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G4 Cube 450 CPU Upgrade?

J

JeeFoUrCuBEnMBP

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Feb 7, 2012
12
0
Hey guys, I have a 450 Cube that I am looking to upgrade. I just bought 1GB of RAM from OWC to install in it, and ProLogix used to make a 2.0GHz processor upgrade for it. However, ProLogix is no longer in business, and I cannot seem to find an upgrade anywhere.

Are there any G4 desktops or ANYTHING with a G4 processor over 1.3GHz that I can install in this cube?

Thanks in advance.
 
JeeFoUrCuBEnMBP said:
Hey guys, I have a 450 Cube that I am looking to upgrade. I just bought 1GB of RAM from OWC to install in it, and ProLogix used to make a 2.0GHz processor upgrade for it. However, ProLogix is no longer in business, and I cannot seem to find an upgrade anywhere.

Are there any G4 desktops or ANYTHING with a G4 processor over 1.3GHz that I can install in this cube?

Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...

If you find anything keep us posted, I for one would be interested in how a cube handles the extra heat or even if there is any extra heat..
 
Did you mean Powerlogix? Their web pages are still up and refer to OWC for purchases, though the OWC pages only show the product. There's no mention of price, however. You may need to contact OWC directly to find out what is going on.
 
There is a thread on CubeOwners.com about the demise of CPU upgrades for the G4 Cube.

----------
GermanyChris said:
If you find anything keep us posted, I for one would be interested in how a cube handles the extra heat or even if there is any extra heat..
Click to expand...
The PowerLogic CPU upgrades came with a Fan which installed in the Apple designed fan mounting bracket, the mount which Apple decided to leave empty.
Cooling is not a problem but absolute silence is sacrificed.
 
mike457 said:
Did you mean Powerlogix? Their web pages are still up and refer to OWC for purchases, though the OWC pages only show the product. There's no mention of price, however. You may need to contact OWC directly to find out what is going on.
Click to expand...

Yes, I did mean PowerLogix. I have already contacted OWC about the issue, and they are the ones who informed me that the company is no longer in business. I even proceeded to ask them if they had any left over stock of the processor upgrades in their warehouse. They informed me that they completely sold out of them months ago.

jbarley said:
There is a thread on CubeOwners.com about the demise of CPU upgrades for the G4 Cube.

----------


The PowerLogic CPU upgrades came with a Fan which installed in the Apple designed fan mounting bracket, the mount which Apple decided to leave empty.
Cooling is not a problem but absolute silence is sacrificed.
Click to expand...

I have read CubeOwners.com's forums upside down and inside out. Basically everything I read were people complaining that there were no aftermarket for them anymore. This I can understand. However, no one has looked at the possibilities of other G4 units with higher frequencies to put in as a replacement? A G4 CPU is a G4 CPU, is that not correct? Forced cooled heat sink are not an issue, because I could possibly use the existing passive cooled cube heat sink. It's not like the CPU would know what type of heat sink it's pressed up against anyway.

So, I revert back to my first question. Is there a possibility that let's say a PowerMac G4's 1.25GHz processor would be compatible with this Cube?
 
jbarley said:
Well here is a thread on CubeOwners, one of many, that answers your question.
Click to expand...

As a matter of fact, Yes, that does completely answer my question. So I can use a CPU upgrade from a towered rig and it will work. That is exactly what I was looking for... So, there is still hope for running 10.5 on this thing... :)
 
jbarley said:
Actually you can load Leopard onto a stock Cube using this utility,
and it runs decent as long as you have max memory.
Click to expand...

I have read that on a few occasions. I don't know... I have an inferiority with having a 450MHz processor... It must be upgraded at some point. I already bought 1 gig of Memory from OWC for it, should be here in a bout 2 days... and I will buy the last 512 stick for it sooner or later... but I definitely want to get the processor over 1GHz
 
I ran Leopard on my stock 450Mhz Cube for a few months with the Rage128 video card. Most awful thing ever. I upgraded the video card to a Radeon 7500 Mac and Leopard suddenly became usable. While some things still took longer because of the slower G4, it was usable. I then upgraded it to a 1.5Ghz G4 and it has made a very nice light use Mac. Not the fastest car in the garage, but it is the most reliable. With that, I suggest you also upgrade your video card.
 
Intell said:
I ran Leopard on my stock 450Mhz Cube for a few months with the Rage128 video card. Most awful thing ever. I upgraded the video card to a Radeon 7500 Mac and Leopard suddenly became usable. While some things still took longer because of the slower G4, it was usable. I then upgraded it to a 1.5Ghz G4 and it has made a very nice light use Mac. Not the fastest car in the garage, but it is the most reliable. With that, I suggest you also upgrade your video card.
Click to expand...

Are you recommending the Radeon 7500 or would you recommend another card?

Also, what is the maximum hard drive size that can be used in this Rig? Every one I see is running a max of 40gb, but am I limited to that, or can I put a 250gb in it?
 
