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thegelding
feeling my oats
 
Join Date: May 2004
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2004-09-06, 13:38

he now has 512 mb of ram and a new superdrive....

but god is iMovie slow and i doubt he can use iDVD on his current set up system

what he wants to do is take video from his europe trip with his students and make them into movies and give the kids dvds of it

his system:
PM G4 with 466 processor, 512 mb ram, 30 gig HD, bus of 133 and an ATI rage 128 pro graphics card...

basically we have to redo just about everything i think...changed his cd drive to a superdrive and had him go from 256 ram to 512 ram...

what are the next steps?? and how do do cheaply, yet still have iMovie and iDVD work at least somewhat....

thanks

g

crazy is not a rare human condition

everything is food if you chew hard enough
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Matsu
Veteran Member
 
Join Date: May 2004
 
2004-09-06, 14:17

I might have said look at eBay, sell a mac, and buy another, but you've already put some money and effort into it, so just see it through.

You cheaped out on the RAM. I think 512MB SDR (desktop) modules are cheap enough to warrant the inclusion of a full GB. He ought to have at least one open slot (did they have 3 or 4 slots?). Have him add another 512.

Next, look for the cheapest G4 upgrade card out there. 1Ghz or more, with the full 2MB of L3.

Sonnet has a 1Ghz G4 with 2MB L3 cache for $249. What's the eBay value of the 466 daughtercard? Can you get 75 bucks for it?

Big HDDs are cheap enough, get him a 7200RPM unit with 8MB of cache. You need more Gb for video projects
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FFL
Fishhead Family Reunited
 
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2004-09-06, 15:43

Agreed, altough I'd tackle it in the order of more RAM, bigger/faster HD, and then CPU upgrade.
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thegelding
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2004-09-07, 08:36

yes i cheaped out on the ram, but he had a 256 module and i didn't know if that older PM liked matched ram or not...as for how many slots for ram it has, system profile says 4 slots, but i only see three...will likely tell him to get a 512 module for that slot if i don't need matched ram...

i think the processor upgrade is next as iDVD says it required at least a 766 mHz G4 to run...

and nobody has mentioned a graphics card update...the rage 128 pro seems old...with only 16 mb...but then he isn't a game player, so perhaps that is ok

before we started upgrading i mentioned that he should ebay this system and get an eMac (all he would need for what he does)...but he spent lots of money getting a PM with an apple flat screen monitor just so he can upgrade and "stay" current...except that he doesn't know anything about computers and he doesn't understand that he can't "stay current" really with an older system (can he put a G5 in there? no)...and for the price he spent and will spent to keep up, he could just buy a new eMac every three years...anyways

ram, so far....60 bucks
superdrive....80 bucks

next processor...240 bucks
more ram...approx? 90 bucks?
2nd HD....60 bucks?

so 500 plus bucks...he could have eBayed his system and monitor and spent less to get a new eMac...oh well, some people just want towers for some odd reason


g

crazy is not a rare human condition

everything is food if you chew hard enough
  quote
thegelding
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2004-09-07, 09:51

how is this:

HD--80 bucks--80 gig with 8 mb cache---here

processor---$250--- here

ram--92 bucks-- here

graphics card...if needed?? ---$130--here

any thoughts?? any cheaper??

thanks


g

crazy is not a rare human condition

everything is food if you chew hard enough
  quote
psmith2.0
Mr. Vieira
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Tennessee
 
2004-09-07, 10:00

I guess that could be a way to go, but I sure like your previous post about the "eBay the G4 and get an eMac".

Some people are captive to their own ignorance or what they THINK they should have (a tower...why? To upgrade and stay current. Okay, well you really can't, in many ways. So? I want a tower...don't bother me with info!)



A top-end $999 eMac ever 2-3 years sounds like a better way. Current technology and I/O, minus all the rigging and so forth. Someone would snap his system up in a heartbeat! Personally, I'd beat him into submission on that angle, but you do what you can.



