Kelly D. Jones wrote:
I need some advice.
I�m trying to decide whether I should upgrade a PCI Power Mac or buy a newer
machine.
I currently have a Blue and White G3/350 on loan from my work. (They moved
to PCs and the B&W was one of the last Macs purchased.) I�ve had it for the
past two years and put some money into upgrades for it. I have: 512 meg
RAM, OS 10.2, FireWire CDRW, Digital camcorder, USB smart media reader, USB
printer, Sonnet ATA/100 PCI card, and two ATA/100 hard drives (20 gig @
5400RPM and an 80 @7200).
I also have an 8500 and a 9500, that are pretty plain machines. The 8500
has the AV stuff, but the 9500 has those 6 PCI slots.
What do I use my main machine for? Typical home office stuff, plus home
movies (the reason for the 80 gig drive). I�m a computer geek by trade, so
I love running the latest and greatest software (OS X and I love the iApps).
I did a little research tonight and found that I could upgrade the 8500 or
9500 by adding:
-a PCI FireWire/USB combo card for $89
-an ATI Radeon 7000 PCI video card for $129 (I want a card that can take
advantage of Quartz Extreme, suggestions?)
This card will not support QE except in a very marginal fashion, which
causes other problems. QE is only supported on AGP cards.
Knowing this, I have the following questions:
-How much should I worry about the bus? 40mhz for the 85/9500; 100 for the
B&W
-How much should I lean toward a G4? Does AltiVec work on the Sonnet
upgrades? Will OSX's iApps use it?
I think you should go for the G4, if you're using OS X...the OPS itself
makes use of Altivec.
-Will the 8500, with all those upgrades, feel significantly faster than the
B&W?
With the G4/700 it will feel faster, maybe (those ATA/100 drives do make
a difference). OTOH, those cards are expensive. after spending $520 to
upgrade the 8500, you're about half way to a newer G4, which is a
signiificant speed boost...even a G4/500 will be significantly faster
than that 8500, even with the G4/700 processor.
-Would it be better to buy a G3 or G4 machine?
-Will my PC100 or PC133 RAM work in these older machines? Or will I have buy
different RAM?
No, you need 168 pinn 5V DIMMS: 128 mb are the largest, and they're
selling for about $24 each right now.
Any advice or comments will be greatly appreciated.
--
Bruce Johnson
University of Arizona
College of Pharmacy
Information Technology Group
Institutions do not have opinions, merely customs
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