Appleinsider reports that PowerLogix is working on G5 upgrades for MDD (Mirror Drive Door) PowerMac G4's.
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MDD G5 Upgrades?
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imagine what a wind tunnel that would be!
you'd get blown away by the performace, and lown away by the fans!
you'd get blown away by the performace, and lown away by the fans!
Nice. My Dual 1Ghz MDD is approaching 1 year and it's nice to see that eventually I'll be able to extend its useability with upgrades. What I don't get is, "PowerLogix would be forced to research the processes of binding the PowerPC G5 to an older 133MHz or 167MHz bus, only to be bottlenecked by its limitation".
I understand from the article that they are developing a motherboard addon as well meaning that we might get the new architecture with the chip!
This G5 upgrade probably won't appear until around the fall of next yr because as stated in the article the new G4 dual upgrades are suppose to be coming out by Spring time.
Most folks want to be able to upgrade to a G5 from G4. I know if they made PB version I would buy one right now but I know that won't happen.
Also this now makes me wonder how hard will it be for them to upgrade a G5 to a higher processor? Say a single 1.6 to a single 2.0?? I bet we could be seeing upgrades like this in a yrs or so time frame.
I believe as soon as the first G5 PM's start reaching the 2 yr mark we will see upgrades for them.
Most folks want to be able to upgrade to a G5 from G4. I know if they made PB version I would buy one right now but I know that won't happen.
Also this now makes me wonder how hard will it be for them to upgrade a G5 to a higher processor? Say a single 1.6 to a single 2.0?? I bet we could be seeing upgrades like this in a yrs or so time frame.
I believe as soon as the first G5 PM's start reaching the 2 yr mark we will see upgrades for them.
While upgrading present G5 systems seems to make good sense, I don't see how they could have a "motherboard addon" that would give G4 macs newer architecture. To get new architecture they'd need a new MB(I just dont see how sticking somehting in a PCI slot or into the cpu socket could give more functionality), and with just a new processor I haven't seen anything that says single G5 chips at 1.6GHz would be much faster than your current dual 1-1.25GHz G4 setup. What makes the G5 screem is its FSB and memory connections. Now once the G5 gets up past 2GHz then replacing/upgrading may be worth it if the price isn't to steep, after all if you spend say 599+ on an upgrade and all you get is say a 300-500MHz boost, is that worth it when you could sell your current comp and spend say 1500+ and get a system that runs circles around both your current one and any upgraded G4s? Sorry to rant I just don't see it being worth the price unless the upgrades are massively cheaper than current G4 top end ones, or somehow add Hypertransport and faster memory support.
Because the 970 is 64-bit and uses a different memory bus, this board is going to be huge. You will have to buy all new RAM and install it on the upgrade board. Video performance is not likely to be very good. And the board will be very expensive - likely over $1,000.
Frankly, I don't believe it.
Frankly, I don't believe it.
powerligix also makes alot of defective products. many of their upgrades arrive DOA. if you're going to upgrade any cpu I reccomend sonnet. they are a very respectible and solid company that has been chosen the number 1 upgrade company by virtually every mac mag or web site. the one I have as no issues with anything.
anyway, a G5 upgrade wouldn't offer much more performance since its needs the new logic board architecture to work the way it was intended. if you want to upgrade from a G3 to a G4 or from a slower G4 to a faster one then I highly reccomend a sonnet upgrade.
FYI: when newertech(formerly the best upgrade company) went under sonnet nabbed all their best employees.
anyway, a G5 upgrade wouldn't offer much more performance since its needs the new logic board architecture to work the way it was intended. if you want to upgrade from a G3 to a G4 or from a slower G4 to a faster one then I highly reccomend a sonnet upgrade.
FYI: when newertech(formerly the best upgrade company) went under sonnet nabbed all their best employees.
G5 in G4 towers, as useful as the "legendary" Power PC upgrade of the IIci
If there will be drop in replacement G4 around 1.5 GHz dirt cheap then it will be useful for a while. But soon the low end tower will be a 2 GHz G5 and that will kill the "high end" upgrades faster than the LC475 killed of the the upgrades of the II series and the LC/LCII/LCIII or how the G3 killed the 604E upgrades.
