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PowerMac G4 Upgrade!

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xela24678

macrumors regular
Original poster
Mar 1, 2010
123
0
Hey everyone. I got a PowerMac G4 but i want to install leopard on it because tiger is just not working for me. I also want to upgrade the inside like the video card, faster processor, more ram, etc. Any help on how to do this because I read that a PowerMac G4 can only go up to Tiger OS 10.4. My greatest wish is to completley redo the entire Mac and make be able to run Snow Leopard. Like I said, any help on how or any compatible parts?

Current Specs:
-768 MB/60 Gig
-OS 10.4
-733 M/hz

Thanks
 
alust2013

alust2013

macrumors 601
Feb 6, 2010
4,779
2
On the fence
Snow leopard is definitely not happening, unless you just want to gut it and make a hackintosh out of the case (neither easy, nor cheap). The highest you can run on a PPC machine is leopard, so you could probably find a faster G4 processor upgrade that would let you install leopard. You will also want more ram, whatever the max of your model is. It sounds like you have a quicksilver, so I believe that is 1.5GB
 
666sheep

666sheep

macrumors 68040
Dec 7, 2009
3,686
291
Poland
1.5GB (i.e. 3x 512MB). If it's 733 (no matter what model it is - DA or QS - it has 3 RAM slots and it doesn't support RAM sticks bigger than 512MB).

Check eBay for CPU upgrades, but honestly, you'll be more comfortable (and cost effective) with newer G4 model (i.e. G4 MDD). Your Mac has 128GB HDD limit, it uses SDRAM (MDDs are using DDR) and without 3rd party upgrades you could install only 2 HDDs in it.
 
Mutinygraphiks

Mutinygraphiks

macrumors regular
Jan 5, 2011
173
1
Las Vegas, NV
666sheep said:
1.5GB (i.e. 3x 512MB). If it's 733 (no matter what model it is - DA or QS - it has 3 RAM slots and it doesn't support RAM sticks bigger than 512MB).

Check eBay for CPU upgrades, but honestly, you'll be more comfortable (and cost effective) with newer G4 model (i.e. G4 MDD). Your Mac has 128GB HDD limit, it uses SDRAM (MDDs are using DDR) and without 3rd party upgrades you could install only 2 HDDs in it.
Click to expand...

I had the Sawtooth, and had a comfortable 200gb sata drive but i also bought extra pci card for usb slots, new powersupply, and then i gutted it and made a hackintosh with snow leopard and sold it.
 
C

chrismacguy

macrumors 68000
Feb 13, 2009
1,979
2
United Kingdom
666sheep said:
Check eBay for CPU upgrades, but honestly, you'll be more comfortable (and cost effective) with newer G4 model (i.e. G4 MDD). Your Mac has 128GB HDD limit, it uses SDRAM (MDDs are using DDR) and without 3rd party upgrades you could install only 2 HDDs in it.
Click to expand...

It should also be pointed out that for the price of many of the G4 upgrades the OP could possibly make the jump up to a PowerMac G5. (I see Dual 1.8 G5s go for similar prices to the decent CPU upgrades)
 
Nameci

Nameci

macrumors 68000
Oct 29, 2010
1,944
12
The Philippines...
G5 1.8 single are just too slow, better off to have a dual 1.42 G4. It is just me but its either the G4 dual 1.42 or the G5 2.3 dula core.
 
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xela24678

macrumors regular
Original poster
Mar 1, 2010
123
0
hazza.jockel said:
Im interested in a cpu upgrade for my quicksilver but not sure they still make them so if you find one thats not too pricy let me know.
Click to expand...

Ok well i went to Fry's Electronics, great store by the way, to get some RAM. They said that they had the RAM in stock but since it was so old, it is really expensive. $49.99 expensive. I thought it was ridiculous so i think I am just going to buy myself a new iMAc instead. :)
 
C

chrismacguy

macrumors 68000
Feb 13, 2009
1,979
2
United Kingdom
Nameci said:
G5 1.8 single are just too slow, better off to have a dual 1.42 G4. It is just me but its either the G4 dual 1.42 or the G5 2.3 dula core.
Click to expand...

