Finally, a fully-upgraded G5!

[MultiFinder17]

Hello all! I just wanted to share with you all a project that I've been working on for some time now. A year or two ago, I received a Power Mac G5 dual 2.0 for free; it had a bad GPU, 512MB RAM, a bum superdrive, and a fairly beat-up case. I started gathering supplies for it; scrounged a GPU and some more RAM, and got it booting. It mostly sat around because a machine with half a gig of RAM is not that much fun.

Fast forward to a few weeks ago when a person donated another G5 tower to the computer shop I work at for recycling. It. Was. BEAUTIFUL. Not a single scratch, dent, or anything on the case, came with all the original packaging and everything. The machine inside was dead, but the case was in perfect shape. It was also decked out with a ton of RAM. I took it home and threw the innards of my own G5 into it, and it works like a champ. While I was digging around inside, I redid all the drives. I now have what I consider to be my personal ultimate PowerPC Mac!

Dual 2.0GHz G5s
8GB RAM
64GB SSD
1TB HDD
Superdrive
Flawless case

This machine runs so smoothly! I use the SSD as the boot drive, and have the 1TB partitioned between Time Machine and general storage. I also just got a new GPU for it a day ago, so this thing is absolutely screaming along! What're your ultimate PPC Macs?

 

[redheeler]

What're your ultimate PPC Macs?

My best must be my dual-core 2.0 G5, but my current project is to max out the RAM, upgrade the CPU, and put an SSD in my G4 Gigabit Ethernet. Should make it a fast machine for the age, and if all goes well I'll have Mac OS X Public Beta - 10.5.8 installed on it eventually.

 

[eyoungren]

What're your ultimate PPC Macs?

See the "6 Displays" link in my signature.

1.2Ghz PowerMac G4 Quicksilver (Sonnet upgrade)
1.5GB ram
2x 1TB SATA Hard drives
1 ATI Radeon 9800 Pro
1 ATI Radeon 9200
1 ATI Radeon 7000
1 PCI SATA card
1 FW400/USB 2.0 PCI Card
2 17" Cinema Displays
2 18" Gateway LCDs
1 20" Cinema Display
1 20" HDTV
1 Belkin Bluetooth Dongle / 1 wireless Magic Mouse

Not a G5 and certainly not as fast as the setup you have (lucky you!) but I like it.

Congratulations on your G5!

 

[bunnspecial]

I love taking a PPC system and maxing it out.

My best must be my dual-core 2.0 G5, but my current project is to max out the RAM, upgrade the CPU, and put an SSD in my G4 Gigabit Ethernet. Should make it a fast machine for the age, and if all goes well I'll have Mac OS X Public Beta - 10.5.8 installed on it eventually.

Just choose your CPU upgrade carefully if you want to run PB. Without testing, I'd have concerns about how well it would run on a 7450(if at all). I also know that it can be picky about RAM. I'll add that to the list of things to check

 

[redheeler]

I love taking a PPC system and maxing it out.

Yep, especially with G4s. Upgrades that would have cost thousands back in the day, but now can be done for a fraction of that

Just choose your CPU upgrade carefully if you want to run PB. Without testing, I'd have concerns about how well it would run on a 7450(if at all). I also know that it can be picky about RAM. I'll add that to the list of things to check

I'm only taking it up to a dual 500 MHz Apple CPU, so it shouldn't be a problem. Thanks for letting me know about the RAM though, my worst fear is that the system will be too high-end for the Public Beta!

 

[bunnspecial]

I'm only taking it up to a dual 500 MHz Apple CPU, so it shouldn't be a problem. Thanks for letting me know about the RAM though, my worst fear is that the system will be too high-end for the Public Beta!

You should be fine with that-I'm running it on a dual 500 GigE.

Bear in mind, though, that if your dual 500 comes out of a GigE(I think that was the only factory CPU dual 500 CPU) it will(probably) run at 665mhz. You'll probably need to rig up an additional fan to keep things cool. Even my single 667mhz DA has a(factory) fan on it. The stock CPU fan out of a Quicksilver would work great and will mount in a DA just as it does in a Quicksilver, but you'll need to rig up power from one of the molex connectors.

 

[eyoungren]

Yep, especially with G4s. Upgrades that would have cost thousands back in the day, but now can be done for a fraction of that

I was explaining that to my wife the other night.

The setup I have right now would have cost me thousands back in 2001 - if some of the parts were even available then.

It's gratifying to be able to construct what would have been financially unthinkable way back then for what is now very little money.

 

[bunnspecial]

I remember hearing about the Quad back in the day and being amazed at it-even though I wasn't a Mac person at the time! I even remember pricing used G4s back in 2005/2006 and they were still out of reach for me.

I paid $65(plus shipping) for my Quad-that's phenomenal to me that I can get a dream computer from back then for such a cheap price.

