a guy at work just gave me an old saw tooth generation power mas G4. I was wondering if it is possible to shoe horn in a MDD mobo in this old case. Or any other suggestion for upgrades. I have been looking at the aftermarket processors but don’t want to spend any real amount of money on the experiment. (G5s on e-go for 150 to 300) so I will be doing this with used parts. (the dual core 2ghz am cpu is about $800) I just built a core I73.07 quad core system for far less than that.
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I just received a Sawtooth gen G4
- Thread starter djmoney
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You can't install an MDD logic board and CPU in it or a G5. It's not worth sinking money into.
Just max it out with stock parts that were designed for that model, and do something useful with the machine (home music server, word processor, dedicated network control terminal, etc).
Virtually any logic board can be shoe horned in any case. You just need some creativity and know-how. Not a good idea for a novice though. I can't see an MDD PSU fitting in a sawtooth case. The optical bay is too high compared to the MDD case. The main issue with an MDD board in a G5 or older G4 case would be you wouldn't be able to line up the pci cards with the case slots at all. The MDD was the only G4 with the slots on the top of the board. If you turned it aroun to have the slots at the bottom they would be facing the front of the case. You would have to find another way to stabilize the AGP and PCI cards. Would be bad for the card and slot to just have it leaning downward a bit without a screw to hold it.
To the OP:
The best way to not spend much and keep things simple is buy a NewerTech G4 1.6GHz upgrade for under 200 bucks. It's a 7447a CPU and you would end up with a system not far off the final PowerBook G4 which was a 1.67GHz 7447a. In simple terms it wouldn't be a screamer but certainly have enough pep to get things done at a reasonable clip. A single 7448 like I have would have a lot more speed for only about 150 more than the 7447 but saddly they only make dual 7448 upgrades now that cost almost 800.
The 1.6GHz 7447 is on sale now for $169: http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Newer Technology/MAXG47S1600/
With that CPU and the RAM maxed out to 2GB you would have a very decent system.
I am kind of a Sawtooth expert since I own 3 so let me know if you want any other help.
Short answer, you can't do it.
Long answer, you can basically put anything in anything you want if you feel like it putting the time and effort into it. The cost is not worth it on a 10 year old machine. For the amount of mine you'd sink into doing it you could buy an MDD or G5.
To the OP, you near NJ? I have some dual 1ghz QS's, various MDDs (including a dual 1.42 overclocked to 1.58) and a G5 I'd love to offload.
thanks guys i have been looking at the aftermarket CPUs. I was hoping for a better deal on the CPU. The thing is i just built a core i7 machine with 3.06 ghz quad core. That cpu only cost me $200. I keep scowering the pages maybe some one wants sell 1.4 or somthing for cheep. you can get the ram for less than $20 on ebay.
I also ment that there are whole low end G5s going for 150 to 300 on ebay. Ending at thoes prices with no bids. so why would i spend more than that just bring this old g4 up to up to that level. I just wanted to see what the usefullness of this old system was.
New question arises.
Are the sockets different for each version of the G4. Meaning i couldn't just get newer stock cpu and plug it into the older saw tooth board right? I would have to get one of the afer market chips from newertech.
also
is there anyone else that makes the after market chips other than newertech?
Are the sockets different for each version of the G4. Meaning i couldn't just get newer stock cpu and plug it into the older saw tooth board right? I would have to get one of the afer market chips from newertech.
also
is there anyone else that makes the after market chips other than newertech?