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Just got my first Mac...

Tokiopop

Tokiopop

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Dec 6, 2008
1,556
0
West Yorkshire, UK
Well, I just bought an old QuickSilver PowerMac G4, and I'm waiting for it to be delivered. It's my first Mac, and I was wondering about a few things.

Can the QuickSilvers have two processors, if so, what's the max it can have in each space?

What's the max RAM it can handle, I've been looking around and people have said 1, 1.5, and two. I'm really not sure who to believe.

Is it easy to install new things like RAM? I know my old PC was a pain, had to unscrew a load of stuff to get it open...

And does it support USB 2.0? It's probably only going to come with 1.1, so I need to know if I can put in some 2.0 for my iPhone.

Oh, and how well do they work with iPhones, how's syncing, restoring, updating, PwnageTool etc?

Sorry for all the questions, I couldn't seem to find the answers I was looking for.

Thanks :D:D

Edit: What would be a suitable OS for it? It's only got 733MHz and 1GB of RAM atm :eek: It's being shipped with OSX Tiger, so I should probably stick with that?
 
Tokiopop said:
Well, I just bought an old QuickSilver PowerMac G4, and I'm waiting for it to be delivered. It's my first Mac, and I was wondering about a few things.

Can the QuickSilvers have two processors, if so, what's the max it can have in each space?

What's the max RAM it can handle, I've been looking around and people have said 1, 1.5, and two. I'm really not sure who to believe.

Is it easy to install new things like RAM? I know my old PC was a pain, had to unscrew a load of stuff to get t open...

And does it support USB 2.0? It's probably only going to come with 1.1, so I need to know if I can put in some 2.0 for my iPhone.

Oh, and how well do they work with iPhones, how's syncing, restoring, updating, PwnageTool etc?

Sorry for all the questions, I couldn't seem to find the answers I was looking for.

Thanks :D:D

Edit: What would be a suitable OS for it? It's only got 733MHz and 1GB of RAM atm :eek: It's being shipped with OSX Tiger, so I should probably stick with that?
Click to expand...

Firstly the quicksilver can support a maximum of 1.5GB of ram. For USB 2.0, you have to buy a usb 2.0 PCI card. If you are getting one, make sure it's a NEC chipset and not a VIA chipset. You can look at the black square on the card itself and it will say the company name. For OS, you should stick to tiger. It will run pretty good. Im currently using a powermac g4 with single 400mhz and 1GB ram, and it works pretty good (not as slow as you'd expect it to be). Also, I've herd that if you use a faster HDD (7200rpm or higher) it will make a BIG difference in performance on older powermacs. Also, I sync my iPod Touch all the time through my USB 2.0 PCI Card, and it works perfectly. I hope this answers your questions. :)
 
simplymuzik3 said:
Firstly the quicksilver can support a maximum of 1.5GB of ram. For USB 2.0, you have to buy a usb 2.0 PCI card. If you are getting one, make sure it's a NEC chipset and not a VIA chipset. You can look at the black square on the card itself and it will say the company name. For OS, you should stick to tiger. It will run pretty good. Im currently using a powermac g4 with single 400mhz and 1GB ram, and it works pretty good (not as slow as you'd expect it to be). Also, I've herd that if you use a faster HDD (7200rpm or higher) it will make a BIG difference in performance on older powermacs. Also, I sync my iPod Touch all the time through my USB 2.0 PCI Card, and it works perfectly. I hope this answers your questions. :)
Click to expand...

Thanks!! I can't wait until it comes now :D:D:D

But is anyone sure what processor(s) I could use?
 
lowendmac.com has a lot of good articles on the older systems, upgrade options, and where to find good deals on HW and SW. Here is their page on your system:
http://lowendmac.com/ppc/quicksilver-power-mac-g4.html

For the system you have, I'd stick with Tiger as the best fit. It's possible to run Leopard, and it would probably have acceptable performance, but you'd need (IMO) at least 1GB RAM and you'd have to work around the Leopard installer's 867MHz CPU limit:
http://lowendmac.com/osx/leopard/openfirmware.html
 
Tokiopop said:
What type of RAM will I be wanting? :confused:
Click to expand...

Just take a look at the first link Eric S. gave you for the page of info about your model. RAM info is right in the middle of the page- but you should look so you can see a lot of other info about your system! Be sure to bookmark that page too as it will be a good reference to have!
 
Thanks.

But one last thing, the QuickSilver has 2 processor spaces right? So if I simply addthis to my G4, I'll have a high MHz? :confused:

I'm just a little confused with all of this :p
 
Tokiopop said:
But one last thing, the QuickSilver has 2 processor spaces right? So if I simply addthis to my G4, I'll have a high MHz? :confused:
Click to expand...

