G4 Sawtooth Upgrade

[finnschi]

I still own a G4 sawtooth(AGP GFX) I already upgraded Ram to 1Gb and my HDD to 180Gb , I want it to serve as a Jukebox for my living room

That Is why I want it to be able to run Front row on it (remote controlled via iPhone

BUT , its too slow for 10.5 (I know there is a way around the MhZ limitation.. but it still won't run Frontrow)

I also tried to use a hacked install of Frontrow for tiger, but i soon found out that my Mac can't handle CI & QE (also neccesary for Photobooth which I would like to run with my old Firewire iSight

So since my baby only has 400 Mhz I want to ramp this up to something more speedy (on the cheap of course) and some people sell used CPU's from other G4's like the Dual G4's 1,2 Ghz (from the Mirrored Drive Doors one) or some 900mhz G4 from the quicksilver for really cheap, and since I found upgrade cards from 3rd parties online that had 2x 1.8 Ghz I am guessing that all G4's will fit into my mac? if not which will work?

Then I will also need a new video card, which is the cheapest one that I can get that will run QE&CI ? I only need Frontrow to work


thx

 

[Archon Gold]

I still own a G4 sawtooth(AGP GFX) I already upgraded Ram to 1Gb and my HDD to 180Gb , I want it to serve as a Jukebox for my living room

That Is why I want it to be able to run Front row on it (remote controlled via iPhone

BUT , its too slow for 10.5 (I know there is a way around the MhZ limitation.. but it still won't run Frontrow)

I also tried to use a hacked install of Frontrow for tiger, but i soon found out that my Mac can't handle CI & QE (also neccesary for Photobooth which I would like to run with my old Firewire iSight

So since my baby only has 400 Mhz I want to ramp this up to something more speedy (on the cheap of course) and some people sell used CPU's from other G4's like the Dual G4's 1,2 Ghz (from the Mirrored Drive Doors one) or some 900mhz G4 from the quicksilver for really cheap, and since I found upgrade cards from 3rd parties online that had 2x 1.8 Ghz I am guessing that all G4's will fit into my mac? if not which will work?

Then I will also need a new video card, which is the cheapest one that I can get that will run QE&CI ? I only need Frontrow to work


thx

CPUs from PowerMacs that fast are not compatible with your Mac's motherboard, a new processor will run you about $200 which is not worth it since you can buy a newer, faster PowerMac for that price, same goes for the graphics card, It just costs too much.

 

[finnschi]

CPUs from PowerMacs that fast are not compatible with your Mac's motherboard, a new processor will run you about $200 which is not worth it since you can buy a newer, faster PowerMac for that price, same goes for the graphics card, It just costs too much.

I Found a Quicksilver Logic board + 733Mhz CPU + Geforce 2MX for 30€ you think my PSU will be able to handle that? and will a MX2 run QE/CI?

 

[jodelli]

I Found a Quicksilver Logic board + 733Mhz CPU + Geforce 2MX for 30€ you think my PSU will be able to handle that? and will a MX2 run QE/CI?

The Sawtooth is rated around 200 watts, the QS 360 watts so I would say no on the PS. I've read that NVidea might have a problem with QE.
http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=24431

I did put a Sonnett 1ghz G4 in a Sawtooth and it ran Leopard, sometimes lagging a bit.

 

[Archon Gold]

I Found a Quicksilver Logic board + 733Mhz CPU + Geforce 2MX for 30€ you think my PSU will be able to handle that? and will a MX2 run QE/CI?

Your current case will most likely not fit the logic board properly unless you are willing to mod it.

 

[chrismacguy]

Youd be much better off with an upgrade from Sonnet or similar. Any other logic board such as a Quicksilver will not fit. Especially as it has 5 slots - whereas your G4 only has 4 (1 AGP and 3 PCI instead of the 1AGP and 4PCI of the Digital Audio and later). Fitting a new logic board would also require modding as the physical mounting pins are in different places - so its basically impossible or a very difficult mod. It would be easier just to purchase a G4 QS or MDD IMHO.

 

[djgamble]

CPUs from PowerMacs that fast are not compatible with your Mac's motherboard, a new processor will run you about $200 which is not worth it since you can buy a newer, faster PowerMac for that price, same goes for the graphics card, It just costs too much.

My Sawtooth has a 1.6Ghz (single-core) Sonnet upgrade in it and a Radeon 9000 pro.

It's a fair upgrade as I can still boot into OS9, but get the same sorta grunt that some of the later, OS X-only machines can use.

 

[bunnspecial]

My Sawtooth has a 1.6Ghz (single-core) Sonnet upgrade in it and a Radeon 9000 pro.

It's a fair upgrade as I can still boot into OS9, but get the same sorta grunt that some of the later, OS X-only machines can use.

Ancient thread, but TBH a long time ago I decided to basically dedicate boxes to either OS 9 or OS X.

The Radeon 9000 is more or less a mid-range card in OS 9 and not great in OS X. My best OS 9 boxes have Geforce 4Tis in them, aside from one of my Cubes(an OS 9 dedicated one) with a Geforce 3Ti.

Since none of these cards support core image, though, they kind of fall apart in OS X. Unfortunately too there are only a handful of core image cards that will work in a Sawtooth/GigE 2x AGP slot. The only "official" Mac card I'm aware of is the Radeon 9700, which is a rare card. Some versions of the Geforce 6200 and Radeon 9800, both of which are great, can be flashed to work. In a 4x AGP system(Digital Audio, Quicksilver, MDD), you can easily modify cheap and plentiful G5 Radeon 9600/9650s to work in G5s. Mac-flashed Radeon X800/X850 cards, including the FireGL X3 flashed with X800 firmware, will work in MDDs(these cards are hit-or-miss in the Quicksilver and DA).