 

[redheeler]

You should be fine with that-I'm running it on a dual 500 GigE.

Bear in mind, though, that if your dual 500 comes out of a GigE(I think that was the only factory CPU dual 500 CPU) it will(probably) run at 665mhz. You'll probably need to rig up an additional fan to keep things cool. Even my single 667mhz DA has a(factory) fan on it. The stock CPU fan out of a Quicksilver would work great and will mount in a DA just as it does in a Quicksilver, but you'll need to rig up power from one of the molex connectors.

The dual 500 MHz is to replace the dual 450 MHz in my Gigabit Ethernet G4 using its heatsink. Unfortunately I don't believe I have the correct heatsink to put a dual G4 into my single processor G4 Digital Audio.

 

[bunnspecial]

Sorry, I missed where you were doing it in a GigE.

Again, I can just reiterate that a dual 500 GigE works great for PB.

 

[redheeler]

@bunnspecial Good to know. That dual-processor GigE was a lucky find last week, a Mac I had been seeking for several months to start this project

 

[LightBulbFun]

Just as a Heads up regarding PB on a CPU upgrade I found that with my 7455B 1.4Ghz Giga designs CPU upgrade anything OS X before the Public beta would hang loading BootX (Public beta will run but will say the CPU is a G3)

 

[MultiFinder17]

Forgot to mention - the G5 also has AirPort and Bluetooth; no proper antennas for either, but I don't use AirPort anyway and a paperclip is working great for the Bluetooth

 

[Gamer9430]

So tell me, your computer shop sells computers and accepts computers to be recycled, correct? Do they know if you are going to be keeping them if you like them, and if so, how do they know you got rid of their personal files.

I'm not knocking you, but I just have these questions. I asked best buy if they are able to take stuff that's coming in for recycling, and the store manager, who was helping us with a purchase, said they they MUST send everything they get to the recycling center. Trust me, no one loves free computers more than I do, being that accept for 5, I got all my Macs for free, and I have 14

 

[MultiFinder17]

So tell me, your computer shop sells computers and accepts computers to be recycled, correct? Do they know if you are going to be keeping them if you like them, and if so, how do they know you got rid of their personal files.

I'm not knocking you, but I just have these questions. I asked best buy if they are able to take stuff that's coming in for recycling, and the store manager, who was helping us with a purchase, said they they MUST send everything they get to the recycling center. Trust me, no one loves free computers more than I do, being that accept for 5, I got all my Macs for free, and I have 14

I always assure people that when they donate their old machines for recycling, we destroy all of the data. If the HDDs are too small for us to have much of any interest in, we usually let them pile up and them take them out back to smash them to bits with a hammer - it's a great stress reliever

If they're good (we run then through a quick couple diagnostics) and large enough that we might want to reuse them, we hook them up to an Ubuntu machine that we have to zero them out before we reuse them. In the case of this G5, I actually wound up calling the person because I noticed that they had the complete CS3 and Final Cut installed on it, so I asked her permission before saving the applications. She said yes, so here we are!

But yeah, any personal data is overwritten or the drives are physically destroyed.

 

[Gamer9430]

I always assure people that when they donate their old machines for recycling, we destroy all of the data. If the HDDs are too small for us to have much of any interest in, we usually let them pile up and them take them out back to smash them to bits with a hammer - it's a great stress reliever

If they're good (we run then through a quick couple diagnostics) and large enough that we might want to reuse them, we hook them up to an Ubuntu machine that we have to zero them out before we reuse them. In the case of this G5, I actually wound up calling the person because I noticed that they had the complete CS3 and Final Cut installed on it, so I asked her permission before saving the applications. She said yes, so here we are!

But yeah, any personal data is overwritten or the drives are physically destroyed.

Ok cool! Thanks for letting me know. Smashing HDDs is probably a fantastic stress reliever. @bunnspecial and some other users shoot 'em up in a range.

I have to find a place that will let me take computers...

 

[bunnspecial]

Ok cool! Thanks for letting me know. Smashing HDDs is probably a fantastic stress reliever. @bunnspecial and some other users shoot 'em up in a range.

I have to find a place that will let me take computers...

A hard cast Keith-type 170gr 357 Magnum(over Elmer's load of 13.5gr 2400) does a super job of balancing penetration with damage to make them unrepairable.

We found that USGI surplus M2 Ball(162gr boat tail lead FMJ) out of a Garand and German Surplus 8mm(steel core) out of a German Mauser both drilled clean holes-probably not so great for data destruction.

Big slow handguns like 44 Special, 45 Colt, and 45 ACP bang the platters up decently but without penetration. Fast, light handguns like 9mms seem to penetrate a platter or two then shed their jacket and fall apart.

