I'm looking at Sawtooth cpu upgrades for a workstation mostly used for Photoshop with some modest iMovie and Final cut Express work.

It's presently a G4/450. It's already got a sweet video card and a gig o' RAM and a SCSI RAID online.

I've run the test and verified that this computer can run a dual-cpu upgrade, but the price is ridiculous so I'm NOT going for a dual proc upgrade.

...And I'd like to keep this around $200 dollars or less.

Any recommendations?

You may want to rethink the decision not to go with a dual processor. iMovie and Final Cut should both be dual aware, but I am not sure about Photoshop. Maybe you could look on eBay for a used dual processor card from somebody who has upgraded a quicksilver (I am pretty sure it would fit).

If you are definitely going new, single and staying under $200 the best choice from what I have read is probably the OWC mercury extreme.

[eshop.macsales.com]

Check over at xlr8yourmac for others' comments:

[forums.xlr8yourmac.com]


såmmy

Wierd, I just read this exact same question. There must be alot of people looking to upgrade their sawtooth for cheap I think JJ_tkob just did a bunch of research looking to upgrade his, maybe it would be worth your time to PM him.

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---"Yer all idiots." elmo3
[forums.macresource.com]

Under $200 gets you to 1.0GHz... But.. $249 gets you to a notably snappier 1.4GHz PL for 100MHz bus... We back the PL warranty on units we sell and the S100.7 1.4GHz we offer is rock on solid. If you can swing the extra $50 - it's my personal recommendation in terms of best bang for the buck.

[eshop.macsales.com]

I'd make a comment here about a certain company but I'd get banned and I don't want that to happen in two forums in the span of one week.

Hey, I like it here too much already!

I'll give you this advice though, you pays your money and you takes your chances.

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3GHz - The clock is STILL ticking Steve.

Quicksilver processors do not "plug and play" with Sawtooth G4's. You need to jumper a wire over to a screw down post. Google some keywords on that if you still want to try it.

MacMagus,

I just bought the Sonnet 1.2GHz processor with 2MB of L3 cache from Amazon for $217.49.

The price is close to what you are looking for, but not quite $200. I don't think it was the absolute lowest price (powerlogix are cheaper), but it is a Sonnet processor with a three year warranty. I am going from a dually (450 MHz) down to a single processor, so in that sense it is a downgrade. The duals are too expensive right now. Eventually the prices will come down and I will reevaluate then.

John

Almost forgot... I don't have the processor yet, so I can't speak to any speed increases, real or perceived.




Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/11/2005 01:05PM by JJ_TKOB.

this forum isn't about banning those that we may disagree with.

And, fwiw, I don't disagree with your feelings giving prior history.

But - will tell ya - I wouldn't have OWC standing behind it and wouldn't personally be recommending it if it wasn't solid. We built these cards and also in house tested them - and they are solid - rock solid.

And about the QuickSilver processor.... No - it isn't a straight plug in to the sawtooth. And - if you are going to go through the trouble of modifying one, make sure you get one with a 2MB L3 Cache - otherwise wasting time and money. A QS 733 or 800MHZ processor without L3 Cache is about equal to a 450-500MHZ G4 with the 1MB L2 cache they have.... That said - a QS 867MHz with 2MBs of L3 Cache (set for 800MHz safe) smokes those.

some useful benchmarks:
[eshop.macsales.com]

bangman Wrote:
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> I'd make a comment here about a certain company
> but I'd get banned and I don't want that to happen
> in two forums in the span of one week.
>
> Hey, I like it here too much already!
>
> I'll give you this advice though, you pays your
> money and you takes your chances.
>
> ---------
> 3GHz - The clock is STILL ticking Steve.

Thanks for the advice. I would have replied sooner, but the post disappeared... onto the second page.

I'm not making the decision quickly, but I do lean toward Sonnet cards because they were so rock solid when XLR8 went down the tubes and took their quality-control with them.

I've read some reviews and it's hard to find where the cards really differ -- I don't trust Macworld since they hand out 4-mouse reviews like they're nothing these days.

I have also heard that PL's (and GD's) can be a tight fit in a Sawtooth case, but haven't come across any similar comments for the Sonnet.

'Anyone know which brand has the quieter fan?