The night is not yet upon the G4 but 4 years old it cast a long shadow
If there will be drop in replacement G4 around 1.5 GHz dirt cheap then it will be useful for a while. But soon the low end tower will be a 2 GHz G5 and that will kill the "high end" upgrades faster than the LC475 killed of the the upgrades of the II series and the LC/LCII/LCIII or how the G3 killed the 604E upgrades.
The night is not yet upon the G4 but 4 years old it cast a long shadow
I contacted them when I read this yesterday.
PowerLogix says the G4 upgrades are going to scale up nicely. They keep getting faster and faster.
I would guess maybe 1.5-1.6 dual G4 upgrades next summer. With apple possibly dumping the Moto G4 entirely next year (G5 and G3+Altivec) the price of the chips might come down.
They are cautious when talking about the G5 though. I think this is pure R&D at this point. A new mobo is no simple engineering task.
Apple would rather we buy new G5s. They won't make it easy.
As an OC'ed P4 owner, I love the new G5 case, but I also know its overkill. I prefer the look of the G4, so it would be great to stick a G5 inside of it.
PowerLogix says the G4 upgrades are going to scale up nicely. They keep getting faster and faster.
I would guess maybe 1.5-1.6 dual G4 upgrades next summer. With apple possibly dumping the Moto G4 entirely next year (G5 and G3+Altivec) the price of the chips might come down.
They are cautious when talking about the G5 though. I think this is pure R&D at this point. A new mobo is no simple engineering task.
Apple would rather we buy new G5s. They won't make it easy.
As an OC'ed P4 owner, I love the new G5 case, but I also know its overkill. I prefer the look of the G4, so it would be great to stick a G5 inside of it.
The cpu and ram on a card. You get the full benefit of a fater FSB. You lose Hypertransport, or what ever Apple uses, to connect the southbridge/IO to the northbridge (logic, cpu, ram).
This is not a bad compromise at all.
And how will this effect video performance in any way?
This would be pretty sweet.
I had a duall 800 from Powerlogix in my sawtooth and it was AWESOME!
Take upgrade feedback with a grain of salt. On PC usergroups you get people complaining about X, Y or Z company for the same reasons. Its usually user error.
I just dont see how ram and cpu on a for lack of a better term "daughtercard" would give much performance boost, they are still limited by the fact that they are connected either through a slow ass PCI slot, or a 167MHz limited FSB cpu socket. If I am totally wrong about this please explain.
thanks
thanks
I don't know if this would be good or bad. More product choice would be good, but it all depends on the performence of that chip.
whoa, really? I thought the G4 wasn't capable of geting much higher than 1.3 Ghz or so (even the 1.42 was just overclocked, right?). Or was that just motorola's incompetence, i.e. another company can scale the G4 higher?
WHY
Has anyone here every tried to shove a 427 into a GEO Metro????
I am not sure I would invest such a creature if PL could make it work. Why not just get the G5??
Just a thought
Max
Has anyone here every tried to shove a 427 into a GEO Metro????
I am not sure I would invest such a creature if PL could make it work. Why not just get the G5??
Just a thought
Max
Re: WHY
My thoughts exactly. Given that this would likely be a rather expensive upgrade, and figure you could take that money, sell your current mac and probably come up with a figure fairly close to buying a new computer which would bring a lot of other benefits with it as well. By the time the g5 is refreshed and older ones are out on the market, it even makes less sense to upgrade. I've never thought upgrades were a particularly good idea from a cost/performance point of view, and are more a matter of techno envy than real world productivity gains. Better, in my mind, to make do for a little while, sell the old, buy new, and never look back.
My thoughts exactly. Given that this would likely be a rather expensive upgrade, and figure you could take that money, sell your current mac and probably come up with a figure fairly close to buying a new computer which would bring a lot of other benefits with it as well. By the time the g5 is refreshed and older ones are out on the market, it even makes less sense to upgrade. I've never thought upgrades were a particularly good idea from a cost/performance point of view, and are more a matter of techno envy than real world productivity gains. Better, in my mind, to make do for a little while, sell the old, buy new, and never look back.
A processor replacement for current G4's to upgrade them with a G5 cannot be compared to as G3->G4. It should be interesting to see what kind of performance gains are to be achieved with a G5 hindered by a much slower front side bus. I liken this to dumping a Ferrari engine into a poor aerodynamically designed car. Not to say that I wouldn't jump up and down for this, since I'm an owner of a Dual 1Ghz MDD. I'm all for processor upgrades.