Power supply for a loaded Sawtooth?

Question

I'm in the process of upgrading my G4-450 Sawtooth for some digitizing my old collections of audio and video. The processor is the next step, probably an OWC 1.3 GHz. I already have USB-2 and Firewire PCI cards for a 250 GB external drive, iPod, a few other devices. The optical drive is upgraded to a Pioneer DVR-110, and the internal drives are an 80GB WD and a 120 GB Seagate. My ultimate goal was to add a new drive controller and two 320GB drives so I don't spend all my time writing CD and DVD backups (yes, I really do have that many records and videos), and then possibly a new video card. From what I've read here I will be seriously taxing my power supply. I haven't been able to find a good link on what kind of power the drives are likely to draw, but from the sound of it it is the video card that is likely to be the big problem. Any good links where I can find the power consumption for drives and cards?
I know, I should buy a new G5 or Intel mini, but the G5 is too expensive and I'd need too many external drives in addition to the mini to make it any more cost effective.

Answer 1

I've struggled with this a bit. So far I have had decent results with an old Dual turntable run through an old stereo to a line level plug into the mic jack on the G4. The problem was that the line level input meant you had to keep the input volume very low. Also my old stereo was a bit out of date, and decaying, but still had phono plugs. Since I was still at the experimental stage I was going to buy a Griffin iMic (highly though of on these boards), but realized that my PB had a line level input. I also had to replace my turntable at least temporarily with a new Sony model which meant that the phono pre-amp it had allowed me to use a newer receiver. I've been using Spin Doctor and running their filters, but frankly the last few I've tried on my PB and new turntable-receiver combo have been so good I am thinking of saving them as-is (with a mp3 for iTunes in addition). Hint, use an air-duster to clean the record before playing, it cleans amazingly well, almost no pops. You almost forget how rich the sound on a good turntable was. Longer term I'm getting a Canopus ADVC110 Converter for my videos (also highly recomended on these boards), so I may see how running through that works.
I'm still figuring this out, and will probably be back asking for advice here again, or offering as I figure things out. This will be a very long project since every conversion requires actually playing the album. I estimate my complete collection at well over 500 albums, not counting my father's collection and the old '78's stored at my mother's house.