Powerlogix Upgrade Cards..or any CPU upgrade for that matter

[technetium]

anyone here have a QuickSilver 2002 machine and then add a Powerlogix Dual CPU upgrade card? or Sonnet Duet? or other?

i have some extra dough & am leaning toward the Powerlogix Dual 1.2 GHz card....hoping someone has some pertinent info on adding a CPU upgrade & its interaction w/ the UAD card & Logic in OS X.

thanks...
-dave

Current Computer Setup:
G4 QS single 933 +2MB L3, OS X 10.3.3, 1GB Ram, 200GB worth of HDs.
Logic Platinum 6.3.3
2x UAD-1 Cards
MOTU 828 MKII
Emagic AMT8

 

[mersisblue]

I would like to piggy back here on powerlogix upgrades

8) 8) 8) 8) 8) 8) 8) 8) 8) 8) 8) 8) 8) 8) 8)

Does anyone have any info On upgrades from single

Mirror drive door FW 800 model

Id like to go from A single 1ghz to a dual cpu But I dont think

ANYONE has made a cpu upgrade for this yet

:twisted: :twisted: :twisted: :twisted: :twisted: :twisted: :twisted: :twisted: :twisted: :twisted: :twisted: :twisted:

Thanks

Ps - powerlogix is the only co that makes dual cpu upgrades for macs right ? :roll:

 

[technetium]

no, sonnet makes the \"Duet\" line of dual CPU upgrades.
but i dont remember seeing any for the MDD/FW800 machines either from Powerlogix or Sonnet

seemed like the powerlogix used to get the best reviews on xlr8yourmac.com, but lately the playing field has evened out a bit.
they all seem to have 2MB L3/processor now,(even the single CPU upgrades) which was a \"powerlogix-only\" thing a while ago.

u might be able to find a compatible Dual CPU card pulled from a MDD/FW800 system on eBay. just do your homework & make sure u get the right one

 

[mersisblue]

I wouldnt know how to install a new mother board

was that the right term ?

 

[giles117]

I will be real with you. The Powerlogix upgrades SUCK!!!!!!!

Go with the Gigadesigns upgrade.

I used the Dual 1.2Ghz in my Quicksilver 2002 with great results.

The Tech support for the prolems I did have were off the charts great!!!!!

And DP4 in OSX with a UAD-1 CArd is Heaven.!!!!!

My system with the upgrade is as follows:

QS 2002 800 Mhz (orig) 1.5GB Ram, MOTU PCI-424, UAD-1

I purchased the Dual 1.2 Ghz clocked at 1.3 for My CPU and all was well.

Bryan Giles

http://www.gigadesigns.com

 

[technetium]

not that i'm doubting you, but what made the powerlogix upgrade suck?
did it cause problems w/ your DAW or just in general? was it more difficult to setup? etc...

btw...thanks for the info on the gigadesigns, its appreciated.

 

[giles117]

One phrase. Constant lockups. The PL upgrade is VERY VERY unstable. I cant tell u which one to buy only you can decide that, but with a track record of successes as noted on xlr8yourmac.com I ended up buying the Gigadesigns upgrade. and within 15 minutes I was burning trhough mixes.

I had PL and sent it back. UNSTABLE!!!!!!

Go Giga and work with confidence.

Bryan Giles

call the guys at gigadesigns and just kick it for a second.

 

[technetium]

hey Bryan, thanks for the info.

it wasnt that i was doubting you, but the Powerlogix used to get really good reviews back in the days, so i was curious as to what it was that made u specifically NOT recommend them...now i know.

the Gigas look good, & to be quite honest i would rather have one of them than a Sonnet.

obviously u have a UAD-1 card (or u wouldn't be posting here, as neither would i) & u say the Giga rocks for u, then that works for me.

thanks again...
-dave

 

[technetium]

Gigadesigns M-Series, G-celerator Dual 1.33 Ghz CPU upgrade

ok just installed the new M series (multi-voltage) dual 1.33 G4 upgrade card from gigadesigns....
first impressions, over all very good. in OS9 (w/logic 6), it worked flawlessly. & spanked ass too. was able to play a song i previously couldn't w/o freezing about 60% of the tracks & had CPU power to burn. the 2 UAD-1s worked flawlessly, window scrolling & screen redraws were absolutely instantaneous while playing said song...if only OS9 wasn't OS9.

OSX..well pretty good. but... so far i had to turn my buffer size from small to medium whic is no biggie, but i do get some studdering when loading down the UADs hard (80-90%) regardless of native CPU load. also logic seems to be only using the first CPU, according to logic's meter anyway.

pretty confident i can sort the few issues out. but i have to say overall, so far, it looks really promising.

will post more info as i get/learn it

 

[giles117]

Good to hear...

Not sure about your Logic UAd hookup as i am a DP4 user and I am able to load down mine to 95% (Where I set the limit) without stuttering.

The one thing is that with the change I was able to finally use DP4 in OS X and completely left os 9 for GOOD!!!!!!! Just had to switch all my BF plugs to the UAD stuff.

Bryan Giles

 

[J-Mac!]

Hey Brian, I too am looking to upgrade as well. I have the G4 2002 edition, and I was thinking about purchasing the newer G4 version instead of a G5. Do you think I would come out cheaper by doing the upgrade?

 

[technetium]

hey brian,
do u have 1 UAD card or 2?
i have 2 & if i push them beyond 85%, what happens is i start getting core audio overload messages, even when my CPU meter is quite low...& it gets more frequent as i push the cards harder. i have to say that all in all its still VERY worth the $699...i can run a bunch of synths & a number of space designers & still work rather comfortably, which is nice.
its been so stable i'm thinking of overclocking it to 1.5Ghz (its a Dual 1.33) :twisted:

as for it using only 1 of the 2 CPUs, it seems to be only w/ songs i started in OS9, on my single 933. all new songs work fine...weird! i would call emagic, but i dont think i've ever really been helped by their support people, so i dont even bother to call them anymore. :|


J-mac,
i'm confused...what do u mean by \"newer G4 version?\"

 

[J-Mac!]