I picked the 7500 because there was no VRM board moving involved, it supported ADC, Quartz Extreme, has OS 9 support, and was cheap (at the time). By today's standards, it isn't very fast, but it's still lightyears better then the Rage128 that was stock. If you're lucky, you may have the built to order option GeForce2 MX. Still not the best cards, but still better then the Rage128. Just keep in mind that no matter what card you get for your Cube, the integrated graphics on 2009-era Macs will still be better.

Your Cube does not have large drive support. The biggest drive is can use is 128Gb. But, there are hacks to enable large drive support via OpenFirmware. But OS 9 cannot use large drives without a third party extension, unless it is on the first partition of the >128Gb drive and the first partition is less than 128Gb.
 
Last edited:
Intell said:
I picked the 7500 because there was no VRM board moving involved, it supported ADC, Quartz Extreme, has OS 9 support, and was cheap (at the time). By today's standards, it isn't very fast, but it's still lightyears better then the Rage128 that was stock. If you're lucky, you may have the built to order option GeForce2 MX. Still not the best cards, but still better then the Rage128. Just keep in mind that no matter what card you get for your Cube, the integrated graphics on 2009-era Macs will still be better.

Your Cube does not have large drive support. The biggest drive is can use is 128Gb. But, there are hacks to enable large drive support via OpenFirmware. But OS 9 cannot use large drives without a third party extension, unless it is on the first partition of the >128Gb drive and the first partition is less than 128Gb.
Click to expand...

I think mine has the Rage 128 Card. Let me tell you what I've got, what I'm doing to it, and then what I want to do it... then you can let me know what you would do.

I have:
PowerMac 5,1
2000 Apple G4 Cube 450
450Mhz PowerPC G4 Processor
320MB RAM
20GB IDE/ATA HDD
Rage128 Graphics Card (I think, it's at the office so I can't look)
Mac OS X 10.4.11 OS

What I am doing:
1GB RAM Kit on order, should be here within the next few days
Airport Card on Order, should be here within the next few days

What I want to do:
Higher HDD capacity (even 120gb would be better than 20)
SONNET ENCORE ST G4 1.4Ghz 1400MHZ for Cube CPU
1.5GB of RAM
New Video Card.
10.5 OS X Install
Ability to Run CS4 Master Collection.
 
Looks good. When picking out a video card, I suggest getting one that has Core Image support. This make a world of a difference on Leopard. And to save yourself some trouble, get one that doesn't require the VRM board to be moved.

After doing some quick searching, I've come to the conclusion that the best video card for the G4 Cube without major modifications is the GeForce 6200:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Apple-Mac-G...208?pt=PCC_Video_TV_Cards&hash=item3a63890c98

Just remember, the Cube's Airport is B only and very slow.
 
Last edited:
Thank you for all of the suggestions. It looks like it's going to be a long road ahead with this machine. I will definitely keep you all posted as I make the changes.
 
I went with the 7500 myself. There's an extensive conversation about video cards on Cubeowner, as you have probably seen. The 7500 involves no particular modification (other than removing the face plate) and the least problems with heating. OWC had them on sale at Christmas, and it's still listed at $40.

I have a 500GB hard drive in mine, set up using Intech's ATA Hi-capacity driver. There's a 128GB boot partition and the rest is in another partition.

I am running Leopard, and although it is slow (I like to think of it as stately), it runs fine. I've maxed out the RAM.

As Intell points out, the wireless isn't worth it. You would be better to buy an Airport Express and connect that by ethernet.
 
I actually had a PowerMac G4 Cube with a 1.5Ghz processor that seemed to run perfectly fine. I feel like a total moron for getting rid of it and am kicking myself incessantly for it but yeah the CPU upgrades are definitely viable and it flew in Leopard. It had max RAM and Airport....I sold it to my friend for $50 and he doesn't even remotely realize what a machine he has in his possession.

I am doing all that I think is possible to get it back :mad:
 
Tucom said:
I actually had a PowerMac G4 Cube with a 1.5Ghz processor that seemed to run perfectly fine. I feel like a total moron for getting rid of it and am kicking myself incessantly for it but yeah the CPU upgrades are definitely viable and it flew in Leopard. It had max RAM and Airport....I sold it to my friend for $50 and he doesn't even remotely realize what a machine he has in his possession.

I am doing all that I think is possible to get it back :mad:
Click to expand...
selling your cpu upgraded cube for 50 bucks, I can see why you feel like a moron.
 
JeeFoUrCuBEnMBP said:
Thank you for all of the suggestions. It looks like it's going to be a long road ahead with this machine. I will definitely keep you all posted as I make the changes.
Click to expand...

I gave a friend a 1.8gjz Sonnet (pretty sure it was Sonnett) upgrade for the Cube that also fit in his G4 500mhz Powermac. It came with a fan as I recall.

He could be prodded into selling it, I'm pretty sure.
 
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