Making the best out of 2 PM G4s

[Markeh21]

OK so over the past couple of weeks for varying sums of money I've acquired 2 PowerMac G4s. I want to make the best I can out of the two for myself and then sell the other one on due to lack of space.

Number 1
FW800 single 1GHz, 1GB RAM, 160GB HDD, dead Combo, GeForce 4MX
Number 2
MDD dual 867, 1.5GB RAM, 3x500GB HDDs (I'm selling at least one of these), afaik a working Combo, GeForce 4MX.

I'm not averse to swapping bits round to make the best I can. I will be running 10.5.8 on both, and the one I keep will be used as a workshop PC (I fix PCs), so will be used for data recovery with a HDD dock (which is compatible - I also have a USB 2.0 PCI card to add into whichever rig I keep), web browsing, burning ISOs (I have a Pioneer DVR-111D going spare which I shall put in which ever rig I keep), music streaming via iTunes home sharing from my Windows rig and Spotify and that sort of thing. Any advice would be appreciated.

 

[GermanyChris]

OK so over the past couple of weeks for varying sums of money I've acquired 2 PowerMac G4s. I want to make the best I can out of the two for myself and then sell the other one on due to lack of space.

Number 1
FW800 single 1GHz, 1GB RAM, 160GB HDD, dead Combo, GeForce 4MX
Number 2
MDD dual 867, 1.5GB RAM, 3x500GB HDDs (I'm selling at least one of these), afaik a working Combo, GeForce 4MX.

I'm not averse to swapping bits round to make the best I can. I will be running 10.5.8 on both, and the one I keep will be used as a workshop PC (I fix PCs), so will be used for data recovery with a HDD dock (which is compatible - I also have a USB 2.0 PCI card to add into whichever rig I keep), web browsing, burning ISOs (I have a Pioneer DVR-111D going spare which I shall put in which ever rig I keep), music streaming via iTunes home sharing from my Windows rig and Spotify and that sort of thing. Any advice would be appreciated.

This thread looks familiar

#1 still

 

[Markeh21]

I think you misunderstand me, I want to use the best bits, so I take it you're saying to swap the good bits over to the FW800?

 

[eawmp1]

Yes, the FW800

Better score on Geekbench, Bluetooth, potential for AirPort Extreme b/g, and FW 800 still rocks over 400.

A better base machine to salvage.

 

[Zotaccian]

#2 is faster because it has two processors, but for today's usage you might not see the difference. #1 does have faster firewire and support for faster wireless networking card than #2.

FSB on both machines runs at 133mhz and atleast with the MDD you can attempt to overclock by removing a single resistor, probably the same with FW800. Of course disassembling takes time and the whole process has its risks, ending result probably just looks nicer on System profiler and that's all, no noticeable speed increase... But anyways.

 

[Markeh21]

OK looks like I'm switching the HDs, extra RAM and maybe the ODD if the DVR111D doesn't work over to the FW800 and selling the MDD

 

[MisterKeeks]

If it is of any concern to you, the FW800 cannot run OS9.

 

[Markeh21]

Not fussed about OS9 to be honest, these are my first Macs so I think I'll stick to learning OSX first

 

[hansolo669]

If you really want to max out the fw800 I would grab another 500gb drive, and a smaller one (say 80-120), and toss the 4 500's into raid 1+0 for a speedy redundant TB of storage.

The MDD/Fw800 in my sig is running 4x80gb in raid 1+0 with a 40gb boot disk. The boot disk hangs out in the lower ODD bay.

 

[archtopshop]

OK looks like I'm switching the HDs, extra RAM and maybe the ODD if the DVR111D doesn't work over to the FW800 and selling the MDD

You might think about keeping the power supply from the MDD as a spare for your FW800. It's probably the most expensive replacement part you may need "down the road".

Part out the logic board and cpu on eBay.

 

[666sheep]

Not fussed about OS9 to be honest, these are my first Macs so I think I'll stick to learning OSX first

You can try another way if you're handy in soldering:
– swap CPUs between machines and overclock 867 DP to 1.0 GHz and 167 MHz bus
– overclock bus on FW800 logic board to 167 MHz (you'd need to use PC2700 or PC3200 memory since then)
– install CHUD Tools and enable NAP
– sell FW400 with 1.0 single CPU

This way you can get the best of these 2:
– DP machine
– FW800 port
– 167 MHz bus

All FW800 boards are 167 MHz capable, these 133 MHz are just factory downclocked. Not all 133 MHz FW400 boards will work @167 MHz. Tested on many MDDs I've had.