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Powermac G4 Case Uses

I live in Ontario, Canada.
Some friends have suggested http://www.canadacomputers.com but I am open to any vendor really.

Thanks for the build! I am hoping to start on it in a week or so, I'll keep you updated.

toloratedmeat said:
KZA, which country do you live in?

Follow this list:
Mobo: Asus P5GC-MX/Gigabyte GA-945GCM-S2L
Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo E6700
RAM: 2GB DDR 667
PSU: Anything with a Side 120mm fan
DVD Drive: LG GSA-H62N its short :) but you have to cut the little bit of metal in the G4's DVD Drive container
HDD: Samsung SpinPoint 750GB best value $/GB
Graphics Card: Try an nVidia 8500/8600 because they're cheap now that the GFX9 cards went on the market.

There you go
Click to expand...
 
Are there any video card manufacturers that are "safer" in terms of compatiblity than others? For example, should I stick with Asus if I am using an Asus mobo? What manufacturer does Apple go with themselves?

Also, ATi or nVidia? I usually base my video card decisions on the unconventional placement of upper and lowercase letters in the companies names, but I am still torn in this circumstance..

Thoughts on this card? Will it even fit?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130319
 
KZA said:
Are there any video card manufacturers that are "safer" in terms of compatiblity than others? For example, should I stick with Asus if I am using an Asus mobo? What manufacturer does Apple go with themselves?

Also, ATi or nVidia? I usually base my video card decisions on the unconventional placement of upper and lowercase letters in the companies names, but I am still torn in this circumstance..
Click to expand...

Check the HCL on wiki.osx86project.org

It really doesn't matter what your mobo is. The graphics card is completly independent. Apple uses both ATI and Nvidia, unless I am mistaken. So it doesn't make a difference.

BTW, execellent choice of a card. Just make sure your mobo has a PCI-Express slot (almost all modern ones do)
 
XpertVision 8500GT. Not to Old not too Buggy. Perfect at 43 dollars.

That 8800 is for Gaming Rigs not for Macs. If you want to update to 10.5.3 I warn you. Dont do it. Its really buggy with the 10.5.3 drivers.
 
I don't know how many of you know this, but you can strip the graphite out of the side panels and make the completely translucent. My friend did it. You have certain chemicals and an extreme amount of patience to do it just so it comes out perfect. Then he cut out all the metal that wasn't necessary and you could see right in the case. It was pretty cool but he was using stock hardware.

My plan is to make it translucent, replace and add fans that light up blue and get some blue lights similar to the ones posted earlier.
I want to get this motherboard http://www.uabit.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=32&Itemid=48&page=1&model=386
(sells for about $60 on ebay/craigslist)
and an intel core 2 quad
I want the motherboard because its blue (it matches the color scheme) and its power full enough.
 
He used a very little amount of Jasco's paint remover. He poured a teaspoon on sponge and started wiping.
 
i think im gonna buy a secondary g4 case just to put my hackintosh in it.

my scheme will be red though. red apples with red lights and translucent it will be a long process but i shall prevail on this.

im gonna use the same exact setup the OP used but instead im gonna try and find an M-Atx mobo with 2 pci e slots. for my sata TB harddrive, and my 8700gt videocard.
 
MATX mobo with 2 pcie slots?

1x or 16x? Its hard to find one with 2 1x slots and there arent any with 2x 16x slots because there is no room. Goodluck finding it.
 
nomar383 said:
Check the HCL on wiki.osx86project.org

It really doesn't matter what your mobo is. The graphics card is completly independent. Apple uses both ATI and Nvidia, unless I am mistaken. So it doesn't make a difference.

BTW, execellent choice of a card. Just make sure your mobo has a PCI-Express slot (almost all modern ones do)
Click to expand...

Did you install leapord off one of those "pre-Hacked" osx disks or a retail?
 
pre-hacked is the way to go. the top contenders are Kalyway, Leo4All and iATKOS. Look at the one that suits you the most. Normally, Leo4All is the best generic one and Kalyway has the most features so... Yeah

xEFI is also really good.
 
Just an update: I upgraded to 10.5.5 by reformatting and using iDeneb v1.3. It's all still working flawless!

I should be upgrading from my current 7200GS to an 8800GS, so hopefully that goes well :)
 
This was an interesting thread and I really enjoyed reading it. I'd love to do this as I have an empty QS case sitting around doing nothing. I would love to build a C2D system for my girlfriend in that QS case.
 
OrangeSVTguy said:
This was an interesting thread and I really enjoyed reading it. I'd love to do this as I have an empty QS case sitting around doing nothing. I would love to build a C2D system for my girlfriend in that QS case.
Click to expand...

It wasn't too expensive and I think it's been done with a QS case before. In fact, I think someone in this thread did it
 
Well, I put the 8800GS in, and it worked, but my system profiler claimed it was a 256MB card. I just ran EFIStudio for that card and rebooted. It now says 384MB, so that's good. When I played CS:S under windows XP I am now able to crank up the settings to MAXIMUM :)

The card is huge! At least twice the size of my 7200GS. I was worried for a minute that it wouldn't fit in my PowerMac case.
 
