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TICKET ARCHIVE -> Increase Speed
C J Pro - Jun 16, 2006 - 2:24 pm
I am running on a single 400 MHz G4 processor, using Mac OS X Tiger. I also have 384 MB of RAM in this computer. What is the best method (and cheap) to speed this computer up?
philippe99 - Jun 16, 2006 - 2:56 pm
Hi and welcome to macosx.com
--free--
(1) despite what Apple says, the more cumfortable system to install on slow CPU machine (like your G4 or my daughter's G3) is Panther. But, well, you're on Tiger, stay on Tiger, do not downgrade.
(2) give your machine at least 25% of free hard disk space on the startup disk (very important)
(3) weekly repair permissions through DiskUtility
(4) weekly manually launch the 3 Unix maintenance scripts, through for instance a freeware like macjanitor
(5) weekly clean caches of applications (browsers, games, ..) through a freeware like Onyx or Cocktail
(6) move IPhoto/Itunes librairies to an external drive, as well as big movies files
Upgrading the RAM can help (at least to 512MB, better would be 1GB), but I will do not invest on such old machines
You know, the most difficult to admit is that computers are already outdated the day you buy it.
My June2005 G5 starts to become a minimal system for such games like Doom3. But games are not for computers, they are for PS or GameCube
My G5 is till powerfull for home work, video encoding, ...
When I was with the G3, I never tought a moment to make video encoding because I knew that my machine was not able to perform it. But this G3 continues to help my daughter to prepare her courses and is still able to play the Sims1.
In such circumstances, my advise is always the same -and sometimes let people cry-: do not upgrade a machine. Live with it. And if living with that machine is becoming impossible, it is time to buy a new one.
Imagine. Adding on your G4 RAM to 1GB + a 80 7200rpm speedy drive will cost around 400$, plus handwork to place them. Now compare to the -less than- 1000$ for a new MacBook.
Well this is not "The Professor tells you", but I do not want you can even think that upgrading your machine will raise it to the power of a G5: you always have a only-400MHZ with (I believe) a 5200 rpm drive: Office will work with any problem, MedalOfHonor not.
Regards
Philippe
--free--
(1) despite what Apple says, the more cumfortable system to install on slow CPU machine (like your G4 or my daughter's G3) is Panther. But, well, you're on Tiger, stay on Tiger, do not downgrade.
(2) give your machine at least 25% of free hard disk space on the startup disk (very important)
(3) weekly repair permissions through DiskUtility
(4) weekly manually launch the 3 Unix maintenance scripts, through for instance a freeware like macjanitor
(5) weekly clean caches of applications (browsers, games, ..) through a freeware like Onyx or Cocktail
(6) move IPhoto/Itunes librairies to an external drive, as well as big movies files
Upgrading the RAM can help (at least to 512MB, better would be 1GB), but I will do not invest on such old machines
You know, the most difficult to admit is that computers are already outdated the day you buy it.
My June2005 G5 starts to become a minimal system for such games like Doom3. But games are not for computers, they are for PS or GameCube
My G5 is till powerfull for home work, video encoding, ...
When I was with the G3, I never tought a moment to make video encoding because I knew that my machine was not able to perform it. But this G3 continues to help my daughter to prepare her courses and is still able to play the Sims1.
In such circumstances, my advise is always the same -and sometimes let people cry-: do not upgrade a machine. Live with it. And if living with that machine is becoming impossible, it is time to buy a new one.
Imagine. Adding on your G4 RAM to 1GB + a 80 7200rpm speedy drive will cost around 400$, plus handwork to place them. Now compare to the -less than- 1000$ for a new MacBook.
Well this is not "The Professor tells you", but I do not want you can even think that upgrading your machine will raise it to the power of a G5: you always have a only-400MHZ with (I believe) a 5200 rpm drive: Office will work with any problem, MedalOfHonor not.
Regards
Philippe
C J Pro - Jun 16, 2006 - 3:37 pm
Thanks. My uncle suggested upgrading the RAM, but I'm probably gonna wair for the Mac Pro.
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