My Quicksilver 2005 G4-1.7GHz story...
Don't be silly, of course a G4 1.7GHz Quicksilver 2005 does not exist... PowerMacs are Gee-Five these days, and they come in an industrial looking all aluminum enclosure.
But hey, don't start planning how to scrap your Quicksilver as yet (or any G4 PowerMacs for that matter)...
Sonnet has these awesome upgrade kits that give a new life to your PowerMacs... and you should check out their website for more details. Well, I did. As mentioned in my earlier blog entry, I had a Quicksilver 2001 733MHz and it was showing its age with the stock processor. I thought of upgrading to a G5 but the problem was with ProTools 5 running only on OS 9... so I had no choice but to consider other options, like buying a Mirror Door Version, G4 1.25GHz... but bad reviews kept me from making the purchase... so what next? Upgrade the processor... and Sonnet had just that!
Enter the Sonnet Encore SG4-1700 1.7GHz processor upgrade for the Quicksilver 2001!
But immediately I ran into problems trying to order one. The prices that was quoted to me by the Hong Kong resellers and distributors was totally absurd. So I thought, heck, write to Sonnet and hear what they say... and a nice lady named Jolanda wrote back to try to explain to me, but I insisted that I will not pay the HK published prices... and she was patient enough to help me sort this out... she emailed her reseller and distributor in Singapore for help...
Enter Patrick Chua from SimplyMac in Singapore. This dude has been dealing with Apple machines (new and used) for over a decade and has sold upgrade cards from various companies, eventually settling down with Sonnet in the recent years. He realised the value of prompt technical support and reliable and good relationship with the principal (the Sonnet people, Jolanda, Neal, etc are all fabulous people to work with).
Patrick offered to solve the pricing issue for me by shipping a unit of the processor upgrade from Singapore to HK since I am a Singaporean (so that solves region issues...maybe) but hey, this is an internet purchase, so no one should be complaining. With the internet, the best dealer with the best price & service wins, and Patrick had ex-stock while no one in HK did, and I needed one really fast, to convince my client that he can get an upgrade for his machine running FCP which he was complaining about... (I shall not go into details on that one.)
So after less than a week, the package arrived. And I was totally excited about this... how fast will this processor be? Will the slower internal bus, lack of 2MB cache, etc make this whole upgrade not worth it? How will it perform? Will it be a let down with just a slight boost in performance? I was biting my nails... but nevertheless, I have decided to go through with this, so what the heck, let this be an experience, one that I can share with the rest of you with the same REAL worries and issues about spending money on an AGING system.
I rebooted the Mac into OS9, and tried to install the firmware patches and SonnetCache for OS X, but immediately problem one came... The software did not recognise the Firmware on my Quicksilver and therefore the patch could not be applied. Darn! What the... #@$%& I was cussing under my breath... so I emailed Patrick... help... "Houston, we have a problem..."
Almost immediately, Patrick had the answer and here what he wrote to me :
"Your prolem is similar to this guy. Your solution
should be the same. If Check the firware in the CD
that came with the box. We'll get e newer firmware to
you tonight.
For me, nornally if the firware cannot be updated on
the Mac, no point installing the Sonnet G4 card.
Reviewer's Name: Greg Davidson
Date Submitted: 3/1/2005
Rating (1 to 10): 8
Manufacturer: Sonnet G4
Rated Speed (CPU/Cache MHz): G4 1.7 GHz (7447A)
Max Speed (CPU/Cache MHz): not adjustable
Cache Size: 512 KB L2, no L3
Mac Type: Quicksilver 2001 G4/867
Comments: I recently purchased a Sonnet Encore G4 1.7
GHz upgrade for my Quicksilver 2001 867. This is the
7447A model that requires a firmware update in order
to operate and that is where I immediately ran into
problems. The software included on the CD that
accompanied the processor upgrade consisted of ver.
2.3 of the Encore installer and ver. 1.3 of the
SonnetCache utility.
I ran the Encore software and it would not install the
the firmware update because it did not recognize my
Mac's firmware 4.2.5f1. After a little research on the
web I figured out that my Quicksilver's firmware could
not be upgraded from 4.2.5 so the problem had to
reside in the Encore installer. I called Sonnet tech
support and they confirmed the issue and e-mailed me a
beta of 2.3.1 which fixes the issue with Quicksilvers.
I used the new installer and it worked fine installing
the firmware update.
I followed the manual for installing the processor
card and it went without a hitch. I like the
integrated heatsink/fan on this model, no issues with
reusing the old heat sink.