I just found an old Dell that I haven't used in a while so I'm throwing those guts in the QS case. It seems to be working out pretty good. Should have it done within an hour. It's a Mini ATX board but it plays my old C&C games pretty good. I would really like to put some modern guts in there though. We shall see in the near future.
 
This sweet, I didn't even think about doing this.

Maybe I'll have to abandon the whole upgrading this G4 and just build a hackintosh out of it.:eek:

Thanks, that was a nice read!
 
ddeadserious said:
This sweet, I didn't even think about doing this.

Maybe I'll have to abandon the whole upgrading this G4 and just build a hackintosh out of it.:eek:

Thanks, that was a nice read!
Click to expand...

I've been thinking the same thing since I saw this when nomar picked it up again yesterday. Think I've read this three times over or more, great thread.

I won't be able to start for probably a couple of weeks esp. since I know next to nothing about getting the OS on these, but thinking of going with:

GIGABYTE GA-G31M-ES2L

Not sure if I want to do a duo or quad yet. The PSU I'm looking at has way to many connections, though, but I wanted one with a light to get the look I'm going for. Any suggestions on something similar to this without so many wires? Rosewill RP550V2-D-SL 550W
 
Semiopaque said:
*nsip*
The PSU I'm looking at has way to many connections, though, but I wanted one with a light to get the look I'm going for. Any suggestions on something similar to this without so many wires?
image-3160356-10521304
Rosewill RP550V2-D-SL 550W
Click to expand...

From looking at those pictures. The plug for power is on the wrong side unless it's a mirrored image? Also any PSU that has an On/Off switch doesn't seem to fit properly in the slot either. Then you'll also have to cut the sheet metal off the back too for the one fan to fit. That's just from what I've experienced on my QS case. I don't have any other G4 models anymore to test that on.

I will start a new thread with my DellInTosh in a bit so I don't threadjack.
 
Semiopaque said:
I won't be able to start for probably a couple of weeks esp. since I know next to nothing about getting the OS on these, but thinking of going with:

image-3160356-10521304
GIGABYTE GA-G31M-ES2L

Not sure if I want to do a duo or quad yet. The PSU I'm looking at has way to many connections, though, but I wanted one with a light to get the look I'm going for. Any suggestions on something similar to this without so many wires?
image-3160356-10521304
Rosewill RP550V2-D-SL 550W
Click to expand...

I just built one for my sister using the Gigabyte GA-EG31M-S2 it is identical spec wise to the one you listed except for the placement of the FDD connector which you will probably never use it also officially supports a FSB overclock to 1600mhz where the one you listed is does not mention 1600.

Note how close the RAM is the the PCI-e x16 slot. Though I did not mount the board in a G4 case I positioned it approximately where it would be in my DA G4 (which I will make a Hackintosh for myself with eventually) and it looked like the RAM will clear the DVD/CD drive bay without cutting. Especially with a modern DVD drive as they are shorter than the metal bay.

There are some problems which took a long time to figure out. First off you can not do a Vanilla install using EFI v(anything) or the Chameleon bootloader. Though the install will take Audio will never work this way nor will any bootloader work unless you always use the Chameleon boot CD I could never get an EFI to take after hours of painstaking research.

Now that you know what not to do, you must use a hacked kernel. I used Kalyway 10.5.4 and selected the right drivers for the install. Once booted everything worked great; audio (in/out), video, ethernet. I then used OSx86 Tools to update all drivers and to get my CPU listed.

After the install I updated all software with one hitch. It will not take the 10.5.5 update you will have to use another hacked kernel for this. iDeneb 10.5.5 v3 should work instead of Kalyway.

I also installed a Radeon 3870 GPU and it works great! I will definitely use this board for myself in a G4 case but use either a Radeon 3870x2 or GeForce 9800GTX as I want a 24" LCD for gaming.

This is not the first I have built but definitely the easiest. Previously I did a SSE2 only Pentium 4 for my sister. The worst was making the AMD in my sig run 10.4 as many parts have poor compatibility; nForce 3 northbridge, socket 754 Athlon 64 SSE2 only, AGP, Radeon X800XT.

Not sure if I want to do a duo or quad yet. The PSU I'm looking at has way to many connections, though, but I wanted one with a light to get the look I'm going for. Any suggestions on something similar to this without so many wires?
image-3160356-10521304
Rosewill RP550V2-D-SL 550W
Click to expand...

Rosewill is a solid company never had a problem with any of their PSU's. I have built over 20 PC's for myself friends and family and almost all have used Rosewill. For your build I would get an Antec earthwatts EA500 it does not have the glowing lights. But it uses a rear mount fan only and is 80plus certified. Which means less energy use and should also mean less heat in your case.

As for the CPU get the Pentium E5200 Wolfdale 2.5Ghz FSB800 and DDR2 1066 memory then overclock the living daylights out of that puppy.:D 3.33Ghz @ 1066FSB
 
Haha, I should take some pictures of it now with the 8800GS and the fan I mounted on the front :)

If anyone is thinking about doing this mod, just make sure you know how to use a Dremel. You'll need it!
 
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