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The Road Warrior Review - FastMac 550 MHz G4 Pismo Processor Upgrade

If you're here often, it won't be news that I'm a big fan of the Pismo PowerBook. I've owned one for the past six years, since January 8, 2004, upgraded to 550 MHz G4 status by Daystar. In fact, I like the Pismo so well that last spring I bought a second one - a 500 MHz G3, model in virtually mint condition from a batch Wegener Media had brought in.

This particular machine had started out in life as a 400 MHz G3, with a 500 MHz upgrade installed by Wegeners. As it turned out, I was pleasantly surprised by how lively this Pismo was running OS 10.4, even with just 576 megabytes of RAM and a 4,200 RPM hard drive. I had anticipated installing OS 10.3 Panther, which is somewhat less demanding of older hardware than Tiger is, but tiger turned out to run well enough that I stuck with it.

However, you can never have too much horsepower, and with Pismo, the maximum possible (with a G4 upgrade) is 550 MHz. PowerLogix used to market 900 MHz and I think for a short time even 1 GHz G3 upgrades for the Pismo, but those products have been discontinued for some time now.

Mike Lowdermilk of FastMac had asked me a while back if I would be interested in checking out to one of their 550 MHz G4 Pismo upgrades, and getting this second Pismo seemed like a good opportunity to do just that.

The FastMac upgrade duly arrived nicely packed in a foam padded box, and with a color illustrated installation guide to help walk you through the installation process. FastMac's Michael Lowdermilk says that FastMac's upgrade product is a 533MHz G4 7410 Chip running at 550 MHz, not a 500 MHz up-clocked to 550 MHz.

Pismos are delightfully easy to work on compared with metal PowerBooks and MacBook Pros, all iBooks, and the MacBook (with the exception of hard drive swaps in the latter, which are simple). Having had Pismos open many times before, it took me about five minutes to swap the new processor in, and get the Pismo back up and running again. it booted right up with no hassle or fuss.

In more detail, the operation goes like this:

Here are the tools you will need (more on the paper clip below)

Shut the machine down, unplug the AC power adapter cable and pop the main battery from the left bay.

1. Pop the two latches at the back of the keyboard, and carefully flip the 'board upside down to rest on the palm rest/trackpad area, making sure not to strain the delicate ribbon cable that connects the keyboard to the motherboard.


2. Remove the two Torx T-8 screws that fasten the EMI shield and lift it out.

3. Next remove the long Phillips screw at the front of the heat sink module, and then the two short Phillips screws that fasten the heat sink to the top of the CPU. Carefully lift the heat sink assembly out and set it aside.

Note: technically, it would be proper practice to wear a wrist ground strap when working on computer internals to guard against static discharge. I have never bothered, and have not encountered any problems, but you never know. In lieu of grounding yourself externally, it's prudent to attach some bare metal surface inside the computer before proceeding.

4. Popping the processor daughtercard is supposed to be facilitated by a handy plastic pull tab at the right hand near corner of the processor card (next to the hard drive). In practice, with older machines that have been upgraded, I've found that more often than not the pull tab will be missing, and so it was with this machine.

The workaround is to bend the end of a medium-sized paper clip at a right angle to create about a 3/16ths" step, then insert it through the convenient hole in the processor card's main circuit board's nearside right side corner, and pull upwards gently but firmly. The processor card should pop free of its plug-in connector on the motherboard without too much force. Carefully lift the processor card clear and rest it on a clean, non-static service.

5. In most cases, you will need to remove the RAM modules from the lower and upper RAM expansion slots in the processor card and transfer them to the upgrade card. On this machine, there was a low profile 64 MB stick in the bottom slot, and a standard profile 512 MB stick in the upper slot. To remove the modules, pry the two plastic retaining clips at either end of the slot which allows the module to spring upward; then pull the module out of the slot. Installation is the reverse: insert the module in the RAM slot at an angle, and when it is seated properly, press downward until the retaining clips click home.

6. Once the RAM is installed, it's time to install the processor card. Position it carefully in place and when it is lined up properly gently press down on the right hand end in way of the connector socket until the connector seats. With a new FastMac upgrade, make sure also to remove the little clear self-adhesive plastic film with a yellow pull-tab that protects the coating of heat transfer material on the top of the CPU heat sink contact surface during shipping. The square beige material in the shape of a shallow cross covering the top of the CPU, also with a clear plastic film overlay may be left in place.

Note; Or not. I have Multiple Chemical Sensitivities, and I noticed that when the machine heated up after installing the upgrade, I was getting a hot plastic odor. I contacted Chris Seitz at FastMac Technical Support, and he advised me that it would be OK to remove the plastic film from the top of the processor, and also that the black heat-transfer coating on the processor contact surface was designed to melt and flow with heat, and might also be the source of the odor, and that it would be fine to remove that material, so long as it is replaced with a small amount of a good quality heat transfer substance. I removed both the plastic film and the black heat transfer material, replacing the latter with Arctic Silver thermal transfer grease. That chased the gassing off problem. I hasten to add that this would only be an issue or even noticeable for people with severe chemical sensitivities, and irrelevant to the vast majority of users.

