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G4 Graphite hardware upgrade to new Power Mac specs
- Thread starter stevoflop
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Hate to break it to you but a graphite G4 won't run Leopard without a big pricey cpu upgrade first. That and upgrading the memory wouldn't hurt either to 2gb. Hard drives are limited to 128gb unless you go the SATA/PATA PCI controller route. Don't count on it running Snow Leopard either as it's only going to be for Intel Macs.
You can always stuff CPU components in there and turn it into a Hackintosh. I did with an old Quicksilver case.
You can always stuff CPU components in there and turn it into a Hackintosh. I did with an old Quicksilver case.
Surely if you placed the guts of a Intel mac mini in there, then you could get snow leopard on a G4, otherwise, give up like the person above says, G4s have a tiny amount of RAM (2GB vs 32GB on the Mac Pros) and a silly HDD limit (120GB in practice). THeyre only use is to run OS X 10.3/10.4 and possibly Photoshop CS if youve got plenty of RAM. You could sell it on ebay and save for a Mac Pro......
Hate to break it to you, but Leopard runs just fine on a Power Mac G4 Dual 533MHz I have here
Running 10.5.6 on a Dual 500 MHz Gigabit Ethernet G4 (Graphite of course) with 2 GB of RAM, 250 GB WD drive, thank you LeopardAssistant and SpeedTools ATA High Capacity driver
Of course the first partition is 127.99 GB, runs just fine for light web browsing, word processing, and homemade Filemaker Pro comic book database
Yep, opting for a dual processor G4 really helps in running Leopard and was the wise choice when they were new.
Hell, Leopard runs passably on my single-CPU 466 MHz G4 Digital Audio. A modern graphics card helps, though. Out of morbid curiosity, I thew in a Rage 128, and it becomes rather slow.
I've gone through various upgrades in it, and dual 1 GHz G4 is nice, a single 1.5 GHz is nice; the single 466 MHz is still usable, though. The Rage 128 sucks. GeForce 2 MX is passable, GeForce 4 is good.
Had 1.5 GB RAM the whole time.
I've gone through various upgrades in it, and dual 1 GHz G4 is nice, a single 1.5 GHz is nice; the single 466 MHz is still usable, though. The Rage 128 sucks. GeForce 2 MX is passable, GeForce 4 is good.
Had 1.5 GB RAM the whole time.
Let me clarify
I'm just wanting to use the G4 case, nothing else. Let's call it a Mac Pro barebones, using a G4 Graphite case. So, if I went this way, what could I fit in the case? I was wondering, what motherboard and processor would I order? (s/n # for both)
I'm just wanting to use the G4 case, nothing else. Let's call it a Mac Pro barebones, using a G4 Graphite case. So, if I went this way, what could I fit in the case? I was wondering, what motherboard and processor would I order? (s/n # for both)
You won't get a Mac Pro mobo in there.
Get a Mac mini or buy an older secondhand or refurb Mac Pro.
Otherwise create a Hackintosh, but you will need to do a lot of modding of the case to get a PC mobo and PSU in there.
Well, Apple's computers have never used 'standard' motherboard form factors. You can't just go get a random motherboard and put it in.
Even among similar-looking cases, Apple's own motherboards can't be transplanted.
For example, even though the exterior of the case is the same, you can't put a G4 Digital Audio motherboard in an original graphite/PCI G4 case.
As drlunanerd says, your best bet is to make modifications to the case to fit either a modern Mac mini, or make yourself a "hackintosh" using generic PC motherboards. But either one will require modifications to the case.
Getting your hands on Mac Pro internals will be quite expensive, since they can only be bought as replacement parts by authorized Apple service centers - and most of them will probably refuse to sell you parts (they will only do repairs themselves).
Failing that, you have two options - buying a Mac Pro to use as a donor machine (again, expensive), or buying PC components of similar performance from Newegg and making a Hackintosh. The latter option is the easiest, but you are then faced with doing the hacking of the OS and breaking the EULA on OS X. Both paths will require fabrication to get all the components into the case and cooled properly.
It's doable, but it's not a small project.
Failing that, you have two options - buying a Mac Pro to use as a donor machine (again, expensive), or buying PC components of similar performance from Newegg and making a Hackintosh. The latter option is the easiest, but you are then faced with doing the hacking of the OS and breaking the EULA on OS X. Both paths will require fabrication to get all the components into the case and cooled properly.
It's doable, but it's not a small project.
Hate to break it to you, but Leopard runs just fine on a Power Mac G4 Dual 533MHz I have here
Yeah it will run decently on a Dual processor that were in the Gigabit Ethernets because it's still at least 1ghz when you add the 2 processors together. Which is why I suggested the OP upgrade the processor first
He has a graphite model. If you have Leopard running on a single <400mhz model then please respond. Also the 2gb works wonders too. It did in my dual 500mhz GE model along with a better AGP video card.
Yeah it will run decently on a Dual processor that were in the Gigabit Ethernets because it's still at least 1ghz when you add the 2 processors together. Which is why I suggested the OP upgrade the processor first
I don't doubt that it will run, but I wonder what the differences in speed will be. I noticed, for example that while Tiger runs well on the machine in my sig, Panther ran a bit faster. I wonder if Leopard would be slower still...