Well what I mean by \"Newer\" is I have the QuickSilver 2002 version of the G4, and Apple released a version of the G4 that has the \"Mirror Face\" and can take 4 hard drives. That was the latest version before Apple introduced the G5. Does that help?

 

[ghoost]

J-mac

I have that model / dual 1.25 .... if you're going to run it in 9, it's very loud .. which is what I've been doing. In DP untill just recently, it didn't sound as though everything was playing nice.

Giles post is encouraging though and all the plugs I'd been waiting for are finally AU ... I'm ready to hop after the project I'm on is finished

 

[technetium]

Hey J-Mac,
ok gotcha now....
well the main differences between your machine & the MDD (mirrored drive door) machines outside of CPU speed are:
1) DDR RAM (which unfortunately the Moto/G4 chip cannot really take full advantage of, but probably helps somewhat)
2) room for 4 HDDs & addition of ATA/100 Bus. main HDD bus is ATA/100, secondary (that is used for optical drives is ATA/66)
3) System bus is 167 MHz. which IS 25% faster than tour @ 133MHz but not blazing either.
4) maybe a better video card depending on wha model u get.

IMHO, basically what it comes down to is this...
u have to do some homework. make sure that the MDD machine u would upgrade to has L3 Cache (ideally 2MB/chip). i dont know if ALL models have it. sometimes apple will not include it on the low end model. (it wasnt on the original Quicksilver 733 machines) L3 greatlly improves the efficiency floating point processing (which is how just about all DAWs process audio w/ the exception of PT). the Gigadesigns upgrade cards have 2MB of L3 cache per chip, but running @ only 1/5 the processor speed. this might be better using Apple supplied dual CPUs.

if u don't mind the hassle of switching computers then the \"newer\" G4 is probably better than an upgrade, if just for the faster System & ATA busses. but as Ghoost said, in OS9 they quite loud as there is no intelligent heat/fan management. There is in OS X, & they run considerably Quieter.


an upgrade to a G5 will never be cheap, no matter how u cut it.
personally i dont think there is a single model thaty comes w/ enough RAM or HD space (i have 240 GB in my G4, & most of that space is occupied) so in addition to the purchase of the G5 u will need to stock up on RAM (OSX is RAM hungry & from what i understand if u load it up w/ 4GB or more u get a SEVERE performance boost as OSX no longer needs to use swapfiles) anyway...2GB of RAM isn't cheap, nevermind 4 or 8GB. plus u will want/need a secondary HD. SATA drives arent particularly expensive (unless u buy the 10kRPM ones) but u still have to pay for them...it all adds up.

i've been a mac user going on over 12 years, & have done the major model upgrade dance a number of times. if i've learned anything its this...let the dust settle...its almost has. UA has worked out most (but not all) of the kinks using a UAD in a G5 system. i would let them get it all sorted out before i spent major $$$, thats why i bought the Gigadesigns upgrade. its a stop gap until the G5/UAD-1 compatibility issues are completely worked out (not to mention whatever issues exist whithin the DAWs). my G4 dual 1.33 +2 UAD setup will probably give me another year to 18 months of good use (Unless logic 7 is a hog) before i start feeling the need to upgrade again. by then dual 3, 3.5, & maybe even 4GHz machines will be readily available (or 2 & 2.5GHz models used for cheap).

hope all my chatter helps,
-dave

 

[maks]

so, technetium, thanks for all your info....any follow up on the giga upgrade? ive got a similar 933 and was wondering how everything is working for you?...im not that eager to jump over to OSX as id still be using the same apps...who cares about the background, but would you say if i remained in OS9 a little bit longer ,does the dual card makes sense, or is it worth getting the 1.4giga single to ensure stability, or just go with dual 1.4, or..... thanks

 

[technetium]

Yo Maks,
i cant give an extremely informed opinion as i havent spent a lot of time in OS9 w/ the upgrade, but it seems the only issue i had was getting Logic to use the second CPU. while thats easily enough accomplished by using the I/O helper trick, the catch is depending on what version UAD drivers u are using it might affect stability. i forget exactly which version it is, (whichever version introduced Dreamverb) the UAD software forces the plugins to work in \"live mode\" (or so its called) to alleviate the issues people had using them in Logic on VSTi's. basically this is a good thing, because it pretty much eliminates all the gremlins that arose from using them being used in mixed modes & thus ensured stability. problem is, it also increased the host load. if u upgrade to a dual 1.33Ghz, i would assume it wouldn't be a big issue as you'll have power to BURN.
one thing i can say for certain about OS9 was SHEEEE-IT! - it was blazing w/ the Dual 1.33Ghz. i mean screen redraws & scrolling were instantaneous, even while playing a busy song.

bottom line - if you're using any version of the UAD drivers that include Dreamverb & u aren't having click/pop issues then u should be fine using the I/O helper to force pugins to the second CPU. i would think this would be the only thing that would affect stability (regarding your single CPU vs Dual CPU concerns) as the Gigadesigns upgrade is great...no drivers or extensions needed. literally plug 'n play. if u do buy the Gigadesigns upgrade (whether single or dual) get the \"M\" series if u can (multi-voltage), which their tech support rep said they had pretty much designed for use w/ cards like UAD-1, PT Core/Accell, etc...

 

[giles117]

J-Mac. I upgraded a Quicksilver 2002 with the GigaDesigns Upgrade.

You Cannot upgrade the MDD Unit UNLESS you get your hands on an Apple CPU unit.