I am currently working on a 400 MHz, 128 MB Ram, 12 Gig, G3 processor iMac DV S.E., I am looking into upgrading to a PowerMac. Is the difference noticable between a G3 and G4, is there anything i should know about for this upgrade? DOes anybody have any similar stories??
Thanx,
Chad
Well, checking benchmark results in Norton utilities would show that the G4500 which I’m using is significantly faster than a G3 400. The latest G4’s are using faster memory 133 as opposed to 100 also they have level three cache. Also all G4’s use what apple call their velocity engine or Altivec technology and this is also significantly faster for apps that make use of it like Photoshop. When you consider that the new G4’s which can use twin 800mhz processors and come with the new superdrive which burns cd’s as well as dvd are the same price as an old G4500 they would seem to be a bargain and very much faster than an old G3.
thelonious
I use a G4 500mhz at work and an old G3 266mhz at home, and the difference in speed is minimal when I’m using ZBrush. ZBrush is currently not optimised for the AltiVec velocity engine, so that is not relevant right now. I did notice that the performance on my G3 got better when I upgraded from OS 8.6 to 9.1. My advice for speed is buy lots of RAM and then assign as much of it as you can to ZBrush. In the preferences panel set the memory slider to the max (yes those numbers refer to RAM megabytes) and set the tool undos to zero. Hope this helps 
got the money for a G4, ChadC? and a lil more for additional memory? then go get it! 
i am using a first generation G4/450 which came with a not so good graphic card (todays are much better i am told) but using ZBrush was much faster than on my G3/400DV imac right from the beginning. of course, some of this might have been due to the fact that my imac holds only 64 RAM instead of the standard 128 of the G4. accordingly the big turbo-boost followed when i added 2 250 memory sticks as soon as they became affordable… i believe memory to be ZBrushs main nutrition, so if you still can afford it after buying a G4, get as much of it as possible!
Dear ChadC
My honest opinion is the time saved with a G4 is about enough to scratch your head, or perhaps take a swig of coffee.
As most creativity involves natural pauses I wouldn’t get too hung up on this.
Ram your current machine up a wee bit which is by far the cheaper option,or maybe look into mirroring a bigger monitor from the Imac.
Spending your extra hard earned cash on extra software tools would be a better option.
However this said if you are a professional digital artist then it may help to get a system other than an Imac.
It doesn’t necessarily have to a brand spanking new G4.
The advantages of this is that for certain software (photoshop being amongst them)prefer an enviroment where virual memory is disabled.
The Imac is really designed to operate optimally with virtual memory turned on
In the heady days before computers paint used to take a while to dry.
Best Regards,
Boozy