I found fast, heavy magnum handguns to be ideal. On the semi-auto front, 38 Super works well but you need to handload it rather than using factory stuff(which is pretty much comparable to 9mm). I found a 115gr TMJ over 9.5gr Blue Dot in a Super to work well. Shotgun slugs work well also.

 

[MultiFinder17]

Ok cool! Thanks for letting me know. Smashing HDDs is probably a fantastic stress reliever. @bunnspecial and some other users shoot 'em up in a range.

I have to find a place that will let me take computers...

Haha, we have a pair of clawhammers that we use

 

[flyrod]

Congrats on the nice find and project! Way better than getting tossed in a landfill for sure.

What're your ultimate PPC Macs?

I'm partial to the G4 so my dual 1.8 cube is my version of ultimate. The powerbook gets more use, but the cube is still fun for games and general tinkering.

 

[bunnspecial]

I'm partial to the G4 so my dual 1.8 cube is my version of ultimate. The powerbook gets more use, but the cube is still fun for games and general tinkering.

You have a dual 1.8 Cube? I can't begin to say how jealous I am

I have a single 1.5 sitting in a box at the very moment(although not for too much longer). I also have one with an 800mhz Sonnet.

I can't imagine how hot that thing must get, though. I have a GigaDesigns "dual 1.8" that has been owned by at least two other members here and none of us have been able to get it to run reliably at 1.8. I currently have it running great and stably at 1.6, although that was after lapping the heatsink to correct the poor finishing. I also have a Sonnet Duet 1.8 in a DA G4 that works perfectly(it was as close to plug and play as you could ask for a 7447A based card). That particular G4 is in a steel Marathon rackmount case, and the area above the CPU gets HOT! There aren't too many 1.8ghz G4s that can boot into OS 9, though

I'm excited to put the 1.5ghz Cube through its paces and see how it does...although a dual 1.8 would certainly outclass it by a LOT(at last in OS X).

I also just made a deal on an MDD2003 with an Apple dual 1.42ghz card(and heatsink) from a FW800 MDD. The 7450(7455 maybe?) series processor at 1.42ghz should be quite a formidable system, especially in OS 9. The 2MB L3 cache on these particular 7450 series processors actually give them a pretty noticeable leg-up over a lot of the 7447-based upgrades that give super high clock speeds. Plus, the better MDDs do have a significant FSB advantage over other G4 series towers.

 

[Hrududu]

My "Top End" machine would probably be these:

Power Macintosh 9600 with 928MB of RAM and a 300MHz G3 upgrade

PowerMac G5 Quad with 12GB of RAM, 1.5TB HDD, and Radeon X1900

PowerMac G3 B&W with 1GB of RAM, PCI wireless card, and a Radeon 9200.

Most of my other setups at least have good HDDs and maximum RAM in them. One system that doesn't have ALL the upgrades is Cube #1 that I put a 500MHz CPU, 160GB 7200 drive, and Radeon 7500 in.

 

[val1984]

What're your ultimate PPC Macs?

Quad with:
- 2 dual core 2.5 GHz PowerPC 970MP (obviously)
- 4.5 GB RAM (2 x 256 MB (original) + 4 x 1 GB)
- 180 GB Intel 320 SSD as boot/apps drive
- 250 GB hard drive
- nVidia Quadro FX 4500
- Original Bluetooth/Wifi

I was lucky that the original buyer did order it with the BT/Wifi option. The only things I added were the SSD and the Quadro. Other than that, its specs are good enough as it was sold

I also have a PowerBook G4 1.33 GHz with 1.5 GB RAM and an SSD but I wish I bought the top end version when I bought it because mine lacks the backlit keyboard.

 

[flyrod]

I can't imagine how hot that thing must get, though.

It's got 7448 chips, which use about half the power of the '47, so it's not bad. Maxed out running power fractal it gets to 50C as reported by CPU director. I think the power supply components on the CPU card that convert 28v to 1.3v are responsible for most of the heat. If I run the card on 12v it doesn't run as hot. I had a single 1.8GHz 7447 in it for a while, and it ran the same temperature when pegged. It has a base fan of course.

 

[bunnspecial]

It's got 7448 chips, which use about half the power of the '47, so it's not bad. Maxed out running power fractal it gets to 50C as reported by CPU director. I think the power supply components on the CPU card that convert 28v to 1.3v are responsible for most of the heat. If I run the card on 12v it doesn't run as hot. I had a single 1.8GHz 7447 in it for a while, and it ran the same temperature when pegged. It has a base fan of course.

Even my bone-stock 450mhz has a base fan. It's the first thing I do when I get a new Cube(if it's not already there).

 

[ediflorianus]

is this Upgraded enough?
Also have a couple of spare Macs, and
In My closet old Nvidia 7900 GS AGP Leadtek flashed to work on G5. (don^t use it becouse the Display is ADC acrylic).

Can anything else be done?
DDR500 will not work? lowering CL on memory?(how?)...