Powerlogix or Sonnet? |
October, 28, 2003 9:39 AM |
macguruguy |
Which is the better upgrade for OS X -- Powerlogix or Sonnet? |
. |
RE: Powerlogix or Sonnet? |
November, 01, 2003 12:16 AM |
macguruguy |
. |
That site is really not up-to-date. Saw one bad review regarding overheating. Didn't really see what you told me to look for as far as MANY bad reviews. I didn't see a review for Powerlogix current products. It's already on its way, so I guess I'll just have to see. I find that trying to get service via phone is nearly impossible sometimes -- I prefer very informative email contact. I've always had better luck. People just don't like to use the phone as much these days. You can think about what you say when sending email, and there's less chance for misunderstanding something (unless of course "fan" = "fun"). |
. |
RE: Powerlogix or Sonnet? |
October, 31, 2003 11:03 PM |
lyonsdj88 |
. |
"fan"="FUN" |
. |
RE: Powerlogix or Sonnet? |
October, 31, 2003 11:01 PM |
lyonsdj88 |
. |
Check the CPU Data base of user reports At xlr8yourmac.com not a lot of good things being said of Powerlogix. Never seen any bad things said of Giga, all the post I've seen are very happy with Giga. Jumpers are not hard to master, set them to the stock speed of the CPU and forget them. Ask about a bit before you lay out $300+ for that CPU. I do make fan of my self sometimes, or is that with myself ;-o going blind!!.......................... |
. |
RE: Powerlogix or Sonnet? |
October, 31, 2003 4:24 PM |
macguruguy |
. |
How could the chip overheat? The heat sink is the size of a small lunch box! And has its own fan! Maybe you're right -- but I'm not totally thrilled with the jumper idea, and I have several Sonnet products that I'm not totally thrilled with. Ya know, sometimes you just have to say "What the f__k". Well, if you can't make fun of me -- maybe you can make fun of yourself!!! (sorry, you set yourself up for that one!) |
. |
RE: Powerlogix or Sonnet? |
October, 31, 2003 12:14 PM |
lyonsdj88 |
. |
Go Powerlogix if you must, but from everything I read Giga makes the best upgrades. So if your Powerlogix overheats and it takes 100 days to get a replacement, "Don't say you were not warned!" Sonnet is a no brainer with the 50/50 chance of getting POS from them. BTW if you leave who will I have left to make fun of:-p |
. |
RE: Powerlogix or Sonnet? |
October, 31, 2003 8:35 AM |
macguruguy |
. |
Also, for the info -- the Powerlogix 100 and 133 series G4 upgrades have no jumpers (switches) either -- just like Sonnet's. OWC and Giga still have the jumpers. Why would you want to overclock a card for the sake of maybe 100mhz and risk overheating the chip? I don't see much need for the jumpers. Also, the DUAL Powerlogix cards are OS X ONLY bootable (7457 chips) at this point. OS 9.2.2 bootability is under development. The single chip cards (7450 & 7455) boot in 9.2. |
. |
RE: Powerlogix or Sonnet? |
October, 31, 2003 7:59 AM |
macguruguy |
. |
Hey Paul, I'm not looking to go dual; I'm looking for an inexpensive option. With that kind of thinking, have a Happy Bankruptcy!!! I mean, why not just go for the top of the line G5 with the custom gold plating while you're at it? And I'm looking for dual boot capability (because I have many os 9 apps), which isn't going to happen with a G5. The new dual boot dual processor G4s START at 1200mhz. Then add some RAM and larger drive, and we're talking more like $1500+. It's NOT a Beige, it's a Graphite. There weren't any Beige G4s (I thought you guys knew what you were talking about). XLR8 Zif upgrades go to 500Ghz, and I wouldn't trust replacing with anything beyond that, especially unsupported -- so that's out. Have you picked up an emac? The thing weighs a ton! And there's really no expandability. And the gigabit series is cheap and compared almost head to head with the 133mhz bus series despite the 100mhz bus in the Gigabit (this is documented at several websites). Well, I found out some info that made up my mind, and that you all should know if you go this same route in the future. The Sonnet ST/G4 upgrade can only be installed ONCE because you have to apply a special heat activated adhesive to attach the heatsink to the processor, which must then be removed when taking back out. The Powerlogix on the other hand has a very large heatsink already mounted on the processor card, plus a fan, and is $100 less. Both are rated almost identical -- so I'm going with the Powerlogix 1.4Ghz upgrade (SINGLE PROCESSOR -- $448). Right now I'm under $1000 for a G4 Gigabit 1.4Ghz, 768MB RAM w/Panther, ATI Radeon 7000, Dual ATA 133 drives w/extra firewire and usb ports and a 100MB Zip internal. Not bad...if it works! |
. |
RE: Powerlogix or Sonnet? |
October, 30, 2003 2:11 AM |
mjoecups358 |
. |
blahblahblahbuiltinobsolesenceblahblahblah. |
. |
RE: Powerlogix or Sonnet? |
October, 30, 2003 12:37 AM |
paul_findley |
. |
