Reviewer's Name: Phil R.
Date Submitted:
5/23/2004
Rating (1 to 10): 9
Manufacturer:
Powerlogix
Rated Speed (CPU/Cache MHz): G3 1GHz
Max
Speed (tested by user): 1GHz
Cache Size: 1MB L2
(onchip)
Mac Type: G4/PCI with 500 MHz Upgrade
Comments:
"Well, my computer broke the 1GHz barrier (or at least got
to the edge) with this new upgrade from Powerlogix (using the 750GX chip). I bought this upgrade based on some extra income. Before this purchase, I recently tried the Sonnet G4, 1GHz upgrade, but the 66MHz bus speeds really hindered that upgrade.
Unlike the Sonnet upgrade, this one runs at a bus speed of 100 MHz. I followed the instructions carefully from PowerLogix's website. Once the chip was installed, I downloaded CPU Director and adjusted the speed to 1000MHz without hesitation (although the Apple System Profile shows only 800 MHz). Was I in for a shock with this upgrade!
Everything visually seemed faster in Mac OS X and OS 9. Windows appear much
faster than before, the launching of applications, the screen redraw and so
on.
Having original done testing with the Sonnet upgrade, I wanted to compare it
with the older 500 G4 upgrade from OWC. Even though this chip is missing the
AltiVec core, make no doubts about this processor. It screams!
Of course, as with existing reviews I started with running xBench (v.
1.1.3). It showed a marked improvement over the previous upgrade (67.37 vs.
57.52). Framerates for Open Gl improved from 50.74 fps to 77.27 fps (using a
Radeon 7000 with the latest software from ATI). The next step was to compare
this G3 upgrade with the previous scores of the 500 MHz G4 upgrade.
Results:
Final Cut Express 1.01 - 1 min 47 sec movie export to DV video with 15
cross-dissolves:
- 500MHz G4 - 1:32
- 1GHz G3 - 37 sec*
* Yes, I tested this several times and couldn't believe it. This is with an
external Firewire 400 drive.
Copy a 3GB file from the External Firewire 400 drive to an Internal 7200 RPM
Drive:
- 500MHz G4 - 3:04
- 1GHz G3 - 2:09
iTunes - A song import with a running time of 2:55 (2nd track on CD)
- 500MHz G4 - 25 sec (7.8x max)
- 1GHz G3 - 22 sec (8.4x max)**
**This is with a Pioneer DVR-105 DVD-RW drive. I've seen import speeds of
8.8 or higher since this test using the new processor. (the drive may be
a limiter on this also - even if using the outer (fastest) track for import
tests)
Word - Scroll through a 424 page User Manual: Layout View (Normal View)
- 500MHz G4 - 2:27 Layout (1:24 Norm)
- 1GHz G3 - 2:03 Layout (50 sec Norm.)
HipFlics Conversion - v1.2, MPEG-4 at 15fps, 100kbits, Keyframe 300
- 500MHz G4 - 2:01
- 1GHz G3 - 1:33
Launch Photoshop Elements 2 - First Time after reboot / second time after
first launch
- 500MHz G4 - 25 sec / 14 sec
- 1GHz G3 - 21 sec / 9 sec
Apply Wood Frame (Photoshop Elements 2) - 1.2 MB Image
- 500MHz G4 - 16 sec
- 1GHz G3 - 6 sec
Boot up Time - Cold
- 500MHz G4 - 1:51
- 1GHz G3 - 1:12
Let 1K Windows Bloom
- 500MHz 46 sec
- 1GHz G3 - 40 sec
I tried a couple of these test several times and got the same results
because I couldn't believe them myself. This was due to the fact that I was
so disappointed with the Sonnet Upgrade (which was returned within two weeks
of purchase). Without the AltiVec, this upgrade was putting out impressive
results. I'm not one to play video games, but I'm sure that anyone
purchasing this upgrade should see some gains (compared to the Sonnet 1GHz
G4 upgrade based on other reviews).
It does appear to run a little warmer that the previous G4 upgrade, but no
where near as hot as the Sonnet G4 upgrade. No additional fans are being
used with this upgrade currently, but that may change as the summer temps
increase.
I've seen PowerLogix get some negative reviews on this site,
but I'm not one of them. (Note that most of the negative reports are from people that needed RMAs/Replacement or Repairs. Hopefully you won't if their experience is typical.) I am very impressed with this choice. It is a little pricey compared to other upgrades and, yes, a G5 would beat all of these scores. However, I've moved on to a PowerBook to do most of my video editing (mainly wedding videos) and other features that I needed to be portable and require a G4 processor. I'm a little disappointed that I won't
be able to run iDVD on this older G4 (now G3) PowerMac, but that is what the PowerBook is for at this time.
In the meantime, I will get some further life from this machine (and have fun playing around with it again). I've rated this upgrade a 9 due to its higher price and that it's only a G3. But beyond at that, I'm really
impressed and other readers of this site won't be disappointed going this route instead of going with the Sonnet 1GHz G4.
PS - For those of you who are still using MacOS 9, you will see some
tremendous speed gains compared to your current processor. I've not done any test with this, but I've played around with Infini-D (3D animation software
package) and was impressed with it's rendering capabilities. And the
interface responds instantly.
- Phil "
Thanks to Phil for taking the time to include the Before/After
tests (and including real-world tests, not only simple benchmarks)
Note: the PL G3/800-900MHz ZIF models were said not to fit the Yikes G4 well due to the heatsink clip not being long enough (due to the thickness of the particular ZIF board and the Yikes heatsink). OWC notes the same thing on the PL 1GHz G3 ZIF page but apparently it did fit (w/o a new heatsink clip). I think OWC posted that warning last year after some Yikes owners had broken a ZIF socket tab off trying to snap the stock clip over the PL ZIF.
Update: The Yikes owner wrote regarding the above HS clip fit issue:
