 400 MHz G4 Gigabit Ethernet. Anyone have experience with Powerlogix, Sonnet or Gigadesign (or others) upgrade cards?

Since I work with DP, I'm specifically interested in how these cards work with digital audio. Any pitfalls to watch out for?

Thanks in advance for your help!

[David Jones]

IMHO, your money would be better spent upgrading to a G5 platform rather than dumping more cash into an older G4 with slow bus speed.

[Dallas4lr]

Greetings,

Sonnets work great, the Powelogix uses a screwy protocol that not compatible with DP. So DP never sees your processor.

Dallas

[inukshuk]

I agree wirh David. Get a G5 even if it's the slowest one. All the new tech is slowly going to 64bit and the buss speed, plus all the digital i/o at 96k. It would be a wast to invest in a G4 upgrade the way things are going. It would be like going in reverse.

[willpowrd]

I've been looking at the GigaDesign M5D-1213U for my G4 Digital Audio, dual533. Looks like it could work and I've heard about a few others using a Giga board successfully with DP.

I tried a Sonnet on a G3 I had and never could get it to work properly and I wasn't using DP on that computer, just graphics. So, I'm less likely to want to try a Sonnet this time. And, I've heard of some issues with PowerLogix. Kind of narrows it down for me.

[remrok]

don't get a powerlogix whatever u do, I got a card of them and it was DAO, took me 9 months to get a refund and then I didn't get a full one as they said i damaged it, thing was overheating from the beginning!!

I got a giga 1.4 and havent looked back, took 5 mins to install and is stable as...

[fvdveen]

I have bought a Sonnet 1.2 Ghz. upgrade for my Sawtooth G4 (AGP). Ever since I put it in, it has worked perfectly, without any problem whatsoever.

What is more troublesome is my MOTU 424 card. I suspected the upgrade G4, the upgrade RAM (main stream PC133 CL333 memory) and more G4 related issues. However, after putting the card in a AMD 2600+ PC (Windows XP), I encountered the same problems with the card.

So: no reason for me to doubt about the G4 upgrade at all.

[Razman]

I upgraded to a OWC Mercury Extreme 1.4 ghz in my Quicksilver, works very well.

<small>[ June 03, 2005, 03:25 PM: Message edited by: Razman ]</small>

[pinky]

A sonnet 1.4 works great on my G4 2001 QSilver, w/M-Audio FW410. While a G5 would be a great upgrade, consider the price of additional RAM. When you factor that in, you might opt for a processor upgrade (around $350) and use the extra $$$ for more RAM and maybe a flat screen (19" for about $400) and a new HD!

But either way (G4 upgrade or new G5) you'll be glad you made the investment. FWIW, my G4 can handle the largest stereo files I throw at it (sometimes over 2 hours of wall to wall music!) Not a hiccup). And recording the films to score (also 2 hours, of course) go into the digitizer without a dropped frame.

So the G4 is plenty good to handle ALL that. The G5 would do it as well, but do not under estimate the G4's potential!

[johnnytucats]

The GigaDesigns 1.0GHz (running at 1.3) in my 400mHz sawtooth has been great (had it for over 1.5 years now). My tests showed that I'm getting over 2.5x the processing power with the upgrade.

But, unless you need OS9 (I still use it) or have a lot of upgrades in your system (HDs, RAM) I'd recommend going for the G5.

[giles@echocity.co.uk]

i stuck a sonnet 1.4 ghz upgrade in my g4 400 gigabit ethernet box and it sped it up plenty. it was also very easy to install

it made DP4 very usable and more to the point, it made it possible for me to continue to benefit from the considerable sum also invested in my trusty 2408 mkii and pci 324 system.

it's all very well suggesting an upgrade to a G5, but you have also got to consider the expense of upgrading any PCI based motu hardware.

I needed to run audio and movies together for a tv scoring job, and the sonnet upgrade [which is now about £260 GBP] was well worth it.

in my experience, i'd advise against the powerlogix dual processor combo on a G4 400, it didn't work for me.

[midiw]

I don't consider the G4 a "legacy" machine.

Therefore I would not waste money on upgrading the CPU on a G4.

Adding more RAM and additional internal hard drives is well worth it. That's what I did.

Now I'm saving me money for a G5 something or other before Steveoreno starts putting in those BillyGates chips.

I was tempted the other day to purchase a mini G4 but the cost of adding RAM and changing the drive for a 7200RPM drive is not worth it.

Well those are my thoughts.

[dimensiondk]

I have a sonnet 1gig in my sawtooth (originally 400MHz) and it is the best upgrade I have ever done (and I have upgraded many many macs over the years) The upgrade gave my mac a whole new life. Admittedly I am still using DP3/os9.
On the down side, there is a fan that now stays on that I never even knew existed in the mac before, and I am somewhat concerned that I am now drawing close to the limit of the power supply in the tower (due also to the full pci slots and multiple internal drives. If I recall correctly, I think the power supply is something wussy like 180W.
As mentioned previously all upgrades for this platform are good except Powerlogix. Sonnet, OWC, Giga all reportedly work very well. See for yourself in the cpu upgrade database at
http://www.xlr8yourmac.com
Dave

[terra]

Originally posted by pinky:
A sonnet 1.4 works great on my G4 2001 QSilver, w/M-Audio FW410. While a G5 would be a great upgrade, consider the price of additional RAM. When you factor that in, you might opt for a processor upgrade (around $350) and use the extra $$$ for more RAM and maybe a flat screen (19" for about $400) and a new HD!

But either way (G4 upgrade or new G5) you'll be glad you made the investment. FWIW, my G4 can handle the largest stereo files I throw at it (sometimes over 2 hours of wall to wall music!) Not a hiccup). And recording the films to score (also 2 hours, of course) go into the digitizer without a dropped frame.

So the G4 is plenty good to handle ALL that. The G5 would do it as well, but do not under estimate the G4's potential!

Hi Pinky, I have a G4 2001 Single 867mhz QSilver (the same that you have) and want to make a Upgrade for Sonnet SGA 1,7 to work with DP4.52 - MachFive - MX4 and 2408MK3/PC424... this would be possible or is only one dream...thankful for the reply, Renato.

[abtop]

Hey guys,
I use a dual 1.3GHz Powerlogix•„• and it works GREAT with my DP 4.52
Tons of tracks, plug-ins and instruments!

"Gigabit" G4 (former 400MHz), RME DIGI96/8 audio interface, 1Gb RAM, 3x80Gb hard drives + superdrive.

No crashes, no kernel panics, just me and my projects!