Apple Cube G4

[plinkoman]

You could stick the guts of a mini in any number of larger cases, but what would be the point? One of the remarkable things about the Cube is the way it was engineered. Without its unique innards, the Cube just a piece of lucite with an Apple logo on the front.

right, but it's a beautiful design, yet so weak (a stock one anyways) by todays standards; what's wrong with putting a mini in there to get the best of both worlds? The same beautiful cube design, with some pretty good power to back it up.

Though if I had the money to do something like that, I'd put a mini in a NES. That's just too cool.

 

[khisayruou]

Couldn't one stick the guts of a mini in a Cube?

It's physically smaller. If one gutted a cube and did a little reenginering, including adding short distance m-f cables for the outputs, it should be possible. One could even get the optical drive to properly eject.

Just an idea.

Yup, its been done already. Its more than just a little reengineering though... especially to get the touch sensitive button that the original cube had. Its easy just to stick a mini in but to get it almost like the original cube is a little harder. The superdrive has to rerouted and of course a 3.5 hard drive has to be stuck in there since there is lots of extra space!

 

[IJ Reilly]

right, but it's a beautiful design, yet so weak (a stock one anyways) by todays standards; what's wrong with putting a mini in there to get the best of both worlds? The same beautiful cube design, with some pretty good power to back it up.

Though if I had the money to do something like that, I'd put a mini in a NES. That's just too cool.

Again, the engineering is part of the thing, an integral part of the cool factor. If you just like the way the case looks, buy a non-functioning Cube and put it on the shelf, is my advice.

A Cube can be upgraded, you know.

 

[plinkoman]

Again, the engineering is part of the thing, an integral part of the cool factor. If you just like the way the case looks, buy a non-functioning Cube and put it on the shelf, is my advice.

A Cube can be upgraded, you know.

well, I guess we just have a difference of opinion. The engineering is impressive, but thats not what I notice when I look at a cube; I see the design, and the prospect of putting modern computer innards inside of it is a tribute to is great design.

(and yes, obviously I know a cube can be upgraded, hence me saying "a stock one anyways")

 

[MBHockey]

When you guys upgrade the processor, do you have to add fans to it?

Does anyone have a link to what the heat sink in the cube looks like?

I'm very interested...and it seems pertinent as i'm taking heat transfer in college.

 

[IJ Reilly]

well, I guess we just have a difference of opinion. The engineering is impressive, but thats not what I notice when I look at a cube; I see the design, and the prospect of putting modern computer innards inside of it is a tribute to is great design.

(and yes, obviously I know a cube can be upgraded, hence me saying "a stock one anyways")

Right, I realize you know, I'm just making a point about what I think is the sensitive and sensible way to keep a Cube functional without turning it into some weird hybrid Frankenstein sort of thing. My upgraded Cube is in its sixth year of everyday use; can't ask for more than that from a computer.

 

[notjustjay]

Though if I had the money to do something like that, I'd put a mini in a NES. That's just too cool.

Ooh!

I have an NES that I bought at a garage sale for like $3. That would be a most fascinating idea...

 

[khisayruou]

When you guys upgrade the processor, do you have to add fans to it?

Does anyone have a link to what the heat sink in the cube looks like?

I'm very interested...and it seems pertinent as i'm taking heat transfer in college.

Don't know about adding fans, but the cube does get hella hot.
Here are some pics I had of the heatsink, its the black piece in the middle.

 

[skunk]

When you guys upgrade the processor, do you have to add fans to it?

The upgrade kits designed for the Cube mostly come with a fan included, mostly.

 

[MBHockey]

Don't know about adding fans, but the cube does get hella hot.
Here are some pics I had of the heatsink, its the black piece in the middle.

Thanks

 

[PodHead]

I've been thinking of using a Cube or a mini as a media centre. Has anyone here tried this yet? That would be an interesting convo piece smack dab in the middle of a nice home theatre.

 

[mklos]

A Mac Mini would be better suited for that IMO. The G4 Cube doesn't even come with a sound card in it unless you buy one with the external USB one that originally came with it too work with the Apple Pro Speakers. And then you're basically stuck with using the headphones jack only as external sound.