If you are going to the time/trouble/expense of upgrading the gigabit ethernet, I'd suggest a powerlogix dual upgrade, to go all the way. But keep in mind, factory dual 1.25GHz refurbs are only about $1500 (advertised occasionally on dealmac.com), and I would bet the gigabit ethernet + powerlogix dual card will be pushing $1200. I would have bought the factory refurbed dual 1.25 with warranty. But when you are in this league of money (>$1000), why not just get a low end G5, and save the hassle and the built-in obsolescense? |
. |
RE: Powerlogix or Sonnet? |
October, 29, 2003 11:39 PM |
smwalker |
. |
Well, I don't know anything about PowerLogix. I own a Sonnet G4 800 mhz card in a PM 9600 and a Sonnet G3 500 mhz in a 7600. Both were out a long time before I bought them and both have been rock solid. The G3 easier but no question the extra work in installing the G4 was well worth it. I research as much as I could before laying out the cash, but Sonnet was what most people were and are using. Kind of like the VHS vs beta thing ... or was it PC vs Mac thing? I hope somebody makes an affordable G5 card since I'm kind of like attached to these old mac computers; can't say that about a 7 year old pc. |
. |
RE: Powerlogix or Sonnet? |
October, 29, 2003 10:44 PM |
ltking |
. |
Hi All: For what it's worth, I had a pair of Sonnet 800MHz G4's in a pair of PPC8500's. I pulled them out and replaced them with what had been inside, i.e., a 500 MHz Newer Tech G3 and a 400 MHx NT G3. All sorts of problems have disappeared as a result!! Lonnie King |
. |
RE: Powerlogix or Sonnet? |
October, 29, 2003 10:26 AM |
jseibyl |
. |
I have had really good luck with my Sonnet g4 800. I did wait until it was out for a while before I got it. |
. |
RE: Powerlogix or Sonnet? |
October, 28, 2003 6:32 PM |
mjoecups358 |
. |
The sonnet G4 doesn't even fit with the XLr8 card, so don't bother blowing a bunch of cash on that one... Apparently it interferes with the logic board. Marty |
. |
RE: Powerlogix or Sonnet? |
October, 28, 2003 3:39 PM |
macguruguy |
. |
Bought a G4 Gigabit Ethernet machine, which I'm planning to upgrade in a PC enclosure with a G4 1.4 upgrade card and Panther. This should hopefully solve some of my problems with installing OS X, because this machine should be supported by Apple. So, I guess in a way I AM leaving this site for now, because I shouldn't need XPostFacto to install on this G4. Just wondered whether Powerlogix was a reliable upgrade. I currently have a Sonnet 800mhz G4 upgrade, and it does seem a bit flaky. I much preferred NewerTech upgrades, but they are long gone. |
. |
RE: gregoryy |
October, 28, 2003 2:39 PM |
jseibyl |
. |
that makes sense wasn't sure what the chip was for that Sonnet. BTW, I agee with you, at that point spending that much money is just crazy when you could get a brand new emac for 800 bucks. It would be funny running a beige 9500 @ 1 ghz on Panther, perhaps if the prices go down to 300 bucks for that rig..... I still want the dual g5....:-) thnks for the thoughts |
. |
RE: NOTA |
October, 28, 2003 1:53 PM |
gregoryy |
. |
No, I don't think the Daystar Carrier zif card could take a 7455 (which is what Sonnet uses), maybe the PL-G3/800 though? But then, there have been a lot of problems with PL this year, a lot of delays in replacing and AYM decided to stop posting stuff. I understand they have improved their boards and are hoping to once again get into duals. Without knowing what Mac? I think Sonnet has the G4 upgrades, Giga has the true G4 upgrades, and Hardmac showed a photo of a cpu upgrade for Cube that has a huge heat sink and space for 2nd cpu... awesome if they can do it. It's a waste of money on a Beige when you can buy a ref'd G4/1GHz $950 or G4-MDD for $1300... but putting a 7455 in there, while not going to touch what a G4/AGP or later would do, would be nice. |
. |
mjoecups358 |
October, 28, 2003 1:28 PM |
jseibyl |
. |
Question, Do you think that XLR8 with a Sonnet g4 1 ghz zif would work. I realise that the cost of that rig would be stupid at that point, BUT just curious..... Jim |
. |
RE: Powerlogix or Sonnet? |
October, 28, 2003 12:51 PM |
mjoecups358 |
. |
I thought you had enough and were leaving? I personally prefer Powerlogix. Sonnet likes to advertise there "no switches" attitude, which in my opinion sucks. Sometimes a particular upgrade will be flakey in a particular mac, but being able to tweak the bus speed or multiple can get it working well. Powerlogix has also been good about RMA any problem cards for me over the years. Although ONCE I had to wait months for a return because OWC was responsible. I bought a sonnet G4/800 which I had to return, as it was flake city in my PTP as well as 2 other macs. My "high end" upgrade is a Daystar/XLR8 zif card with a Powerlogix Zif 900 on it. This combo seems super stable so far. I will start a new thread when I do some benchmarks of it. Marty |