7. Now, assuming that you're going to stick with the FastMac-applied black "meltable" heat transfer material on the processor, clean away any materials such as old thermal grease from the contact surface of of the heat sink, position it on top of the processor, insert and tighten the three Philips head screws (two short, one long) snugly but not excessively.

8. Replace the EMI shield and its two Torx T-8 screws. Sometimes it's necessary to wiggle the shield a bit to get its back edge seated properly under the rear lip of the keyboard aperture. Flip the keyboard back into place and press down until the latches click home. You're done!.

In use, my FastMac G4 Pismo upgrade is performing flawlessly. In terms of performance, I don't perceive any substantial difference between the Pismo with the 550 MHz FastMac upgrade and the one with the 550 MHz Daystar upgrade. It's not an entirely even comparison because one unit has a 4,200 RPM HD and 640 MB of RAM while the other has a 5.400 RPM HD and 576 MB of RAM. For what it's worth, the faster hard drive seems to be a bigger relative factor than the respective G4 upgrades.

The difference in performance you will experience over a stock 400 MHz or 500 MHz G3 will depend on the sort of stuff you do with computers. The biggest advantage of the G4 processor is its support for Motorola's Altivec "Velocity Engine" technology, but which requires software applications optimized for Altivec to take full advantage of. For example, I use Adobe Photoshop Elements a lot, and it's Altivec optimized, as were most of the late PowerPC era Apple software applications and to some degree OS X itself. You really notice a difference with the G4 upgrade running those programs.

On the other hand, running non-Altivec optimized applications, the difference in going from 400 MHz or 500 MHz G3 to 550 MHz G4 will be more subtle, although the boost in clock speed is obviously to the good. Daystar claims that their 550 MHz G4 upgrade running in a Pismo is as fast as an 800 MHz Titanium PowerBook.

As for stability and reliability, it's early days with the FastMac G4 transplant, but my experience with the Daystar G4 upgrade in the other Pismo over nearly four years now has been flawless, with no stability or incompatibility issues noted at all. It's been a rock, and there is no reason to expect any less of the FastMac upgrade.

The Fastmac Pismo G4 processor upgrade's price has recently been reduced to $239.95, which is $50 cheaper than the nominal price of Daystar's upgrade, but it's not that cut and dried.

With the Fastmac product if you choose the Regular Upgrade option at $239.00 , you will send in your CPU daughtercard at your expense. Upon receiving your board, FastMac will pre-test it to make sure the board can handle the upgrade. After it has been upgraded they will perform a rigorous series of tests before sending it back to you.

If you choose the 3-Way Box Upgrade option ($29.95), FastMac ship out an empty pre-paid 3-way box once the order is placed. When the box arrives, you place the main logic board from the iMac in the box and send it back. Upon receiving your board, Fastmac will pre-test it to make sure the board can handle the upgrade. After it has been upgraded and tested it will be sent back to you.

If you choose the Advance Exchange option ($59.95) FastMac will send a pre-upgraded CPU daughtercard to you. A refundable Security Deposit will also be applied to your order. You are responsible for returning your original working CPU daughtercard to them within 15 days. Failure to return original working part within the allotted time will forfeit your Security Deposit.

The Daystar price is for a factory installation (you ship the computer to them, the cost depending on where you are and speed of transit ($16-$74), and you can opt to have other upgrades or repairs done at the same time), whereas the Fastmac upgrade is an install-it-yourself unit. Daystar also offers an install-it-yourself option in the form of a kit that includes the G4 processor card, XLR8 MAChSpeed Control CPU Software, a Daystar Modified High-Performance Metal Heat Sink, a Daystar Modified High-Performance EMI Shield, the necessary Torx, Flat-Head and Philips Screwdrivers., Arctic Silver Premium Thermal Compound, and an Instruction / Installation Sheet for $349.00, with an $85 core rebate if you return your original processor card which reduces the total to $264.00. The user can choose to send in their CPU card, metal heat sink and EMI for upgrade for $199:
http://daystar-store.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=499

Ya' pays yer money and ya' takes your choice. They're both excellent products.

[Addendum; Daystar's Gary Dailey sent a note with the following additional information:

"Daystar uses this years' 500LE CPU. We found that at 550 MHz the 533P, while cheaper, required too much power and too much heat for our standards. The new 500LE is able to achieve 550 MHz with lower power requirements."

]

FastMac G4 550 MHZ Pismo Upgrade Features:
• Motorola G4 7410 processor running at 550 MHz
• Upgraded 1MB Backside Cache
• AltiVec Velocity Engine
• 32% Faster that G3
Video Export // 2x Faster
Exporting of 160mb DV Video

System requirements: System Requirements
• Pismo Notebook
• Mac OS 9.2 or Mac OS X

For more information, visit:
http://fastmac.com/pismo.php


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cmoore@macopinion.com


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