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PMG4 Upgrades

Yeah if you're going to get a PC flashed card, you might as well buy a 9800 pro for the same price and flash it yourself. It's really the best card that you can buy for the G4s. Either the 128mb or the 256mb versions but they are basically the same card.
 
Ended up winning a geforce4 64mb card out of a MDDg4 off ebay for $20. If it ends up sucking, I'll just sell and I'm not out much money.
 
I received my new video card and the dual 500mhz processor unit today. Will be installing later on this evening.

I also put a Lite-On DVD burner I had lying around inside and it works with no problem, burnt a DVD first shot with no errors.:D

SATA card and drives are next!
 
So I ordered a new motherboard that was pulled from a dual processor system to accommodate my dual processor since my motherboard wasn't compatible.

Got one for like $20 shipped off eBay.

Removed everything, installed the new MB and put everything back on except the power supply plug into the MB. Then I find that it doesn't fit.:mad:

The motherboard side of the plug is a 22-pin plug, whereas on my single processor MB and the accompanying power supply, it's a 20-pin plug.

Guess I'll be buying a new power supply.

A standard ATX power supply wouldn't work would it?

I also got a 250GB SATA drive, so after this power supply junk, I will be picking up a SATA card, and then probably a 1TB drive down the road and this will officially be done(unless I feel like picking up a fast sonnett dual processor unit:D)
 
Thank you very much. I went a picked up a $25 18-24V AC power supply, then bought a little thing to convert it to DC. Just did a temporary thing to put it into the 2 empty pins to see if it'd work, and it ran just fine, I rebooted it twice(once into tiger, then leopard, then back to tiger). Everything seems to be great.

The difference between the single 450 CPU to dual 500 is amazing, it actually runs Leopard decently now. In addition to the processor upgrade, the video upgrade I'm sure also helped with leopard performance.

It seems the motherboard is from a Gigabit Ethernet or Digital Audio, so either way, it was an excellent upgrade.

One question though, my power button no longer illuminates. It functions and stuff, just doesn't light up or "snore". Any ideas?
 
ddeadserious said:
Just picked up a Powermac G4 from Craigslist...
Click to expand...

I'm in the same boat. I have a donated 450 G4, 2Gb memory, upgraded DVD-RW drive... I would love to have the 1.8 proc, but would more likely just buy a used dual 2.3 G5 and use the G4 with a OS X Server. A pair of big external Firewire drives in software RAID1 for file services and maybe my HP Laserjets on print services. I can't imagine putting that much money into older hardware when late model Macs are getting so affordable.
 
OrangeSVTguy said:
If you still need any parts for the dual G4. There's someone parting out a dual 450 GE. He has all the parts like PSU, MLB, and Processor. He's in the marketplace, I don't know if you meet the minimum requirements to view it? Here's the link to it if you can, https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/600922/.
Click to expand...

Thank you, but I don't have access to the marketplace quite yet, almost there. If you wouldn't mind giving me his name, I'd like to PM him about the power supply to see how much he wants.

thanks!
sprale said:
I'm in the same boat. I have a donated 450 G4, 2Gb memory, upgraded DVD-RW drive... I would love to have the 1.8 proc, but would more likely just buy a used dual 2.3 G5 and use the G4 with a OS X Server. A pair of big external Firewire drives in software RAID1 for file services and maybe my HP Laserjets on print services. I can't imagine putting that much money into older hardware when late model Macs are getting so affordable.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I've come to the realization that this machine isn't going to be used all that often. It just sits by my desk making noise while I use my Macbook Pro as a desktop with my monitor. I do keep my 500GB FreeAgent FW drive hooked up to it to store my movies and software - I should install OS X server on it.

I haven't put too much money into this so far though - I just sold the ATI Rage 128 on eBay for $10, which is pretty much what I paid for my new video card + shipping. Everything has nearly paid for itself with this except for the monitor, which I don't hardly use with the PowerMac anymore.
 
Earl Urly said:
Again, no, any PCI controller card for a G4 Mac has to have Open Firmware compatibility to run reliably, especially if you want to boot off the SATA drive. That's also why they're pricey since the G4 hardware market is much smaller than the (cough) PC hardware market.

If you want something cheaper:

http://www.wiebetech.com/products/pci.php

The TCS2-0 only costs $40..
Click to expand...

Darnit. Just went to buy this card and it's been discontinued.:mad:
 
Earl Urly said:
Well, if you don't mind going up to $64...

http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Firmtek/FTST1S2/

Also a great card, never had a problem with it and they issue firmware updates for major OS releases.
Click to expand...

I had one of those before I got my 4port SIIG card from OWC.....neveranottaproblemo!

But I got mine used for $20 several years ago.....hard to believe they still go for $64 new.... :(
 
I know you dont have access to the Marketplace

read through your entire thread, and am clearing out some older G4 parts:

Firmtek 1VE4 (4 port external SATA controller) x 2 - can easily reroute to internal or external drives

Firmtek 1SE2 (2 port external) x 2 - same as above

ATTO UL3S also have 2 of these

Flashed ATI 9800 128MB card works great, no need for

DA Logic Board
DA PSU
QS Case - missing front
QS G4 800 daughtercard with 4 pin molex (to run in G4 DA or??)

Some Memory

:) lots of goodies, just using the iMac in sig now and dont need these parts.
 
ddeadserious said:
Darnit. Just went to buy this card and it's been discontinued.:mad:
Click to expand...

