Sonnet Processors Again: G4 400, Could anybody relate, pls? Options

[zaaresh]

Hello everybody,

I just read the last topic about CPU upgrades on a G4 400 mhz - and yes , although it´s a fine computer, me n´ my producer partner just need mooooore speed , especially because we run Logic Pro 6 and quite lot of other stuff as well - maybe in future Final Cut or similar.
So first of all I would like to ask if generally one would recommend that kind of CPU upgrade . I don´t have a clue if this would have an impact on for ex. the cooling system ,or generally on the computer engine itself .(??), so please tell me.
Then, we will surely boost the RAM, which is actually 512 MB, up to 1GB - still I have to check, if my G4 is ok with that ( System Profiler - i suppose..).
IF this is working, it would be helpful to install OS X ( yes, we still run OS 9 and we don´t despise it!) - since all of the new applications of Logic 7 do run on OS X only ... , but: do I lose some of the efficiency of the OS X when installed on an upgraded G4? I suppose there´s a difference between G4 and G5 there... but how important is it?
--> the main reason for now why we won´t go out and buy a G5 is the money, but on the other hand it would be nice to have a second powermac to use in future, especially if you can connect several macs to improve the capacity of Logic 7 - anyone tried this already?
well, that´s all for now - thanks for replying!

zaaresh

[ourmanflinty]

Well, I'll stick my neck out here but people may disagree with some of it...Fact, the difference twixt g5 and g4 is amazing, a factor of 4x or so on the number of plugs you can run, it's truly staggering the overall speed increase from simple stuff to rendering video or processing virtual studio kit..
Buying a cpu upgrade, they're not exactly cheap, you kinda may as well sell the mac, screen etc and buy an imac or sell the mac and buy a brand new second hand quicksilver dp800 or mdd dp1.25 g4. If you want OS9 forget about the firewire800 g4, it won't do it.
Later mac g4's have faster pci busses, faster memory, faster drive protocols, which you just don't get with a cpu upgrade. CPU upgrades, you'll get a couple extra plugs, no extra tracks and a little more zing as it's booting. If you find a second hand upgrade and second hand memory then fine, try it..remember to stick a fan on the heat sink. If you don't have pci cards and use firewire drives and audio interfaces, sell cpu and screen and get an imac g4, if you have pci audio and scsi cards then stick to a late model g4 dual processor, you can simply lift the drive out of you're old g4 into the new one and go...the ethernet question, well, not used it yet but remember that if you hook up two ethernet machines it only goes as fast as the slowest machine so an old g4 will have 10/100, a new imac or newer g4 have gigabit. I'm not expecting too much from a networked g4 400 the very first generation g4 my my i hope it's not the pci graphics model that essentially was a g3 with a cpu upgrade anyway...look on www.apple-history.com for detailed info on machines...