I specified a Dual 1.8G5. Not a Single 1.8G5. A Dual 1.8 G5 is definitely faster than a Dual 1.42 G4, and the G5 Dual 2.3 is nice, but more expensive. In the UK, its a LOT more expensive.
 
C

calb818

macrumors newbie
Jan 18, 2011
19
0
Scotland
xela24678 said:
Hey everyone. I got a PowerMac G4 but i want to install leopard on it because tiger is just not working for me. I also want to upgrade the inside like the video card, faster processor, more ram, etc. Any help on how to do this because I read that a PowerMac G4 can only go up to Tiger OS 10.4. My greatest wish is to completley redo the entire Mac and make be able to run Snow Leopard. Like I said, any help on how or any compatible parts?

Current Specs:
-768 MB/60 Gig
-OS 10.4
-733 M/hz

Thanks
Click to expand...

Hello there, I am doing much the same as you, I have two Powermac G4's that I am upgrading, I have an agp which has the 4 ram slots, it is running the full 2 gb of ram which I got off ebay really cheap, it also now has a 1.4ghz from sonnet this has speeded it up greatly, I am just having problems trying to flash pc graphics cards to work in both machines. The other machine is a quick silver with full 1.5 gb of ram and running a dual core 1.6 ghz cpu. If I start both machines together the agp is up and running before what I would call the more up to date and better specification quicksilver. All the upgrades I have got so far have been from ebay and have been really cheap, admittedly it did take some time searching for what I needed. If anyone can give advice on flashing graphics cards it would be much appreciated, I have opened a seperate thread on this just recently. Happy hunting for pieces and good luck with the upgrades.
P.s. I am just waiting to get a copy of Leopard for each that would then complete them.:apple:
 
C

chrismacguy

macrumors 68000
Feb 13, 2009
1,979
2
United Kingdom
calb818 said:
Hello there, I am doing much the same as you, I have two Powermac G4's that I am upgrading, I have an agp which has the 4 ram slots, it is running the full 2 gb of ram which I got off ebay really cheap, it also now has a 1.4ghz from sonnet this has speeded it up greatly, I am just having problems trying to flash pc graphics cards to work in both machines. The other machine is a quick silver with full 1.5 gb of ram and running a dual core 1.6 ghz cpu. If I start both machines together the agp is up and running before what I would call the more up to date and better specification quicksilver. All the upgrades I have got so far have been from ebay and have been really cheap, admittedly it did take some time searching for what I needed. If anyone can give advice on flashing graphics cards it would be much appreciated, I have opened a seperate thread on this just recently. Happy hunting for pieces and good luck with the upgrades.
P.s. I am just waiting to get a copy of Leopard for each that would then complete them.:apple:
Click to expand...

Mac OS X Loves RAM, 512MB extra Memory will easily beat and extra 400Mhz of CPU speed as far as bootup is concerned. For graphics cards, most of them require flashing in a PC first, and many PC cards wont necessarily work as the Mac ROMs tend to be larger than on many of the PC Cards.
 
Dave H

Dave H

macrumors 6502
Mar 2, 2008
344
4
California
Some ATI video cards with small (64k) ROM chips can use "reduced" ROMs.
This installs a system extension that can help fill the "gaps" in reduced ROMs.
 
MacSince1990

MacSince1990

macrumors 65816
Oct 6, 2009
1,347
0
alust2013 said:
You will also want more ram, whatever the max of your model is. It sounds like you have a quicksilver, so I believe that is 1.5GB
Click to expand...

768 MB is actually enough for a G4 machine... it's a single-core, which means it doesn't have multiple cores asking for memory as you see in today's machines... you can think of it as a 1.5 GB dual-core machine, or 3 GB quad. Or 6 GB octo Mac Pro, lol.

A faster processor might not be a terrible idea, although it really depends on what you're trying to do with this machine. That said, it wouldn't hurt to throw in another 512 MB to kick yourself up to 1 GB, assuming you're at 3x256. PowerPC architecture doesn't use as much RAM as the Intel.

Btw, what version of Tiger are you using? 10.4.11?
 
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