I would like to get my son involved in using GarageBand but need to upgrade his G4 tower first (he's 13). He has my old 450 G4 tower. Does garageband function well with cpu upgrade cards? Any recommendations for brand / speed?

thanks for your thoughts / comments

I don't like the upgrades, they are very expensive for the real yield that you obtain. I would think about mini or the excellent iMac

The processor upgrades are definatley not worth the cost. the other problem is that most if not all midi/audio interfaces will not run on machines with processor upgrades. (hmmm: will upgrades even work with core midi?)
that being said, are you sure you actually need to upgrade? I run cubase sx 1 on a g4 350mhz. Its not nearly enough power to do any serious multitracking, but for fooling around with audio and virtual instruments away from the studio its fine.

I agree. Upgrades are usually worth it only if you have some very special reason why you need to keep your old machine, like the need to use some old hardware that's not compatible with more recent models.

As Jsegura pointed out, MacMini and iMac are very good choices.

If your G4 uses PCI video card I'm not recommend the CPU upgrade card.

I've been using OWC/1.4 GHz. upgrade card on my G4/450 sawtooth for almost 2 years now and no problems whatsoever.
There's a new upgrade card made by Gigadesign that claims 2.0 GHz.(overclock), but 1.8GHz. is more likely.
They also have a dual CPU model too.

And certainly, you can use it with GB.

I have recently and happily extended the working life and power of my trusty B&W G3 (and UAD PCI card) with a proc u/grade, adding a Daystar G4 600Mhz, extra Ram, PCI F/wire card and a Pioneer Superdrive. I bought an RME Fireface (replacing the superseded Audiowerk 8) and needed to move to OS X (10.3.8).
The new setup runs Logic 6.4.3 well - for smaller projects so far - and keeps me going till the next generation Mac comes out. (and get the current G5 cheap maybe)
Obviously Mini and iMac would not take my UAD or F/wire cards.

David

The imac evidently, does not work with PCI cards. But that is not an inconvenient one because there are serious alternatives to PCI UAD. Powercore fireWire, Waves APA ,native plug-in.. etc. By the others, iMac surpasses to any G4. I work with Mac for 12 years. I have done upgrades and my experience says that best upgrades it is a new computer of superior rank. Greater yield to smaller cost. The RME Fireface, that it is the best interface of its price, works wonderfully with iMac.

This post has been edited by Jsegura: Wed 22 Jun 2005, 14:37