A Mac Mini already comes with an IR remote, DL-DVDRW, and optical/analog audio line in/out. By the time you upgrade the Cube to make it worth while, you could have just gotten a Mac Mini thats still twice as fast as any Cube with a G4 upgrade card in it. Plus you have other goodies in the Mini like bluetooth, 802.11g AirPort Extreme instead of 802.11b AirPort, Gigabit Ethernet, etc... All of which aren't in a G4 Cube and can't be installed either without a USB dongle of some sort which will just make you pull your hair out.


Just to answer other people's questions, I have my G4 Cube running Tiger and the developer release of Leopard. Both run great on it. Mine is a 450 MHz G4, 80 GB HD, 1GB RAM, NVIDIA GeForce 2 MX Graphics Card, and DVDROM. I plan on putting in a SuperDrive, and a 1.8 GHz G4 Upgrade card from Sonnet.

 

[IJ Reilly]

Just a clarification, the Cube does have a "sound card" (that is, an audio chipset). What it lacks is an audio-out jack on the motherboard, which is a different issue. The Cube's USB speakers, assuming you've got them, do have a audio-out jack, though. Still, I agree the mini would be a more suitable choice unless you get the Cube very cheaply and like to tinker.

 

[mklos]

Actually I believe the sound card is external, no internal. No audio showed up at all on my Cube in OS X System Profiler until I plugged in the USB Apple Pro Speakers that came with it. This is what I was talking about in my first post.

 

[IJ Reilly]

You're not seeing any speakers until you plug them in, but that doesn't mean the Cube doesn't generate audio. I'm not sure why no chipset shows up in System Profiler under Hardware/Audio (speakers plugged in or no), but I do know that any USB speakers will work on the Cube, not just the ones that came with it. The little inline box is an amplifier, not a sound card.

 

[Lord Blackadder]

I just saw that "Mini in a Cube" mod a few days ago - I have to admit I like the basic concept, but I'm pretty picky about not taking a saw to my Macs.

I think there were three major reasons for the Cube's failure -

- It was expensive to buy

- It was expensive to make

- It was an answer looking for a question, in a way. PowerMac buyers were put off by it's lack of expandibility, and iMac buyers found it too expensive.

Personally, I think the Cube is one of Apple's coolest machines. It was well ahead of its time and still looks fresh today. It is actually reasonably expandable too - the video card, CPU, RAM, hard drive and optical drive are all upgradable. The only things you need to really watch out for when upgrading the CPU/GPU are heat and power consumption. However, the aftermarket has all the parts you need to take care of those issues.

I'm actually looking to pick up a Cube myself. Prices are starting to come down to a quite reasonable level.

 

[PodHead]

A Mac Mini would be better suited for that IMO. The G4 Cube doesn't even come with a sound card in it unless you buy one with the external USB one that originally came with it too work with the Apple Pro Speakers. And then you're basically stuck with using the headphones jack only as external sound.

A Mac Mini already comes with an IR remote, DL-DVDRW, and optical/analog audio line in/out. By the time you upgrade the Cube to make it worth while, you could have just gotten a Mac Mini thats still twice as fast as any Cube with a G4 upgrade card in it. Plus you have other goodies in the Mini like bluetooth, 802.11g AirPort Extreme instead of 802.11b AirPort, Gigabit Ethernet, etc... All of which aren't in a G4 Cube and can't be installed either without a USB dongle of some sort which will just make you pull your hair out.


Just to answer other people's questions, I have my G4 Cube running Tiger and the developer release of Leopard. Both run great on it. Mine is a 450 MHz G4, 80 GB HD, 1GB RAM, NVIDIA GeForce 2 MX Graphics Card, and DVDROM. I plan on putting in a SuperDrive, and a 1.8 GHz G4 Upgrade card from Sonnet.

Great point, the Cube would look cooler from a purely aesthetic stand point. Wouldn't you agree

 

[mklos]

Yeah the Cube would look better, but its more work than its worth to try and put Mac Mini guts into Cube, or upgrade the Cube.

I own a G4 Cube myself and it love it, but for what the OP wanted to do, the MacMini would be far better.

 

[Duffman]

Can the Cube be current? Sure. Mine is. There are a lot of people out there that still have a Cube.

