Horizen's Law of Upgrades
Posted : 15 August 03
Always a tough call whether to upgrade or buy new when your computer is getting a bit old & slow. You never seem to get your money back on upgrades when you come around to sell your old beast. You spent $3,000 on it 3 years ago and now it is worth $300 (or less). Welcome to the roller coaster of computer ownership.
There are 9 basic factors that determine performance in a computer:
1) RAM
2) Hard disk
3) Graphics card
4) Motherboard
5) CPU
6) Software design & efficiency (including the OS)
7) Screen size & resolution
8) Software and hardware setup
9) You (the owner/operator)
*****
Horizen's Law of Upgrades.
- Changing any 1 item via an upgrade will (generally) only have a limited effect but also not cost much. Picking the single best upgrade item can be almost an art form.
- Change 2 things and you may be better buying a new machine.
- Change 3 and you almost always be better off buying a new machine.
- Buying a new(er) machine will almost always improve the first 5 (maybe 7) all at once, depending on the machine.
*****
Say you have a blue and white G3 tower. It was a top line Mac several years
ago (say around 1999) and still is under the right circumstances. Not
a front line
graphics workstation but ok for word processing, Internet access, email,
etc. Cost roughly $3,000 at the time.
Specs are :
G3 300MHz processor
128MB PC100 SD RAM (with 2x 64MB in 2 of the 4 available RAM slots)
6Gb IDE 5400RPM hard disk (on ATA33 IDE interface)
16MB ATI Rage 128 PCI graphics card
Ok so what is the best way to proceed?
A) Have a look at upgrading first...
1) RAM
Can only use 256MB RAM modules in this machine so this allows us to have
a maximum of 2x 256 + 2x 64 giving 640MB. Cost is $140 ex tax per
module making
$280. On
site labour install cost $45. Best to try and get PC100 RAM in
this case as it is more likely to be 100% compatible with the existing
PC100
RAM.
PC133 RAM will
most likely work but not 100% guaranteed. Having more RAM will
allow either more programs to be open at one time, allocate more RAM
to
existing programs,
a combination
of the 2 and turn off virtual memory. All of which will improve
performance slightly.
Worth doing if you are always running short of RAM or use graphics
applications.
2) Hard Disk
The 6Gb existing drive is both small and slow these days. Putting
in a new 40GB drive will virtually double drive performance and
give us
more
than
6 times the
capacity. This unit can support 2 drives at the same time. Can
leave the existing 6Gb as a backup or put it in an external firewire
case
as a backup.
$140 for
the 40Gb drive. $145 for an external firewire case. Essential
in this case to copy all files including the system folder onto the
new drive
and specify
this
as the startup drive. Labour charge $160 (2hrs) for a complete
fresh install and data transfer and setup everything. $45 for
a
drive install
only. The
incremental cost to go from a 40Gb drive at $140 to an 80GB drive
at $185 is negligible
and in fact most people end up going for this larger drive.
Worth doing if you are short of space and want a backup drive
(you should).
3) Graphics Card
The performance of the latest graphics cards is around 10 times
the performance of the 16MB ATI card in the G3. However they
cant even
be installed in
as they are all AGP slot cards. You might be able to find an
old faster PCI
card somewhere...
Cost is likely to be $200 or so if you can find one. Performance
will depend on the best card you can find but assume a 50%
graphics redraw
increase.
If you could use AGP cards then you could go for a better increase
but motherboard bandwidth
limitations would make it pointless to put in the best cards.
Only worth doing if you have cash to spare.
4) Motherboard
Not a lot you can do here with Macs. Basically you are stuck
with it for the life of the computer. If you were really,
really serious
you
might
try and
modify the case and showhorn in the motherboard of a G4 but
a) where would you get one
from at a reasonable price and b) why would you bother anyway.
Not even worth remotely considering.
5) CPU
The G3 processor is on a zif socket that can be upgraded.
2 options from Sonnet. G3 500Mhz $270 or G4 500Mhz $480.
Consulting
charge
to install & setup $70.
Only really worth doing with the G4 although the G3 would give a reasonable performance
boost.
Worth doing if you really like the colour of the case more
than a G4.
