G4 Upgrades For iMac Announced

by , 4:40 PM EST, February 27th, 2001

PowerLogix has announced its new G4 processor upgrades for rev A through rev C iMacs. The product is called iForce G4 and runs at 450 MHz. According to PowerLogix:

This is a CPU upgrade that replaces the factory G3 processor card with a new G4 processor running at 450MHz and is faster than any stock iMac available new.

The iForce G4 upgrades are compatible with the iMac rev A through rev C models. These iMacs shipped with G3 processors running at speeds of 233MHz, 266MHz and 333MHz. iForce G4 upgrades feature speeds of 400MHz and up with options of either a 512k or a full 1MB of backside cache memory.

This additional processing speed is commonly used to gain the processing speed of newer computers without the additional expense of buying new. An accelerated iMac is ideal when users want to move up to more sophisticated software. Upgraded iMacs will be able to take advantage of software with optimized AltiVec code including Adobe Photoshop and Premier as well as other AltiVec-aware applications such as SoundJam.

The Apple iMac processor is mounted on a socketed card that can be easily removed and replaced with a faster processor card. The iForce G4 is very similar to the stock card, except for the faster processor and cache memory components.

This upgrade should begin shipping in Q2 of 2001.

Prices in US dollars:

iForce G4 400/512k cache	$379
iForce G4 400/1MB cache	$399
iForce G4 450/1MB cache	$579
iForce G4 500/1MB cache	$699

You can find more information about the iForce G4 at PowerLogix's site.

The Mac Observer Spin:

Ahhhh, a G4 in an iMac, long the dream of many an iMac owner, but elsuive until now. These processor upgrades will be hampered by the system bus of the iMacs they can be used with, but for those doing processor intensive tasks, the speed increase will be very welcome and quite noticable.

Congrats to Powerlogix for cracking the issues surrounding this particular hurdle. They have offered new longevity to many iMac owners, something that no doubt makes Apple tense. Customers, however, should be delighted.

PowerLogix