The computer started without a hitch but the System
Profiler reported a 0 MHz processor. I installed the
SonnetCache utility that came on the CD and restarted.
System Profiler now reported a 1.67 GHz processor with
256KB L2 cache and 1MB L3 cache. I knew that wasn't
right so I called back Sonnet tech support. They
confirmed the issue and pointed me to the updated
1.3.1 SonnetCache installer available for download on
their web site. I downloaded the new software,
installed it, and restarted. System Profiler now
accurately shows the 1.7 GHz processor, 512KB L2
cache, and no L3 cache. Everything finally works.
I'm happy with the overall performance increase.
Startup is much faster, applications open faster, and
the overall usability is better. I use AlchemyTV DVR
to capture TV recordings and it used to be choppy on
the 867 under the best settings but it is now smooth.
I tested iTunes 4.7.1 by converting a 1 hr, 1 min, 27
sec (628.3 MB) AIFF to MP3. With the stock 867 it took
5:24 while the 1.7 knocked it out in 3:26. A decent
improvement.
I give this one 8 of 10 due to the included software
not working with the upgrade. It was easily fixed but
a pain anyway"
Impressed. Patrick knows his stuff. This is the kind of people that makes a difference. Thanks Patrick... to cut the story short, after this mail, Patrick managed to locate Neal and got the patch for the firmware for me, and this issue was sorted out... BUT... uncle Plastic, being the old man, forgot the position of the Programmer's Button on my Quicksilver and thought the RESET button was it... so the patch was not applied... one more email to Patrick who immediately replied with a picture attached in the mail to show me WHERE the button was located... IMPRESSED... totally... Sonnet, we need pictures to refresh our memories sometimes...
OK, so the rest of the software part was resolved and the installation for hardware was a simple affair, a couple of minutes and I was done (this is why I am the hardware man, not software man... except I must remember where buttons are located... laugh, people, laugh)...
Here are some pics taken during the installation process...
The wonder-purple-brain has been installed... so now... real world test... how much of a booster would this booster be?
Some smartie pants from the Mac User Group asked me to benchmark this baby... so for the heck of these number-reading-freaks, I benchmarked the Quicksilver 2005 just for the kicks (thanks to "macphaedrus" for pointing me to the bench marking sites to download the apps and stuff).
You can see the results here... and be SURE to look at the comparative results from a G5 machine... you will be surprised... I believe after you read this review, you will be seriously considering a Sonnet upgrade if you have an aging system at home... it just makes sense...
OK, the benchmark shows impressive numbers... but hey, I am not living in this geeky numbers world... I need to FEEL the speed boost, and from the first moment I powered up the Quicksilver 2005, OS X was significantly faster. Every app loaded faster, no hick ups, no hangs. You can immediately see the change in speed on how the Mac responds... its quite amazing.
I rebooted the Mac into OS 9 to run some tests to compare the speed difference between the stock processor and the upgrade, because ProTools/FCP was the reason why I wanted to upgrade the machine anyway.
Here are the results...
ProTools LE 5.1.1
Content duration : 5 mins of AIFF audio
Sample Rate : 48kHz
Bit Rate : 24 bit
Audiosuite plug-in - 733 processor speed - SG4-1700 speed
======================================
Channel Strip - 37.72 seconds - 26.06 seconds (70% boost)
Z-Room Mono - 33.16 seconds - 19.16 seconds (58% boost)
TrueVerb Mono - 47.48 seconds - 24.40 seconds (52% boost)
Quite impressive. This means I get more than twice the power than the stock processor, which means the world to a person working on ProTools LE in a project studio. Twice the RTAS power as well, which means you can use TWICE the amount of RTAS plug ins on ProTools LE... that itself is worth the money to upgrade your processor!
OK, so on ProTools LE this processor burns... so what about simple apps on OS X like iTunes... everyone rip their CDs to AAC/mp3/whatever on iTunes... and here is the shocking results... I still have yet to believe the speed boost, so I am not sure if I am dreaming but when I tried converting an audio CD track to mp3 VBR, the speed boost was from 6-9x to an amazing, 24x! 4 times the speed boost on OS X! This is unbelievable. I think you guys better read on other users' reports on their machines, but on mine, I just cannot believe a 4 times speed boost on OS X! This is too good to be true.
