Favorite Power Mac G4 model?

[eyoungren]

Someone I know had one of those 2GHz cards, he sold the computer although I did try to buy the processor!

Yeah, eBay does not return much. For me, it's one of those right place at the right time (and having the cash) kind of things I think. Window shopping is still free though!

The card I have is actually a dual 2.0. It's got the switches for it, but I've just never been able to get 1.8 stable for very long. And the 2Ghz setting forces a boot into Open Firmware. You can get out of that by telling the Mac to boot of course - which it does, right to a kernel panic. So, I've settled on the 1.73Ghz setting, which is actually 130mhz faster than what it was advertised at (1.6Ghz), so I can't complain much. The card is dual 7447As though.

I'm not sure I'd want one of the NewerTech cards. I found their installation PDF and it says that you have to use an OF hack to run the processor card. That's fine, but the downside is that you can't boot from any disk that does not have their kext files on them. That means you have to boot from customized OS X installers and customized DiskWarrior disks, both of which you have to make yourself. And if you reset PRAM, NVRAM or reset the logicboard/PSU you have to go through the whole OF hack all over again because it gets wiped!

I'm not a big fan of the Giga Designs card I have in the sense of how it has no L3 cache and no stepdown capability (Low CPU versus High) and also no nap ability. However, they at least got the OF thing right. I can boot from any disk.

So far, it seems to me that Sonnet is the company that got things right. I still have my old single 1.2Ghz card. Sonnet is of course always expensive, but I'm starting to think they're like Apple. You pay more, but you get lasting quality.

 

[Aperturexs]

That's all I heard!

I'm a Big Quicksilver fan!

Yeah I love my machine! It is my only PowerPC Mac as of right now, and I am in the market for a MDD, as I would like something a little more powerful. Unfortunately I do not have the desk space for both the QS and it's 17" ADC monitor, so the Intel iMac occupies my desk most of the time. However I may move things around, because the QS just looks so good. I may just keep the QS and not get a MDD if I can find a non-ADC Apple monitor for a good price, so I can get a much better graphics card for the machine. Definitely on the lookout for a MDD though...

 

[LOLZpersonok]

I think my favourite Power Mac G4 is going to be the MDD. It's the fastest Power Mac G4 available, as I believe.

 

[BJonson]

I think my favourite Power Mac G4 is going to be the MDD. It's the fastest Power Mac G4 available, as I believe.

And the loudest.

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So far, it seems to me that Sonnet is the company that got things right. I still have my old single 1.2Ghz card. Sonnet is of course always expensive, but I'm starting to think they're like Apple. You pay more, but you get lasting quality.

I would agree totally. Love Sonnet. Got a dual 1.27ghz card humming along in one of my quicksilvers now and its nice. The only problem with it is the heatsink design. Blows hot air right on top of the ram and back of the video card. That hot air does however get sucked out by the 120mm fan so might not be a problem but my other issue is the 50mm fan. Its LOUD. I tried replacing but noctua does not make a 50mm fan so I put 2 40s on which was not enough cooling so I have to live with the noise. Fast card though. Firmware updater is piece of cake.

I just don't think you are going to get away with a quiet computer with 2 G4s inside. One, ok but 2, that's a barn burner.

 

[seveej]

I've been trying to keep away from this thread, but ...

I've honestly never been a big fan of the PMG4 -lineup. And I've had a number...

I love the way the cases look, I admit being partial to graphite, as when they came out, they were "supercomputers", and for me that image has always stuck. I also like the outer design of the MDD (except the actual mirrored doors), whereas the quicksilver has always irked me (which has not precluded me from owning a few...).

Problem is, I do not appreciate the HW design. I mean, it's nice to just pop a latch, and get access to the innards, but
- it's a mac, you're not supposed to need to "pop the hood" all the time
- the layout of components is often awkward.
- the thermal design just plain does not work.
- thanks to the curved shapes, the actual space those beasts take up is disproportionately large compared to the useable space inside.

RGDS,

 

[eyoungren]

I've been trying to keep away from this thread, but ...

I've honestly never been a big fan of the PMG4 -lineup. And I've had a number...

I love the way the cases look, I admit being partial to graphite, as when they came out, they were "supercomputers", and for me that image has always stuck. I also like the outer design of the MDD (except the actual mirrored doors), whereas the quicksilver has always irked me (which has not precluded me from owning a few...).

Problem is, I do not appreciate the HW design. I mean, it's nice to just pop a latch, and get access to the innards, but
- it's a mac, you're not supposed to need to "pop the hood" all the time
- the layout of components is often awkward.
- the thermal design just plain does not work.
- thanks to the curved shapes, the actual space those beasts take up is disproportionately large compared to the useable space inside.

RGDS,

You make some very valid points. I don't believe Apple ever considered that there would be a community of enthusiasts at some point who try to loads the G4s out. If you keep these Macs more or less stock (one or two drives, a couple PCI cards and maybe at most two displays there's really no thermal issues. Load it up with drives and other accessories and that's where you start running into problems.

The G5 is much better thermally designed. It has to be because the G5 chip produces massive heat. But it does show that Apple can consider that aspect in it's designs.

I'm not a big fan of the G5s. I like metal, particularly in my iPhone, but the cheese grater design of the G5 has never inspired me. But, I am also not a big fan of the plastic in the G4 either. The look of the Quicksilver is the only model of G4 I find interesting. If Apple could have done that entirely in metal that would have been really cool. Although the thermal situation would probably go from bad to disasterous.

I also agree that the internal layout is crap. It seems to have gotten better with the MDDs, but the Quicksilver is just packed and you have to make sure that things will fit. This is part of the bad thermal design.

But, this is Apple. Beauty and design before function and performance.

 

[LOLZpersonok]

And the loudest.

Yes absolutely. Mine's loud, and it has the "quiet" PSU.

 

[hftvhftv]

MDD for sure. I've never owned one (although I do have TWO gigabit Ethernet graphite models). But I just like the look of them and the moddability of them. This guy here I think has the most OP MDD ever. Dual 1.42 with a SATA card attached to an SSD. ItsMyNaturalColour YouTube Channel He's also doing the "PowerPC Challenge" soon where he is only going to use it for a month.

 

[mojolicious]

I admit being partial to graphite

Finally, another man of discernment and taste!

 

[Fangio]

Another vote for MDD. Still have two, a 2x1GHz and a single 1.25 OS9-bootable model 2003.

Plan to modd the dual CPU machine one day and make it more competitive, by today's standards
something along the lines of this masterpiece.

 

[seveej]

I also agree that the internal layout is crap. It seems to have gotten better with the MDDs, but the Quicksilver is just packed and you have to make sure that things will fit. This is part of the bad thermal design.

But, this is Apple. Beauty and design before function and performance.

The MDD has some clear advantages over the rest. Especially I have appreciated the added bays, but the PSU design is criminal (both form factor and components) and I wonder whether Jobs heard it running before he okayed the launch - I can't believe an aesthete like him would have approved of such a noisemaker.

I've worked with some Wintel cases (hobbyist models) and while they lack the fold-out motherboard and (almost totally) hidden data cables, some of them are supremely accessible.