6) System software
Probably running system 8.x if it hasn't been upgraded
since new. Worth putting in OS 9.2.2. OS X would also
run fine
(especially with the
processor upgrade,
RAM and HD). OS X might have some difficulties with an
upgraded (non standard) CPU but unknown until you give
it a go. Generally
best
to upgrade your
applications if you upgrade the OS. OS X would run slow
on the standard machine and ok
on an upgraded one.
Worth doing to prolong the machines life and to be able
to use the latest programs. Mac OS software pack is $205.
7)
Screen
A larger screen doesn't make it go faster (may even slow
it down) but certainly nicer to work with. The latest
LCD's are
beautiful
to work
with but still
a little bit pricey. As you can get a good flat screen
17" CRT for $290 or a 19" for
$415 I think it is generally a good thing to get a bigger display.
Well worth doing if you have a small, old, blurry screen.
Can keep it across several computers.
8) Computer Setup
Often underrated and unappreciated part of the whole
picture. Only install the components you have to
and know the optimum
settings.
An art form
which takes
many years to perfect. That's why many of you use
me.
9) You
Training, touch typing, knowledge & experience. Hey you are the link to make
it all work. Invest some time in yourself and get to know your computer and programs
better.
PS : You could also upgrade the CD-ROM unit inside
the G3 to a CD-RW, combo or superdrive but depending
on what
Mac
OS version
and model
of drive you
get you
are usually advised to add the extra drive as an
external firewire unit due to compatibility issues
with drives
and Mac OS versions.
Upgrade Cost Summary (parts
only)
512MB RAM $280
40GB HD $140
500MHz G4 $480
OS X $205
Total $1,105 or $900 without OS X.
Once you include labour then it gets even more expensive. If you don't have the technical expertise then I strongly advise that you get it done by someone who knows what they are doing. otherwise it may not work once you put it all back together again.
The best value upgrade by a long way is to put the bigger hard disk in. Double the speed and 6 times the capacity for $140. Probably 256MB of RAM would be better recommended than 512MB extra in this case also and still give us 384MB to work with - a tripling of the existing 128MB of RAM. Only those really keen would go for the processor upgrade. Display cards are hard to find for this model. OS X isn't really great on an older G3 and I strongly recommend a G4 if you want to run OS X as it was meant to run.
---
B) Now buying a newer 2nd hand or brand new Computer
1) Second hand
Can get a G4/450 with 256/20G/DVD/56K modem
for around $800. This is about double
the performance the performance
of the
G3 in all
respects.
May want
to add some
more RAM but otherwise it is ready to
go.
2) New
A G4/1250 Single Processor 256/80G/Combo/ATI
Radeon 9000 Pro/56K modem (boots into
OS 9 & X) $2,180
Trade-in cost of the G3 would be roughly
$300 at a dealer. Maybe a bit less
depending on
the mood
of the
dealer
and how many other
old
Macs
he/she has
waiting to be
sold. Buying the G4/450 less the trade-in
gives only a $500 expenditure.
Analysis
Having a look at the upgrade costs
from part A, it is obvious that we
are better
off buying
a 2nd
hand
G4 than
upgrading
the G3 once
you get
to 3
(or even 2)
item upgrades, especially if you
include labour. You can vary the costs any
way you like and
exchange different
models and
different
accessories
but
having done
this for many years the rules at
the top of the email pretty
much run true all the time. Macs,
PCs, it makes no difference.
I just run these analyses in my head
when figuring out these things for
clients having
done it
for so long.
It helps having
all the
tech specs
in my head.
So consider that upgrade carefully,
often it is better to buy a newer
2nd hand
or even a
brand new computer.
Servers are
another ball game
entirely
and they
generally have a longer useful life.
---
PS : Personally I try and upgrade at least once a year (I have had 5 computers in the last year, but this has been an unusual year). Most people will changeover computers only once every 2-3 years. Doing it more often keeps you more up to date and your resale value is much higher. A good rule of thumb (Horizen's 2nd Law) is that when the CPU speed has tripled then it is time to think about buying again. If you are running a factor 4 or 5 times slower than the fastest machines currently available, then your computer will be a) slow b) old and c) worth a tenth of what you paid for it. Time to give it to the kids.