So I fired up Ableton Live 4 on OS X to see if the app will really benefit from the processor upgrade and yield similar results like iTunes... and this is what happened :
On stock 733MHz processor, Ableton Live 4 would start becoming sluggish and laggy after 7 audio tracks running with about 4 plug ins... *CPU Overload* comes on blinking... cursor starts cursing you, and everything is running like a low frame rate Quicktime movie...
But on the SG4-1700, I managed to finish a demo with 12 tracks audio, a 18 plug ins, and still Ableton Live 4 was responsive, running at a manageable 47% CPU load... this is so bloody amazing!
The reason why I do not like benchmarking its because in real world tests, things are usually different. I don't simply trust numbers. So my review, though long, is based on a real user's experience.
In summary, on OS 9, the Sonnet SG4-1700 performs up to twice the power on ProTools LE, which is a processor stressing monster, yet yielding a very usable boost on RTAS and Audiosuite processing.
On OS X, the results were a shocking 4 times boost, which is something I cannot explain technically, but Sonnet has made me a very happy man... and I would HIGHLY recommend anyone to upgrade their old systems with a Sonnet processor upgrade if you are looking for a new boost/life for your beloved PowerMac. Its a whole lot more cheaper and less financially painful than to move to the latest offering from Apple. And let me tell you this... its truly worth it.
Special thanks to Patrick for offering me a special price on the SG4-1700 upgrade and going out of the way to get hold of the processor and shipping it to me in HK. And thanks for the excellent customer service that you have given. Also to Jolanda & Neal at Sonnet for their speed in responding to questions and email. You guys deserve more than a five star review. I cannot say more.
Thanks. Quicksilver 2005 will be staying longer in my home studio. Maybe one more upgrade if Sonnet can do more magic. To the techs at Sonnet, you guys are simply amazing. Keep up the good work. You have made me a very happy person.
Your customer-turn-friend,
Clifford Nathan
aka Uncle Plastic.
For those in Asia who are interested in getting a Sonnet processor from Patrick at SimplyMac, just email him at genmksvc@yahoo.com.sg and check if he will ship to your region.
But hey, don't start planning how to scrap your Quicksilver as yet (or any G4 PowerMacs for that matter)...
Sonnet has these awesome upgrade kits that give a new life to your PowerMacs... and you should check out their website for more details. Well, I did. As mentioned in my earlier blog entry, I had a Quicksilver 2001 733MHz and it was showing its age with the stock processor. I thought of upgrading to a G5 but the problem was with ProTools 5 running only on OS 9... so I had no choice but to consider other options, like buying a Mirror Door Version, G4 1.25GHz... but bad reviews kept me from making the purchase... so what next? Upgrade the processor... and Sonnet had just that!
Enter the Sonnet Encore SG4-1700 1.7GHz processor upgrade for the Quicksilver 2001!
But immediately I ran into problems trying to order one. The prices that was quoted to me by the Hong Kong resellers and distributors was totally absurd. So I thought, heck, write to Sonnet and hear what they say... and a nice lady named Jolanda wrote back to try to explain to me, but I insisted that I will not pay the HK published prices... and she was patient enough to help me sort this out... she emailed her reseller and distributor in Singapore for help...
Enter Patrick Chua from SimplyMac in Singapore. This dude has been dealing with Apple machines (new and used) for over a decade and has sold upgrade cards from various companies, eventually settling down with Sonnet in the recent years. He realised the value of prompt technical support and reliable and good relationship with the principal (the Sonnet people, Jolanda, Neal, etc are all fabulous people to work with).
Patrick offered to solve the pricing issue for me by shipping a unit of the processor upgrade from Singapore to HK since I am a Singaporean (so that solves region issues...maybe) but hey, this is an internet purchase, so no one should be complaining. With the internet, the best dealer with the best price & service wins, and Patrick had ex-stock while no one in HK did, and I needed one really fast, to convince my client that he can get an upgrade for his machine running FCP which he was complaining about... (I shall not go into details on that one.)
So after less than a week, the package arrived. And I was totally excited about this... how fast will this processor be? Will the slower internal bus, lack of 2MB cache, etc make this whole upgrade not worth it? How will it perform? Will it be a let down with just a slight boost in performance? I was biting my nails... but nevertheless, I have decided to go through with this, so what the heck, let this be an experience, one that I can share with the rest of you with the same REAL worries and issues about spending money on an AGING system.
I rebooted the Mac into OS9, and tried to install the firmware patches and SonnetCache for OS X, but immediately problem one came... The software did not recognise the Firmware on my Quicksilver and therefore the patch could not be applied. Darn! What the... #@$%& I was cussing under my breath... so I emailed Patrick... help... "Houston, we have a problem..."