The Power Mac G4 has its processor on a daughter board that connects to the motherboard by a single socket. If you want dual-CPU you get a daughter board with two processors, but you can only have one CPU daughter board in the system. So you don't want that 733 MHz processor board because that's what you already have.

Look at this page:
http://lowendmac.com/ppc/power-mac-g4-upgrade-guide.html

Your system is number 6 in the list of G4 systems, so in the list of potential CPU upgrades that follow, look for ones that say "compatible with 6".
 
WHOOPS- too slow in typing. Dave H. beat me! :eek:

Tokiopop said:
So, even though the QuickSilver has 2 processor spaces, I can only really use one?
Click to expand...

Well I'm not sure where the idea of a QuickSilver having two processor "spaces" is coming from actually. As Eric S. pointed out there is one processor "daughterboard" per system. You can either use a daughterboard with a single processor like your stock 733 has (which is the same as the one pictured in the auction link you posted), or you can remove the existing daugherboard and replace it with a new one that has two processors on it.

Realistically though, at $449 (if they come back into stock) at OWC via Eric's link for a dual processor upgrade it really seems like an awful lot of money to put into a system that is 8 years old already. I am not trying to discourage you from wanting to upgrade- but keep in mind that the price of that processor upgrade is almost half the current price of a brand new white MacBook for example.

Max out the RAM and enjoy the 733!;)
 
sickmacdoc said:
Realistically though, at $449 (if they come back into stock) at OWC via Eric's link for a dual processor upgrade it really seems like an awful lot of money to put into a system that is 8 years old already.
Click to expand...

I agree. Unless you can find a good deal on a used one it probably isn't worth doing. A little over a year ago I paid the $170 for a 1.0GHz Sonnet upgrade for my Sawtooth, but that was to bring it up from 400MHz into Leopard-capable territory.

At 733MHz you have plenty of power for Tiger, and even if you do want to run Leopard it will still probably handle it nicely. It's easy enough to workaround the Leopard install limitation.
 
Eric S. said:
I agree. Unless you can find a good deal on a used one it probably isn't worth doing. A little over a year ago I paid the $170 for a 1.0GHz Sonnet upgrade for my Sawtooth, but that was to bring it up from 400MHz into Leopard-capable territory.

At 733MHz you have plenty of power for Tiger, and even if you do want to run Leopard it will still probably handle it nicely. It's easy enough to workaround the Leopard install limitation.
Click to expand...

Hmm, I'll just stick with Tiger. But I really appreciate all of your help :):)

I'll be buying this, and I think that'll be all ;)
 
i just got my dual 800 quicksilver with 1.5gb ram, and it runs tiger flawlessly. I have a 120gb hd, dvd, usb 2.0, and bluetooth, and I use it for adobe flash A LOT. It runs with no lag, and i can still multi-task on it. I got it for 250$ CDN including drop-off, apple keyboard, mouse, and the computer is mint condition.
 
hi
i am in the same situlation as you jsut got a mac g4 quicksliver 733mhz on ebay,first mac ( thank god cant take anymore of pcs not working) and going to upgrade to 1.5 gb ram and looking for faster processor tell me what u think also i have never heard of faster hard drive faster os but it sounds ture.
 
mac14 said:
hi
i am in the same situlation as you jsut got a mac g4 quicksliver 733mhz on ebay,first mac ( thank god cant take anymore of pcs not working) and going to upgrade to 1.5 gb ram and looking for faster processor tell me what u think
Click to expand...

Look at the links already posted in this thread.

also i have never heard of faster hard drive faster os but it sounds ture.
Click to expand...

Sure, you can easily add a SATA controller and drive fairly inexpensively.
 
Tokiopop said:
Hmm, I'll just stick with Tiger. But I really appreciate all of your help :):)

I'll be buying this, and I think that'll be all ;)
Click to expand...

I don't know if you have purchased it already but be sure that you only purchase low-density memory. The 512mb will have chips on both sides of the module. There are compatibility issues with using high-density memory in the G4s. I saw the questions asked if they work on a G4 on that link but there were no answers and the other messages were answered that it was generic memory so you might have issues there.

If you're still looking for processor upgrades, the fastest QS processor was a dual 1ghz model found here. There are 3rd party manufacturers like Sonnet that have faster G4 processors that will work in your QS. You will pay quite a bit for them
 
hi
i got a quciksliver 733mhz and there is a problem with it, it powers on but shuts down after 2 or so mins, it seems that is works for longer if it's in a cold area, or if you leave it off for a few hours,

can anyone help
 
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