One thing, does OS X (and maybe some other software) make a distinction between upgrade cards and the original system/processor? Seems like I read somewhere that was an issue? But I might've misread it, or it could've been about something else altogether.

I'd hate to sink all that in and find out some little caveat keeps you from loading Panther or iLife.

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Luca
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Join Date: May 2004
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2004-09-07, 10:35

g, it's fine buying RAM or a processor on OWC. They're good about those things. But that video card is not only expensive, but it's also a PCI one. It won't go in the AGP slot. Fine for a second monitor, but PCI video cards don't support Quartz Extreme. For the video card, if you want a better one, go to eBay and look for a Radeon 8500. There should be plenty for $60-$80. I also have one, a GeForce 3 that has been flashed from a PC version. It causes a few artifacts on the screen when you first turn on the computer or wake it from sleep, but after that it's fine. I'd let it go for $45 shipped if you're interested.

Also, for the hard drive, buy from NewEgg instead of OWC. They have the exact same drive here for about $20 cheaper. I'd say to get RAM from NewEgg as well, but NewEgg doesn't stock much PC133, so OWC should be just fine.

You might not even need a new graphics card. It won't help at all for iDVD or anything, it will only really help for making general usage of the OS smoother (Quartz Extreme). Even then, with a 1 GHz processor behind it, it should be good anyway. And with that CPU upgrade, which has L3 cache, it should be about as fast as a brand new eMac, or even faster (with the better hard drive as well).
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FFL
Fishhead Family Reunited
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Slightly Off Center
 
2004-09-07, 10:53

yeah, if you decide to go with a new video card, go AGP (not sure if PCI cards even support Quartz Extreme).

this
http://eshop.macsales.com/Catalog_It...m=ATI100433022
would be the best choice, only $20 more
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thegelding
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2004-09-07, 17:05

yeah, graphics card is likely the last thing to update (though a cheap one from luca sounds nice)...

but one other question...

i have him using os X now, but he still uses os 9 for grades and some stuff for his school...he is running 10.3.5 for os X and 9.1 for os 9....if i update his processor they all say os 9.2.1 is needed...

how do i update his os 9.1 to os 9.2.1...can't find the update at apple anywhere

g

opps..found it
here

crazy is not a rare human condition

everything is food if you chew hard enough
  quote
Luca
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Join Date: May 2004
Location: Minnesota
 
2004-09-07, 19:33

Here and here.
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chung123
New Member
 
Join Date: Aug 2004
 
2004-09-08, 19:06

Quote:
Originally Posted by thegelding
he now has 512 mb of ram and a new superdrive....


what he wants to do is take video from his europe trip with his students and make them into movies and give the kids dvds of it

what are the next steps?? and how do do cheaply, yet still have iMovie and iDVD work at least somewhat....


g
Here is a thought...

I used to edit a whole load of movies on a G3 iMac DV/400 mhz. running iMovie 2 in OS 9.1

iMovie 2 was stable, fast and worked great...and you could do it with 128 megs of total ram.

iMovie 3 is a stinker and basically made my iMac DV "useless".... I'm still convinced Apple did it to sell faster Macs.

If your friend can deal with doing a dual boot...

You should have him edit his videos in iMovie 2 in OS 9.1 (with just a minimum set of extensions) and export a full quality DV file. With that set up...iMovie 2 should FLY.

Boot into OS X and then run iDVD 2 and he will be happy as a clam.

This would be what I would do--as it seems he has all the goodies to edit all his home movies and produce DVD's.

Yeah, yeah...iMovie3/4 introduced all this "integration" between the iApps...but you can do practically EVERYTHING with iMovie 2 without the overhead and the spinning beachball of death(I now have an 800mhz eMac and iMovie 4.5 is STILL a bit pokey).

I think your friend has spent enought money already!

Last edited by chung123 : 2004-09-08 at 19:14.
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