Almost immediately, Patrick had the answer and here what he wrote to me :
"Your prolem is similar to this guy. Your solution
should be the same. If Check the firware in the CD
that came with the box. We'll get e newer firmware to
you tonight.
For me, nornally if the firware cannot be updated on
the Mac, no point installing the Sonnet G4 card.
Reviewer's Name: Greg Davidson
Date Submitted: 3/1/2005
Rating (1 to 10): 8
Manufacturer: Sonnet G4
Rated Speed (CPU/Cache MHz): G4 1.7 GHz (7447A)
Max Speed (CPU/Cache MHz): not adjustable
Cache Size: 512 KB L2, no L3
Mac Type: Quicksilver 2001 G4/867
Comments: I recently purchased a Sonnet Encore G4 1.7
GHz upgrade for my Quicksilver 2001 867. This is the
7447A model that requires a firmware update in order
to operate and that is where I immediately ran into
problems. The software included on the CD that
accompanied the processor upgrade consisted of ver.
2.3 of the Encore installer and ver. 1.3 of the
SonnetCache utility.
I ran the Encore software and it would not install the
the firmware update because it did not recognize my
Mac's firmware 4.2.5f1. After a little research on the
web I figured out that my Quicksilver's firmware could
not be upgraded from 4.2.5 so the problem had to
reside in the Encore installer. I called Sonnet tech
support and they confirmed the issue and e-mailed me a
beta of 2.3.1 which fixes the issue with Quicksilvers.
I used the new installer and it worked fine installing
the firmware update.
I followed the manual for installing the processor
card and it went without a hitch. I like the
integrated heatsink/fan on this model, no issues with
reusing the old heat sink.
The computer started without a hitch but the System
Profiler reported a 0 MHz processor. I installed the
SonnetCache utility that came on the CD and restarted.
System Profiler now reported a 1.67 GHz processor with
256KB L2 cache and 1MB L3 cache. I knew that wasn't
right so I called back Sonnet tech support. They
confirmed the issue and pointed me to the updated
1.3.1 SonnetCache installer available for download on
their web site. I downloaded the new software,
installed it, and restarted. System Profiler now
accurately shows the 1.7 GHz processor, 512KB L2
cache, and no L3 cache. Everything finally works.
I'm happy with the overall performance increase.
Startup is much faster, applications open faster, and
the overall usability is better. I use AlchemyTV DVR
to capture TV recordings and it used to be choppy on
the 867 under the best settings but it is now smooth.
I tested iTunes 4.7.1 by converting a 1 hr, 1 min, 27
sec (628.3 MB) AIFF to MP3. With the stock 867 it took
5:24 while the 1.7 knocked it out in 3:26. A decent
improvement.
I give this one 8 of 10 due to the included software
not working with the upgrade. It was easily fixed but
a pain anyway"
Impressed. Patrick knows his stuff. This is the kind of people that makes a difference. Thanks Patrick... to cut the story short, after this mail, Patrick managed to locate Neal and got the patch for the firmware for me, and this issue was sorted out... BUT... uncle Plastic, being the old man, forgot the position of the Programmer's Button on my Quicksilver and thought the RESET button was it... so the patch was not applied... one more email to Patrick who immediately replied with a picture attached in the mail to show me WHERE the button was located... IMPRESSED... totally... Sonnet, we need pictures to refresh our memories sometimes...
OK, so the rest of the software part was resolved and the installation for hardware was a simple affair, a couple of minutes and I was done (this is why I am the hardware man, not software man... except I must remember where buttons are located... laugh, people, laugh)...
Here are some pics taken during the installation process...
The wonder-purple-brain has been installed... so now... real world test... how much of a booster would this booster be?
Some smartie pants from the Mac User Group asked me to benchmark this baby... so for the heck of these number-reading-freaks, I benchmarked the Quicksilver 2005 just for the kicks (thanks to "macphaedrus" for pointing me to the bench marking sites to download the apps and stuff).
You can see the results here... and be SURE to look at the comparative results from a G5 machine... you will be surprised... I believe after you read this review, you will be seriously considering a Sonnet upgrade if you have an aging system at home... it just makes sense...
OK, the benchmark shows impressive numbers... but hey, I am not living in this geeky numbers world... I need to FEEL the speed boost, and from the first moment I powered up the Quicksilver 2005, OS X was significantly faster. Every app loaded faster, no hick ups, no hangs. You can immediately see the change in speed on how the Mac responds... its quite amazing.
