Help with upgrading my Power Mac G4

[mogwai]

Hello,

I am interested in upgrading a few things on my G4, and because I don't know where to even begin, I was hoping someone could help me answer a few questions. Here are my specs:

Machine Name: Power Mac G4
Machine Model: PowerMac3,5
CPU Type: PowerPC G4 (2.1)
Number Of CPUs: 1
CPU Speed: 867 MHz
L2 Cache (per CPU): 256 KB
L3 Cache (per CPU): 2 MB
Memory: 1.5 GB
Bus Speed: 133 MHz
Boot ROM Version: 4.2.5f1

1) Should I/can I upgrade my processor? I do a lot of graphics work (Photoshop, Flash, Illustrator, and Maya) on my computer and it's been really slow lately, even with my RAM maxed out to 1.5 GB. I was thinking of buying the SonnetDUAL G4/1.8GHz 512K L2 Cache Per Processor because I would like as much processing power as possible. What processor(s) would be the best fit for me?

2) Should I upgrade my graphics card? I don't know anything about increasing my graphics card capabilities, or if I even need to. Does anyone have any suggestions for me? Here are my current graphics stats:

NVIDIA GeForce2 MX:
Chipset Model: GeForce2 MX
Type: Display
Bus: AGP
Slot: SLOT-1
VRAM (Total): 32 MB
Vendor: nVIDIA (0x10de)
Device ID: 0x0110
Revision ID: 0x00b2
ROM Revision: 1055

3) Should I upgrade to a USB 2.0 PCI card? Is this necessary? I was interested in purchasing a Firewire/USB hub and that's when I learned of the USB 2.0 thing. I don't know if I need it or not.

4) I just bought a 400GB external FW HD, but is it also recommended to buy a second internal hard drive? I'm leery of buying one because I'm not very computer HW savvy (surprise surprise!) but I'm wondering if it would be good for my computer considering its age and how much I use graphics software on my computer.

Thanks for any help you can give.

 

[Ric]

Hi there and welcome !

thanks for all the info...makes life easier !

Are you running all the latest versions of Maya, Flash, Photoshop etc...

First have you added up the cost of all your proposed upgrades...it seems to be getting close to the cost of a new Mac !

When was the last time you had a 'good' clearout and reinstalled the OS...I find that doing this every six months or so keeps your Mac running nice and fast.

Do you have multiple programs open at once...could you have less open to speed things up ?

If you are running all the latest versions, and always update them when they come out...I would be a little hesitant on upgrading the Graphics card, Processor Card etc...when all the Software including the OS is all currently changing to "Universal" (Intel).

With that said there will be some very good bargains soon with people wanting to offload their G5's so that they can get a new Intel Mac.

The Sonnet Duet card looks very good...but for $599 plus all the other bits I would either hold off and save up a bit more for a new Mac, or have a look around and get yourself a second hand G5 Dual...then your Apps will fly.

The problem with getting a new Mac is that it may be 6-12 months before Photoshop etc are released to work 'Natively' on them.

By getting another Mac you could use your original Mac for Rendering, whilst still using Photoshop etc on new machine...

regards

Ric

 

[mogwai]

Thanks for all of the info! To answer your questions:

-yes, I am running pretty much the latest versions of all of my graphics programs.
-I've never done a clearout of OS X, but I do regularly run Mac Janitor and Disk Utility to repair my permissions.
-I need to have multiple programs up at once because I often need to modify files between them.

My problem is that I can sort of afford to upgrade my current computer, but I definitely can't afford to buy a new one (even though I'd love to get a quad). So basically, I wanted to see if there was something I could do to speed it up without having to shell out $2000+ more money. The 400 GB Hard Drive will definitely help out, but I was hoping to make my processor speed faster.

When you say that all the Sw and the OS are changing to "Universal," do you mean cross platform? Do you think this will happen soon? I don't want to buy something now only to have it be worthless in a year.

Again, thanks so much for all your help!

 

[Ric]

Hi there,

yes Universal is the 'term' for cross platform...Intel Mac & PPC chips.

well the fact is that Intel Mac's are out now...

..so all the software manufacturers are currently changing/updating their software.

I haven't read any reviews on the Sonnet card, I'll have to look some up.

In theory it looks very good. The price seems okay.

When the software is updated...it should still be Universal for a couple of years yet, but eventually it will just be made for Intel only Mac's.

I'll try and find a few reviews !

regards

Ric