Does this mean you aren't putting a Hackintosh in your case? Decided today to spend the $ and just get an upgrade Sonnet Duet 1.8 for my Sawtooth and a 9800 Pro. Totally not worth the money, could have built a C2D for cheaper, but something about a 10 year old computer that works well just has some appeal to me and I just don't have the time at the moment go through that process.
 
The processor linked in the first post was the exact same model that I tried to install in a PowerMac G4 Sawtooth, originally 450Mhz.

Installing the firmware/drivers was a royal PITA, and the system was only stable for about five minutes following a boot-up.

Plus, the processor is 1.6Ghz while the bus on the Sawtooth runs anywhere from 100-133Mhz. Ignore the fact that SDRAM and ATA are already both slower than molasses in January, and that bus can become quite a bottleneck. It was the worst and most ineffective upgrade I've done to date.

There's no advantage to having a bigger bucket when you're trying to fill it with a drinking straw.
 
Earl Urly said:
Well, if you don't mind going up to $64...

http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Firmtek/FTST1S2/

Also a great card, never had a problem with it and they issue firmware updates for major OS releases.
Click to expand...

I'm bidding on a Sonnet E4i 4-port SATA card on eBay right now, hopefully I'll win that, otherwise, this is my next shot. Thanks.

SmurfBoxMasta said:
I had one of those before I got my 4port SIIG card from OWC.....neveranottaproblemo!

But I got mine used for $20 several years ago.....hard to believe they still go for $64 new.... :(
Click to expand...

I wish I could find one for $20...

RGunner said:
read through your entire thread, and am clearing out some older G4 parts:

Firmtek 1VE4 (4 port external SATA controller) x 2 - can easily reroute to internal or external drives

Firmtek 1SE2 (2 port external) x 2 - same as above

ATTO UL3S also have 2 of these

Flashed ATI 9800 128MB card works great, no need for

DA Logic Board
DA PSU
QS Case - missing front
QS G4 800 daughtercard with 4 pin molex (to run in G4 DA or??)

Some Memory

:) lots of goodies, just using the iMac in sig now and dont need these parts.
Click to expand...

I will be PMing you before too long, interested in some stuff, thanks!

Semiopaque said:
Does this mean you aren't putting a Hackintosh in your case? Decided today to spend the $ and just get an upgrade Sonnet Duet 1.8 for my Sawtooth and a 9800 Pro. Totally not worth the money, could have built a C2D for cheaper, but something about a 10 year old computer that works well just has some appeal to me and I just don't have the time at the moment go through that process.
Click to expand...
I haven't decided yet. I'll see if I enjoy using it enough after I upgrade to the SATA drives, and if not, then I may just sell it. I'd just like to have a tower that's more powerful than my notebook, ya know. Not sure what I'm doing, basically.

Running an "ancient" machine is sweet though, it just has a strange effect on people when you tell them you still use it.

Luftwaffles said:
The processor linked in the first post was the exact same model that I tried to install in a PowerMac G4 Sawtooth, originally 450Mhz.

Installing the firmware/drivers was a royal PITA, and the system was only stable for about five minutes following a boot-up.

Plus, the processor is 1.6Ghz while the bus on the Sawtooth runs anywhere from 100-133Mhz. Ignore the fact that SDRAM and ATA are already both slower than molasses in January, and that bus can become quite a bottleneck. It was the worst and most ineffective upgrade I've done to date.

There's no advantage to having a bigger bucket when you're trying to fill it with a drinking straw.
Click to expand...
Thank you for the input, I won't be upgrading the processor any further. Any seriously large upgrades from here on out(other than the SATA card and a 1TB drive) will involve a new machine, just not worth any more money to do upgrading. Especially now, hearing that it's not plug and play. Sounds like it's just not worth it. Thank you.
 
Added the Sonnet dual 1.8 to my Sawtooth today. Installed pretty much without a hitch. A huge speed increase from the 450 MHz that was in there, however, the bus speed is definitely an obvious bottleneck in certain cases.

Still using the original HDD and that's also bottlenecking in some situations. Not sure I'm going to upgrade much more since adding too much more will really tax the PSU, can probably barely handle what it has now.

I also added a flashed ATI 9800 Pro. Worked great for about an hour, then a piece came off inside the fan and really messed it up so I put the old card back in for now. Hopefully I can get a replacement from the guy who sold it to me.

Geekbenched it for kicks and it comes in at 1315 under Leopard. Not too horrible, though I think some of the Macbook Airs come in better LOL. I think it was at 350ish under the 450MHz in Tiger.

Graphics wise, if I can get the 9800 Pro in there should be doing alright for what it will be used for (CS3 training machine, web browsing, streaming video, maybe some other Apple specific software learning like FCE etc), though it's probably not critical Leopard would be a bit nicer with it.

Cheaper, more useful upgrades for me on this might be quieter fans/cooling system. These old G4s were loud to begin with and it is more so now, though I must admit it has more of a consistent rushing air sound from the processor fans. Gotta replace that case fan I think.

Gonna sell my Mac Pro, I think, so this will be my only Mac desktop for awhile.

Anyhow, will try to update later.

Current Junk Inside G4 Sawtooth:

Sonnet Encore Duet 2x1.8 GHz
4x512MB PC100 RAM
Sonnet USB 2.0 PCI card
ATI Radeon 9800 Pro 128MB (assuming I get that working again)
Original DVD ROM whatever that was
Original 40GB HDD whatever that was think it is a slow WD
Original SCSI card (will probably remove for airflow purposes)
Original Zip Drive (may remove and replace with a HDD front fan)
 
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