Harry: Processor upgrades are great things, if you don't expect too much. True, an 800-900mHz chip will outperform your standard 400, but you've got to remember the speed gets somewhat "strangled" by the bus speed of your tower. I ran a 450mHz G4 chip in my Beige MT for a long while and was very satisfied.
You'll notice a DRAMATIC increase in speed and usability for not too much money, just not the blazing speed of a machine with a 800-900mHz chip native and the bus speed to handle the pace. Most all of the upgrade companies will have their good stories and bad stories. Just be sure that they guarantee your purchase. It is somewhat cost-effective, but only up to a point. Check the cost of a Quicksilver or MDD Mac versus what you'll pay for a processor upgrade. A good place to start would be Other World Computing (http://www.macsales.com). I've done much business with them and they're straight-forward and helpful. They're prices are pretty competitive and they carry a few selections of processors including their own brand (which work very, very well for a cheap price). You'll also find the Pioneer line of SuperDrives for sale around $100, as opposed to the 150-200 you quoted. I'd also subscribe to dealmac.com. They send out a daily newsletter with all sorts of unheard of prices on drives, supplies, upgrades, etc. If you can swing it, I'd still look into upgrading the entire machine. Producing DVDs is a very slow process. On my Quicksilver 800 (thanks Ward!), which is the base model iDVD will run on, it still takes 4 hours to compress 1 hour of full-screen video & audio. With a slow bus speed on your tower, you're looking at a pretty long time. Think this way: Upgrade- $500 Superdrive- $100 120Meg Drive- $100 (video is very big) You're already at $700, why not bite the bullet and get Ward to set you up with an eMac or even a new iMac? Then you'll have the juice to do whatever you need. And you could probably get 2-300 for the old machine on eBay. Just my thoughts. rob Harry Jacobson-Beyer wrote: > I have a 400 MHz g4 tower with 100 MHz bus which I purchased in December > 2000. I want to run idvd but it requires a minimum 800 MHz processor. > > I recently upgraded the AGP video card to one that supports two monitors. > > I have researched PowerLogix processor upgrade. It cost $500. In addition > to the processor I would need a DVD rw drive which would cost $150-200. > > So, my question(s): > > 1) does anyone out there have experience with processor upgrades - what > do you think? > 2) Is powerlogix the only company with processor upgrades, if not who > else do you recommend? > 3) do you think it's cost effective to make the upgrade? > 4) If I were to purchase a new computer is anyone interested in > purchasing the current machine? > > Thanks. > > Harry > > | The next meeting of the Louisville Computer Society will > | be January 25. The LCS Web page is <http://www.kymac.org>. > | List posting address: <mailto:macgroup at erdos.math.louisville.edu> > | List Web page: <http://erdos.math.louisville.edu/macgroup> | The next meeting of the Louisville Computer Society will | be January 25. The LCS Web page is <http://www.kymac.org>. | List posting address: <mailto:macgroup at erdos.math.louisville.edu> | List Web page: <http://erdos.math.louisville.edu/macgroup>
