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PowerPC G4 Upgrades Direct from Motorola?

Posted by Cliff on from the worried-about-compatibility dept.

Gizzmonic asks: "I was looking at PowerPC upgrade cards for my Mac G3 Blue-and-White and I couldn't help but notice that the offerings by PowerLogix and Sonnet are quite pricey. So, I started poking around Motorola's site looking for the G4 or my dreams. I could probably pull a few strings at work and get them to order a G4 direct. Is there any reason that a G4 from Motorola wouldn't work with the ZIF socket on my motherboard? (Yes, I know about the G4 enabler software) Ordering from Motorola or one of their suppliers could potentially save me a lot of dough, but I'd hate to plunk down the money for an incompatible CPU. What do you folks think?"

7 of 26 comments (clear)

  1. Here you go... by infornogr · · Score: 3, Informative

    From http://maccentral.macworld.com/news/9901/29.upgrad es.shtml Motorola's solution is more hazy. The company's website claims that AltiVec will be "100% compatible with the industry standard PowerPC architecture," but doesn't say whether processors with the added technology will fit into current ZIF slots. Will the current blue G3s be able to handle either or both G4 processors? If IBM's roadmap is followed, it would seem most likely since clock-rate increases don't generally mean a radical shift in chip design. Since the Blue G3s are equipped with a ZIF (Zero insertion force) processor slot, a processor with similar size to the current G3s could be easily installed.

  2. Motorola Dreams by infornogr · · Score: 3, Funny

    "So, I started poking around Motorola's site looking for the G4 or my dreams."

    I like Motorola's G4 processors, but their dream department leaves something to be desired. I'm glad you went with the former option.

  3. Why not just upgradethe whole system? by sockit2me9000 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    You'd still be crippled by the old mobo at 66 mhz (I think). You'd probably be better off buying one of the recently replaced (non-DDR) boxes. They have great discounts on these now. You could ebay your old system for around $500 and use that towards your new bitching quicksilver. Then you'd have it near the bleeding edge, get quartz extreme support, plus have it last a lot longer. A hundred dollar upgrade here and a four hundred dollar upgrade there and sooner or later you're talking real money. And just to be a bit off topic, but I'm really noticing an increase in Apple mindshare here on Slashdot. It's really becoming noticable. Nearly everyday they are on the frontpage.

    1. Re:Why not just upgradethe whole system? by RevAaron · · Score: 2

      You could almost say that Next acquired Apple not the other way around.

      Heh, tell me about it. Have a look at Apple's execs- a lot of ex-NeXT people, as CEO, Senior VP Hardware, Senior VP Software, and Senior VP General Counsel.

      --

      Working toward a usable PDA environment in the spirit of Newton OS: Dynapad
    2. Re:Why not just upgradethe whole system? by Gizzmonic · · Score: 2
      At my current financial juncture, I'm not sure it would be the wisest to get rid of my Blue-and-White. I'm a video editor, so basically the machine has to be up all the time, either waiting for me or rendering stuff...

      I could theoretically float a fairly new G4 system on my credit card and swap out all the parts, but switching over hard drives, system software, etc would take a lot more time than just replacing a CPU.

      I'm most curious about the G4 slot on Mot's own motherboards. Does anyone happen to work with them on a regular basis? If so, is the board ZIF-compatible with the G3? How much voltage does it draw? (G3 mainboards can spit a variety of voltages, but changing the voltage setting requires a lot of hacking and is probably not worth the effort).

      --
      (-1, Raw and Uncut is the only way to read)
  4. Suppliers? by Gregg+Alan · · Score: 3, Funny

    Are you planning to build your own chip by buying raw materials from Motorola's suppliers? That's awsome! Put a website up about it (with pictures!)

    --
    Here before all but 8486 of you.
  5. ZIF? I don't think so... by WIAKywbfatw · · Score: 3, Funny

    Heh. I know he's only looking for his dreams but, speaking from experience, I think it's safe to say that that requires more than zero insertion force...

    Having said that, heat dissipation can sometimes be a problem and there have been times when overclocking has been desirable.

    Unfortunately, finding a suitable heat sink that doesn't interfere with operations can be problematic, although water cooling/immersion can be a more than pleasant solution - with the right component(s).

    --

    "Accept that some days you are the pigeon, and some days you are the statue." - David Brent, Wernham Hogg