I rebooted the Mac into OS 9 to run some tests to compare the speed difference between the stock processor and the upgrade, because ProTools/FCP was the reason why I wanted to upgrade the machine anyway.
Here are the results...
ProTools LE 5.1.1
Content duration : 5 mins of AIFF audio
Sample Rate : 48kHz
Bit Rate : 24 bit
Audiosuite plug-in - 733 processor speed - SG4-1700 speed
======================================
Channel Strip - 37.72 seconds - 26.06 seconds (70% boost)
Z-Room Mono - 33.16 seconds - 19.16 seconds (58% boost)
TrueVerb Mono - 47.48 seconds - 24.40 seconds (52% boost)
Quite impressive. This means I get more than twice the power than the stock processor, which means the world to a person working on ProTools LE in a project studio. Twice the RTAS power as well, which means you can use TWICE the amount of RTAS plug ins on ProTools LE... that itself is worth the money to upgrade your processor!
OK, so on ProTools LE this processor burns... so what about simple apps on OS X like iTunes... everyone rip their CDs to AAC/mp3/whatever on iTunes... and here is the shocking results... I still have yet to believe the speed boost, so I am not sure if I am dreaming but when I tried converting an audio CD track to mp3 VBR, the speed boost was from 6-9x to an amazing, 24x! 4 times the speed boost on OS X! This is unbelievable. I think you guys better read on other users' reports on their machines, but on mine, I just cannot believe a 4 times speed boost on OS X! This is too good to be true.
So I fired up Ableton Live 4 on OS X to see if the app will really benefit from the processor upgrade and yield similar results like iTunes... and this is what happened :
On stock 733MHz processor, Ableton Live 4 would start becoming sluggish and laggy after 7 audio tracks running with about 4 plug ins... *CPU Overload* comes on blinking... cursor starts cursing you, and everything is running like a low frame rate Quicktime movie...
But on the SG4-1700, I managed to finish a demo with 12 tracks audio, a 18 plug ins, and still Ableton Live 4 was responsive, running at a manageable 47% CPU load... this is so bloody amazing!
The reason why I do not like benchmarking its because in real world tests, things are usually different. I don't simply trust numbers. So my review, though long, is based on a real user's experience.
In summary, on OS 9, the Sonnet SG4-1700 performs up to twice the power on ProTools LE, which is a processor stressing monster, yet yielding a very usable boost on RTAS and Audiosuite processing.
On OS X, the results were a shocking 4 times boost, which is something I cannot explain technically, but Sonnet has made me a very happy man... and I would HIGHLY recommend anyone to upgrade their old systems with a Sonnet processor upgrade if you are looking for a new boost/life for your beloved PowerMac. Its a whole lot more cheaper and less financially painful than to move to the latest offering from Apple. And let me tell you this... its truly worth it.
Special thanks to Patrick for offering me a special price on the SG4-1700 upgrade and going out of the way to get hold of the processor and shipping it to me in HK. And thanks for the excellent customer service that you have given. Also to Jolanda & Neal at Sonnet for their speed in responding to questions and email. You guys deserve more than a five star review. I cannot say more.
Thanks. Quicksilver 2005 will be staying longer in my home studio. Maybe one more upgrade if Sonnet can do more magic. To the techs at Sonnet, you guys are simply amazing. Keep up the good work. You have made me a very happy person.
Your customer-turn-friend,
Clifford Nathan
aka Uncle Plastic.
For those in Asia who are interested in getting a Sonnet processor from Patrick at SimplyMac, just email him at genmksvc@yahoo.com.sg and check if he will ship to your region.
posted by Uncle Plastic's Blog at 7:48 PM
4 Comments:
Hi,
I'm sorry for being intrusive in to your blog. But I am Melissa and I am a mother of two that is just trying to get out of an incredible financial debt. See my hubby is away in Iraq trying to protect this great country that we live in, and I am at home with our two kids telling bill collectors please be patiant. When my husband returns from war we will beable to catch up on our payments. We have already had are 2001 Ford repossessed from the bank, and are now down to a 83 buick that is rusted from front to back and the heater don't work, and tire tax is due in November.
I'm not asking for your pitty because we got our ownselfs into this mess but we would love you and thank you in our prayers if you would just keep this link on your blog for others to view.
God Bless You.
Melissa K. W.
To see my family view this page. My Family
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