[strungxxx]

Right now it has 384MB of RAM, CD-RW, Geforce2MX and no OS on it. The machine appears to be in great condition.
What kind of upgrades could I do to this thing to get it running as fast as possible? I don't have an OS X disc other than the one that came with my 20" Intel iMac and it doesn't want to boot off that for some reason probably because it was designed for the Intel computers. I also have a an old OS 9.1 disc for my old 533MHz but it says it cant install on this computer.
What is the biggest HD I can put in here? I heard 120GB is the max but can I put more than one drive? Like (2) 120GB HD?
What video card would you recommend for this thing?
I want to be able to load OS X and use Apple Mail and iTunes and that is pretty much it. Maybe a few kid games for my boys.
Thanks

[snoopy]

That mac will take up to 1.5 GB of ram in it. From my understanding that mac will only take up to 120 gb hard drive, unless you add ata card in it (for a bigger hard drive). The G4 733 I have does have 3 hard drives in it. One off the ata card, the other two off the the mobo slot. The Quicksilver (silver front) and Digital Audio (gray front) both have 733mhz. Both will run OS 10.4.X. Both will run iLife. ilife

[nnager]

My 733-MHz QuickSilver 2001, maxed out with 1.5 GB RAM is pretty nimble. If I wanted it to be any faster with Tiger's OS 10.4.8, I might disable Spotlight, as I did on an old Beige G3. The video card has not been upgraded since the factory built my G4. I don't run into the 128-GB limit, thanks to an ATA PCI card.
Respectfully, Norm

[macnuke]

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What video card would you recommend for this thing?
Thanks

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ATI/AMD has pretty much stopped making AGP video cards, so it's gunna be your biggest hurdle.
I would see what I could find and have in hand before I dumped much money in it.

[almaink]

I bought a flashed Nvidia card on eBay for $80. 128 megs and Core image support to boot. Only issue if you could call it one, is it only will do 800x600 in OS 9.2.2, but since I never boot to 9 anymore, I don't care.

[ShermanHoman]

Pretty much agree with the other posters, good machine for internet access, email, kids and light weight gaming. I would max out the ram, that will give you the biggest speed bang for your buck. Get the retail Mac OS X 10.4 PPC install disk. But be careful to get the CD's! Your machine doesn't have a DVD and the regular retail is a DVD. The Intel install won't work and of course it is against the law. It will take a second 120 gig drive, but you just need to figure out how much money do you want to put into it.

[mdawson]

Well, based on the specs you quoted, you either have the Power Mac G4 Digital Audio (JAN 2001) or the Power Mac G4 Gigabit Ethernet (OCT 2001). As these are tower systems and have G4 processors you have quite a few upgrade options. First and foremost, get some more RAM into that baby; 384 MB simply does not measure up anymore. Both of the 733 MHz models can take up to 1.5 GB and for modern applications and current versions of the Mac OS you will want that much.
You are already outside of warranty, so if you want to get more processing power, a CPU upgrade may be in order. Single processor upgrades are available for your Mac up to 2.0 GHz and there are even dual processor upgrades available for up to 2x1.8 GHz. With any processor upgrade there is the bottleneck of the system bus (133 MHz) and the slower RAM (133 MHz) on these older Macs, but a faster processor is a faster processor. Also consider that Macs have been software optimized for dual processor systems, both in OS X and many Mac applications, for many years now should you opt to go that route.

For hard drives, the standard offerings for the 2001 Power Macs are slim pickings by todays standards and the older ATA-66 bus cannot handle drives larger than 128 GB. That is not really an issue, because the Power Mac G4 is a pro system and as such has PCI expansion slots. At this point, I would suggest you replace the original hard drive with a 80 GB (P)ATA modelthey go for about $60 or less these daysand use that as your system/application volume. For your documents, music, etc., (e.g., files that you will access and read/write more often), you will want to either get an PCI card to add faster ATA drives or better yet get a PCI-based SATA controller card. Serial ATA (SATA) drives are much faster than the older EIDE/ATA drives that the Power Mac G4s came with. Your built-in ATA bus is 66 Mbps shared for two devices, whereas SATA is either 150 or 300 Mbps and each drive has a dedicated bus. You can get a decent 500 GB Hitachi or Seagate SATA drive for less than $200 now. I would go with Hitachi for the Power Mac G4 because their SATA mechanisms have the legacy power sockets that older computers require along with the newer narrow power attachment. Another advantage of SATA drives is the narrower interfacing cables. Thinner cables are more of an issue in older systems that were not designed for ideal airflow like the Power Mac G5s that were introduced two years after these Macs hit the market.

Upgrading the graphics cards is more of an issue nowadays, because AMD/ATI, the only manufacturer of after market graphics cards for the Mac, has pulled many of their AGP-based cards. At OWC, the ATI Radeon 9800 Pro Mac Edition, the only card still available that is compatible with your system, has a 16 day backlog. Depending on the display you have, or intend to get, it may be worth the wait as this card offers a modern DVI (digital) interface that is better for attaching LCD displays; LCD displays are pure digital devices. The Radeon 9800 also has a legacy analog VGA port for attaching a CRT-based display or el cheapo LCD.

Lastly, you cannot use the installation discs from other Macs to install the operating system onto another machine. The installation/recovery discs that come with any given Mac are locked into that particular system. If you want to run OS X on the Power Mac G4, you will need to buy a commercial copy of OS X and install it. Check PriceGrabber for the best deals. When all is said and done, even at the full $130 price, OS X, which is fully functional, is still significantly less expensive than any version of Windows, Home or Professional versions.
Combined, all of these upgrades can easily cost you as much as a new mid-level iMac, so you would want to consider what upgrades are the most important to youmemory and the OS would obviously at the top of the listgiven that you are not upgrading components over time. Check out your options, prioritize your needs and have fun upgrading.

[snoopy]

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Power Mac G4 Digital Audio (JAN 2001) or the Power Mac G4 Gigabit Ethernet (OCT 2001).

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The Gigabit Ethernet Tower introduced about July/August 2000. The Gigabit Ethernet Powerbook came out in Oct 2001. The Power Mac G4 QuickSilver came out in July 2001.

[snoopy]

What I upgraded or added on my Mac G4 Quicksilver 733mhz: more ram, bigger hard drive, cd-rw to dvd-rw, OS X, ATI 9000 video card, ATA card so I can put a bigger hard drive than 120 gig. The video card and dvd-rw upgrade didn't play well with OS 9, but, both did play well with OS X. I either got that stuff on sale or used.