Need suggestions on upgrading my Mac G4 500 dual drive purchased in 2000

I was looking to purchase a new G5 however due to the price being so high and funds being low I want to upgrade my G4 so it can run the lates version of Final Cut Pro. I have been told i need to increase my RAM to the highest which is four 528 MB dimm RAM. I was told upgrade my processor. I don't know which one since there are so many out there. Keeping in mind the price can any one suggest one that is reasonable. I was also told to change my video card. Again any suggestions. If i upgrade my video card would i need to upgrade the ac adaptor?
I also want to run the latest version of the Operating system i think its Leopard.
I do about 10 weddings a year to I dont really need the Fastest system. I just need to upgrade my system to run solid.
Any suggestions is appreciated. I live in New York City. If any one knows of a place in NYC where I can have this done i would appreciate knowing where they are.
Finally if I do all these upgrades will I be getting a good system or just invest in an Imac?
Thanks

I have upgraded my G4 Gigabit Ethernet to point of exhaustion. I can't put anything else in it, and by the end, it has costed more than a new computer. The difference is this - with a new computer, you have to plop down all of the money right away, but you get something that is going to last you a while. Upgrading a used computer is good because you can upgrade is gradually and it doesn't effect your pocket book so much because you make small investments at different times. The only problem with upgrading is that the more you add to the system, the more problems you could potentially cause, plus things start to fail when they get older.
If I had to do it all over again, I think I would pick the newer machine. There are just too many limitations to the old G4's, things like the 2x AGP slot, no PCI-X, only 2 GB of RAM, bus speed is only 100 or 133 mhz, clock speed is limited, etc. - all things you can't upgrade. ESPECIALLY if you want run an app like final cut pro. I bought my machine for running Pro Tools (professional audio recording app), and I still can feel the lack of power my machine has even after all of the upgrading.
The most important advice I think I could give you is this - do some research, see what everyone else who has experience would do, shop around, weigh the pros and cons to each possible machine to buy, and make lists of all of what you need and total up the costs depending on what machine you get. I would guess that buying a newer machine vs an older machine plus all of the upgrading needed would be pretty close. If you're patient, you should be able to get the newer machine without it hurting your pocketbook so badly.

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