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livingfortoday

macrumors 68030
Original poster
Nov 17, 2004
2,903
4
The Msp
I had a quick upgrade question. I'm getting back into upgrading my Cube, and was wondering - since it has a 100Mhz bus, would processor upgrades for a Sawtooth or Gigabit Ethernet G4 tower work in it? Not necessarily fit in it, but just work?

Thanks!
 

Silentwave

macrumors 68000
May 26, 2006
1,614
47
As IJ said, no, only the cube-dedicated ones will work, apparently.
Not that they are necessarily bad...single 1.8 or dual 1.5 or 1.6, and I don't think the prices are much different from the comparable G4s you're talking about.

Of course that wouldn't matter if you already had the processor...
 

livingfortoday

macrumors 68030
Original poster
Nov 17, 2004
2,903
4
The Msp
Really? I'm looking to upgrade it to a single-processor G4, and was looking at this one in particular:
http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Sonnet Technology/SG414002M/

I guess I figured that a Cube could take a Sawtooth upgrade since I'm using a processor pulled from a Sawtooth (450Mhz) in there right now. Is there any particular reason the upgrade wouldn't work? The only thing I can think of would maybe be power issues?
 

Lord Blackadder

macrumors P6
May 7, 2004
15,662
5,496
Sod off
I'm pretty sure the CPU would fit and work, but the heatsink/fan setup would not.

Looking at the Cube upgrades, I notice that the PowerLogix kits for the Cube come with an on-board VRM (and they use the low-power 7447), so slapping a kit designed for the Sawtooth may either overheat the Cube, overwhelm the power supply/VRM, or both.
 

livingfortoday

macrumors 68030
Original poster
Nov 17, 2004
2,903
4
The Msp
I'm pretty sure the CPU would fit and work, but the heatsink/fan setup would not.

Looking at the Cube upgrades, I notice that the PowerLogix kits for the Cube come with an on-board VRM (and they use the low-power 7447), so slapping a kit designed for the Sawtooth may either overheat the Cube, overwhelm the power supply/VRM, or both.

I think you're right about the VRM thing. I had a Powerlogix dual-1.5Ghz in my Cube way back in the day (I sold off the third RMA I got when the first two CPU's burnt out within a week), and it came with a cable to bypass the logic board and draw power straight from the VRM. I suppose a Sawtooth upgrade would not have anything like that. Hmm. Ok, I guess that rules that out, then.
 

xrays

macrumors member
Jan 6, 2005
31
0
Toronto, ON
I had a quick upgrade question. I'm getting back into upgrading my Cube, and was wondering - since it has a 100Mhz bus, would processor upgrades for a Sawtooth or Gigabit Ethernet G4 tower work in it? Not necessarily fit in it, but just work?

Quite simply, if you don't buy an 'approved' CPU upgrade for your Cube, you risk a number of things: It won't fit. It won't work. It might work for a while and then burn out your VRM. It might work.

I personally don't think those risks are worth trying any non-approved upgrades. The power requirements alone for the Cube are very tight, and exceeding those with a Sawtooth upgrade (especially a powerful one) will most likely end in a pretty Apple paper weight.

Do yourself a favour and stick to something that's guaranteed to work, and you'll have a happy Cube for a number of years to come. Right now I have a PL 1.8 in mine, and it's quite happy (and fast).

http://eshop.macsales.com/MyOWC/Upg...ype=Processor&TI=3524&shoupgrds=Show+Upgrades

OWC has a few listed, but the numbers are diminishing as the demand has fallen off over the last year (mostly due to the release of the Intel Macs). I've bought from them many times, and I've always been happy with the results.

Good luck!

x.
 

Duffman

macrumors member
Apr 26, 2006
48
0
Kyoto, Japan
Yea, as pretty much everyone else said, the Cube should only be upgraded with Cube-specific G4 cards. I have heard of someone using a tower G4 card before, but that is a serious mod that I dont think is worth getting into, considering the speed would not be that much of an improvement, and figuring out which CPU would work would be even more of a task. Stick with a Sonnet, Powerlogix, or Giga upgrade card. That way you get the warranty if it fries. (Which has been a problem with some of the cards.) :eek:
 
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