Resolved Rarity of Dual 533Mhz PowerMac G4 Digital Audio

[kevinakerberg]

Hi everyone, I recently bought a dual processor 533Mhz PowerMac G4 to upgrade and resell. However, when looking on eBay to get an idea of what it's worth, I found that there were no listings at all for this model. There were some for the single processor version for average prices but none for the DP. Is this a rare Mac or is it just a slow time for this model on eBay? Wanted to know for sure before I sold it for a bad price. Thanks.

 

[KawaiiAurora]

Hi everyone, I recently bought a dual processor 533Mhz PowerMac G4 to upgrade and resell. However, when looking on eBay to get an idea of what it's worth, I found that there were no listings at all for this model. There were some for the single processor version for average prices but none for the DP. Is this a rare Mac or is it just a slow time for this model on eBay? Wanted to know for sure before I sold it for a bad price. Thanks.

If I'm not mistaken, there are no dual 533MHz G4 Macs at all as there aren't even any CPU cards. Probably it's an aftermarket upgrade or maybe it's a slightly overclocked Gigabit Ethernet card as there weren't even any dual CPU Digital Audio PowerMacs from Apple AFAIK

EDIT: NVM. Didn't see it on EveryMac but on Wikipedia, it seems that they exist. A mistake on my end :/ Never seen dual 533MHz DA's nor dual 533MHz cards but I doubt that a dual 533MHz DA would fetch more than a faster PowerMac G4 because of the 'rarity'. It seems that a dual 533MHz DA is a custom config from Apple so it might fetch a tad more as dual 533MHz cards are unheardof. - I wonder if they fit in Sawtooths..

 

[QSDP-User]

The website lowendmac doesn't mention any kind of rarity for the Digital Audio Power Mac G4:
http://lowendmac.com/2001/power-mac-g4-digital-audio/

There is something of an emotional premium (i.e, bragging rights) for dual versions over a single.
eBay's listed prices seem to reflect this, even for just the processor/heat sink.

But IMO, we're not talking about a lot of money that gets a reality-based seller rich.
I think the premium-paying buyer would be the odd collector missing this model.
For this model, I think most PPC buyers today are looking for a garage sale deal
(under $50) to crunch their favorite creative apps,
replacing completely their run-of-the-mill Sawtooth G4, 3-PCI-slot, slower bus single 350 or 400.

 

[kevinakerberg]

Thank you both for your help, I appreciate it .

 

[flyrod]

Shipping is a big factor on these towers too. The dual 533 is somewhat rare, but you can see what later duals (like 1GHz, 1.25, etc.) are going for. The CPU itself may have the most value because it's much easier to ship, and if you upgrade that then you can sell the old CPU and the upgraded tower separately.

 

[bunnspecial]

I went on a binge a while back of buying every DA variant, and this was one of the most difficult ones to find.

As someone else mentioned above, though, shipping is the real killer on any of these.

For what it's worth, there's been a complete CPU(heatsink, fan, and plastic cover) on Ebay as BIN for a couple of years now and no bites at around $75.

 

[kevinakerberg]

I went on a binge a while back of buying every DA variant, and this was one of the most difficult ones to find.

As someone else mentioned above, though, shipping is the real killer on any of these.

For what it's worth, there's been a complete CPU(heatsink, fan, and plastic cover) on Ebay as BIN for a couple of years now and no bites at around $75.

Really? That seems like more I would get for the whole tower XD.

 

[bunnspecial]

Just to give you some idea, here's what I paid last year for two different semi-scarce DA towers. Remember this is a willing buyer/collector specifically looking for those items, and I don't know how many of us are out there.

 

[kevinakerberg]

Just to give you some idea, here's what I paid last year for two different semi-scarce DA towers. Remember this is a willing buyer/collector specifically looking for those items, and I don't know how many of us are out there.

View attachment 694735

Got it, those seem like fair prices for those machines. However, my DA has a dual layer super drive as well as 2 80GB Western Ditigal hard drives in it. Would this, especially the SuperDrive, increase the value?

 

[bunnspecial]

The DL drive wouldn't have been a shipping drive and ATAPI DL drives are pretty much give-away items now. The regular SuperDrive(non-DL) was only an option on the 733. So, I'm going to say no on that one.

The dual 80s can add a few bucks for someone like me IF the computer came from the factory that way, but that's it. Bear in mind that I'm saying this not out of interest in buying the computer, as I've filled that slot in my collection.

I will just add, though, that when I'm buying higher end BTO computers, a lot of what I'm willing to pay comes down to what the label says. Upgrades are nice, but I like seeing high end computers that were ordered that way.

 

[kevinakerberg]

Yeah, that's understandable. Thanks for all your help.