upgrade/s for pmac g4

[sascoordinator]

i got my mac on a trade with my company and thought of things i could do to make my mac better.

i've checked the specs of the mac and these are the following i know:

pmac g4 800Mhz
256 MB pc133 sd ram
40GB hdd
cdrw

these are the things i would like to ask:

are the memory modules for mac the same as for pc?
will the newer hdd (ultra ata 133, sata) still compatible for my mac?
what video card/s are compatible?
could the optical drive still be replaced to a newer one? what type/s?

many thanks in advance!

- carlo

:roll:

[Henjie]

Originally posted by sascoordinator
are the memory modules for mac the same as for pc?

Yup. Regular PC133 SDRAM modules will work with your Quicksilver 800. 3 RAM slots for a max of 1.5GB (512MB x 3). :-)

will the newer hdd (ultra ata 133, sata) still compatible for my mac?

Out of the box, any Parallel ATA hard drive (ATA/66, ATA/100, ATA/133) will work with your Mac. No restrictions on max capacity either (check out this thread for more info) so you can even install a 400GB hard drive if you want to. ;-)

Do note that your QS800 only has an ATA/66 bus with support for two internal drives. ATA/66 (66MB/s) is enough for most users though, especially since no single PATA or SATA hard drive save for the uberexpensive Western Digital Raptor WD740GD can sustain more than 66MB/s read/write speeds. But if you want true ATA/100 or ATA/133 support, go for something like this.

No built-in support for Serial ATA drives though, you'll need a SATA PCI card like the Firmtek SeriTek/1S2 if you want to install SATA drives inside your Mac. Same thing with RAID (no built-in support).

what video card/s are compatible?

Your QS800 comes stock with the ATI Radeon 7500 with 32MB of VRAM on a 4x AGP slot. Look here for compatible video cards (check out the first four video cards).

could the optical drive still be replaced to a newer one? what type/s?

Yup. Any will work, from the most basic CD-ROMs, DVD-ROMs, CD-RWs and CD-RW/DVD-ROM combo drives to the fastest DVD burners available in the market. Tell us what you're planning to get so we can discuss some specific issues regarding Macs and optical drives (max DVD burn speed with internally-installed drives, iApps support, etc. etc.).

Hope this helps. Enjoy your Mac! :-)


~Henjie

[Kenneth]

Another possible upgrade you might want to consider is a processor upgrade via a daughter card. Ynzal carry these.

[Maverick]

i've tried using an upgrade card for my old sawtooth 450 mhz.
upgraded it to an OWC 1.4 Ghz card for about $400 USD.

it's a worthy upgrade indeed. :love:

[El CaMOTe]

And how about upgrading to USB 2.0 ?? You might have a problem using PC type PCI cards.

I have two VIA chipped PCI USB 2.0 cards that are recognised as an high speed USB Apple card by my QuickSilver 867 (appears in 'about this Mac&#039, but when I tried connecting a LaCie external USB 2.0 HD, nothing happened, just a weak LCD lit then nada. It worked in the regular USB 1.0 port in the back of my PowerMac. Mice also do not work plugged into this USB 2.0 card.

I understand the NEC chipped USB 2.0 PCI cards work very well, but cannot find these anymore.:dry:

If you have better luck then me here, do post it. Best of luck !

[sascoordinator]

wow, a lot in one.

now, may i ask where to buy these...

oh, another thing, my company gave me a mac osx server. it was included in the trade. any things you recommend doing before upgrading? i'm still playing with it though.

[sascoordinator]

sir,

are the products(video card and pci sata) you've said are available here?

may i ask where? or what store/s?

regards to all!

[Maverick]

if you wanna put usb 2.0 then get the industry standard from ADAPTEC...

I had a USB 2.0 / Firewire 400 PCI card on my old sawtooth from Adaptec and it worked flawlessly.

check here http://www.adaptec.com/worldwide/product/prodtechindex.html?sess=no&language=English+US &cat=%2fTechnology%2fMacintosh
for more details.


sascoordinator:
i bought my OWC 1.4 Ghz at http://www.macsales.com/

[sascoordinator]

O, will the Liteon dual layer DVD RW's compatible for my mac?

[Henjie]

Originally posted by sascoordinator
O, will the Liteon dual layer DVD RW's compatible for my mac?

Yup. Check this out.


~Henjie