Currently, I'm working with

-OS X 10.4.8
-Powerlogix Dual 1.7GhZ 7447A
-320GB Seagate HD
-SuperDrive
-1.5GB memory
-Geforce 5200FX w/256mb onboard
-Airport Card
-Bluetooth Dongle
-(1) base fan and (1) video card fan
-Creative Xfi XMod USB audio

Dude up there takes the win with the 9800, but I am assuming that would be with a Powerlogix upgraded cube case. No way a 9800 will fit in the stock Cube case. Cost for cost, it could be reasonable to estimate it at the cost of a higher end imac, I suppose. But the upgrades can be done in small bits, making it easier to deal with. While there are no expansion ports and only one 3.5'' bay (if you take out the optical drive, fitting another HD would be possible), there are 2 FireWire ports that work great. I've got a couple of external drives that I use, and FireWire is also bootable. The upgrades themselves vary in difficulty, from quite simple to rather involved, depending on what you are doing. A new HD and installing the ATA hi-cap extender kernal extension is not difficult, but moving the VRM to fit crazy video cards in there is a big project. Swapping the processors out took some time, but if you follow the process and instructions carefully, its not bad.

I think at this point, its probably still relevant as a computer, and I fully expect to use mine with Leopard and later, and will make further upgrades if they become available. Its a fun project, but it can be pricey. I initially started this as a side project, but the Cube quickly became my main machine. It's quite reliable, provided that you keep it cool and don't push too many limits that shouldnt be pushed. There are solutions out there for making the Cube more or less "current" by today's standards, (excluding USB 1.1, that cannot be changed) you may just have to look around. Currently, the max processors available are 1.8GhZ Singles or 1.7GhZ duals, but the dual 1.7s are quite hard to find as they stopped producing them. I am hoping for something over 2GhZ, but I dont know if that is possible or even safe!

I would recommend checking out www.cubeowner.com
A total site for anything you need to know about your cube. Super cool people, too. Enjoy your Cube!

 

[Duffman]

When you guys upgrade the processor, do you have to add fans to it?

Does anyone have a link to what the heat sink in the cube looks like?

I'm very interested...and it seems pertinent as i'm taking heat transfer in college.

Here are some shots from when I added fans to the base and one to a Radeon 7500 that I used to have in there, and a shot of the backside (processor side) of the heat sink. The flat black area is where the processor rests against. Hope this helps!

 

[IJ Reilly]

I'm running my Cube with a Radeon 7500 and no fan on the GPU. It's been fine for over a year, but I don't game on it so the GPU isn't being pushed hard. This was a fairly easy upgrade. The processor upgrade was a bit scary, but it was a complete success.

However, I would not recommend attempting any of these upgrades while drinking a beer.

 

[Lord Blackadder]

I've had a Radeon 7500 in my PowerMac G4, and despite lots of 3D gaming it never got hot. Even in a Cube I doubt it would ever cause issues unless you overclocked it. Still, heat is the Cube's greatest enemy so it pays to be cautious.

 

[skunk]

I'm running my Cube with a Radeon 7500 and no fan on the GPU. It's been fine for over a year, but I don't game on it so the GPU isn't being pushed hard. This was a fairly easy upgrade. The processor upgrade was a bit scary, but it was a complete success.

However, I would not recommend attempting any of these upgrades while drinking a beer.

I took the fan off my Radeon 2 about a year ago, too. Runs quiet as anything, but I've got a very quiet base fan installed for the processor.

 

[IJ Reilly]

I took the fan off my Radeon 2 about a year ago, too. Runs quiet as anything, but I've got a very quiet base fan installed for the processor.

I know, I've lusted after one of those ultra-quiet (thermistor-controlled?) base fans but I'm having a hard time bringing myself to desconstruct the Cube again to install it.

 

[Duffman]

I'm running my Cube with a Radeon 7500 and no fan on the GPU. It's been fine for over a year, but I don't game on it so the GPU isn't being pushed hard. This was a fairly easy upgrade. The processor upgrade was a bit scary, but it was a complete success.

However, I would not recommend attempting any of these upgrades while drinking a beer.

Yes, I too should probably add that I do not recommend attempting upgrades while drinking beer. (Even though I did.)

The CPU upgrade is a bit full-on, I totally agree. But if you follow the steps exactly, you can do it in one shot. I decided to fan my 7500 because I am running 2 19'' LCDs off it, so it does get rather hot. But with 2 fans in there, I dont usually see temps over 32-34. That usually only occurs when pushing it with video encoding, photoshop, etc.