View this article at: http://dev.macnn.com/articles/05/08/03/imac.g4.flat.panel.upgrade
Wednesday, Aug 03, 2005 5:20pm
Daystar ships 1.35GHz iMac ...
Daystar is now shipping its 1.35GHz iMac Flat Panel G4 CPU upgrades, which were announced last month. The upgrade utilizes the most powerful G4 CPU available and delivers more than 2x performance for iMac G4 700 owners. The upgrade utilize the highest performing 745x series CPU available, the Freescale 7457, which outperforms any 7457 shipped by Apple, according to the company; it features a large 512KB internal L2 cache, which allows the iMac G4 to perform at full speed, even without an external L3 cache. The "full system upgrade" requires customers to ship their iMac G4 to Daystar via Daystar's custom shipping container, which they receive after placing their order online. The upgrade is $550 before shipping costs (estimated at $95).

Daystar says that its CPU increases xBench Scores from low 70's to over 130, resulting in "double performance for all OS operations and applications." The upgrade service features Daystar's 21-point system test and diagnostics. The upgrade itself supports dual-boot systems and ncludes XLR8 MAChSpeed Control software for maximizing the G4 upgrade performance. "The iMac G4 is severely limited by its tiny CPU cache and lack of an external cache", said Gary Dailey, president of Daystar. "We've supercharged the unit with the fastest PowerPC 7457 CPU available, which delivers 1.35GHz and also doubles the CPU cache size - allowing the upgraded system to compete with a new G5."