Proud new owner of a Sonnet 1.8Ghz DUAL

[eyoungren]

Yep!

Finally got there. It's 1.8ghz, DUAL processors AND it's a Sonnet!!!

Since my Quicksilver is already using a 1.2Ghz single processor Sonnet I am hoping this will simply be plug and play!

http://www.ebay.com/itm/291608637022?_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT

Mods, not my auction. Just showing the members what I just bought it all.

Oh. And a big thanks to bunnspecial for his contribution on this when he took my GigaDesigns off my hands. Thanks!

 

[bunnspecial]

Congratulations! You will love it!

BTW, you will need to flash the ROM since this is 7447A(like the Giga). The big difference is that's overall a much better quality product than the Giga .

Let me know if you need the CD image, although most of Sonnet's stuff is on their website.

 

[eyoungren]

Congratulations! You will love it!

BTW, you will need to flash the ROM since this is 7447A(like the Giga). The big difference is that's overall a much better quality product than the Giga .

Let me know if you need the CD image, although most of Sonnet's stuff is on their website.

Cool! Thanks!

Can you point me in the direction of their website? It is just sonnet.com?

 

[RedCroissant]

Yep!

Finally got there. It's 1.8ghz, DUAL processors AND it's a Sonnet!!!

Since my Quicksilver is already using a 1.2Ghz single processor Sonnet I am hoping this will simply be plug and play!

http://www.ebay.com/itm/291608637022?_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT

Mods, not my auction. Just showing the members what I just bought it all.

Oh. And a big thanks to bunnspecial for his contribution on this when he took my GigaDesigns off my hands. Thanks!

View attachment 598582

That equals AWESOME!!!!!

 

[bunnspecial]

Here's the Sonnet web page on the processor

http://www.sonnettech.com/support/kb/kb.php?cat=315&expand=_a3&action=a3#a3

BTW, one of the things that makes this so much better than the Giga is that Sonnet used 1.42ghz 7447As while Giga used 1.25ghz. That-combined with the overall much better fit and finish of the Sonnet-makes it actually work how it's supposed to.

In any case, even though you will have to flash the firmware once that's done it really is just plug and play-no setting jumpers or playing with voltages.

 

[eyoungren]

Here's the Sonnet web page on the processor

http://www.sonnettech.com/support/kb/kb.php?cat=315&expand=_a3&action=a3#a3

BTW, one of the things that makes this so much better than the Giga is that Sonnet used 1.42ghz 7447As while Giga used 1.25ghz. That-combined with the overall much better fit and finish of the Sonnet-makes it actually work how it's supposed to.

In any case, even though you will have to flash the firmware once that's done it really is just plug and play-no setting jumpers or playing with voltages.

Thanks Bunns!

 

[eyoungren]

Here's the Sonnet web page on the processor

http://www.sonnettech.com/support/kb/kb.php?cat=315&expand=_a3&action=a3#a3

BTW, one of the things that makes this so much better than the Giga is that Sonnet used 1.42ghz 7447As while Giga used 1.25ghz. That-combined with the overall much better fit and finish of the Sonnet-makes it actually work how it's supposed to.

In any case, even though you will have to flash the firmware once that's done it really is just plug and play-no setting jumpers or playing with voltages.

Quick question.

According to what I am reading in the manual I need to apply the updater first, shut down, hold down the power button until I hear a tone and then once the Mac has rebooted run the patch.

My quick question is, will this in any way mess up or fail due to the fact that I already have a Sonnet CPU installed? These instructions seem to be assuming that I am doing this with a stock CPU installed.

If this won't work with a Sonnet already installed (even though it's a different model) that might be a problem.

I know it worked when I was flashing for the Giga, but that was an entirely different manufacturer and CPU.

 

[flyrod]

Since my Quicksilver is already using a 1.2Ghz single processor Sonnet I am hoping this will simply be plug and play!

If the 1.2GHz is a 7447 then the 1.8 should drop in. If the 1.2 is a 7455 then you'll need to run the patch *before* swapping the CPU.

Congrats, and let us know how it goes!

 

[flyrod]

If it boots on whatever the current processor is, then run the patch. The problem is if you need to do the patch and it won't boot on the installed processor....

 

[eyoungren]

If the 1.2GHz is a 7447 then the 1.8 should drop in. If the 1.2 is a 7455 then you'll need to run the patch *before* swapping the CPU.

Congrats, and let us know how it goes!

Yeah, it's the 7455.

Hopefully all goes well. Just waiting for it to be shipped now. Don't expect that to happen until Monday at the earliest.

 

[eyoungren]

WOOHOOO! SHIPPED!!!

And I have a tracking number!!!

 

[LightBulbFun]

well done glad to see you finely managed to get one for your souped up Quick silver I hope it works well heh (I see you updated your signature heh) its a Pity sonnet never made Dual 2Ghz 7448 Models those would of really kicked some ass

 

[eyoungren]

well done glad to see you finely managed to get one for your souped up Quick silver I hope it works well heh (I see you updated your signature heh) its a Pity sonnet never made Dual 2Ghz 7448 Models those would of really kicked some ass

Yeah, that would have been nice. I know some Giga's are theoretically capable of dual 2.0. The one I sent to bunnspecial was, but I could never get it to boot using 2.0.

The Sonnets don't have dipswitches though, so there is no changing the setting.

I'm okay with that though because they are auto-sensing so I don't have to fool with anything. Like Apple, "It just works."

Apparently, the seller is a Mac user so he knew what he had, but we came to a mutually agreeable price.

Just happy that my periodic trolling of eBay for this paid off this time. Based on the pictures it looks in really good condition.

 

[TxBook]

This is my first post here, just thought I'd join the conversation... I'm the ebay seller and previous owner of this Sonnet card. I'm loving all the PowerPC excitement!

 

[eyoungren]

This is my first post here, just thought I'd join the conversation... I'm the ebay seller and previous owner of this Sonnet card. I'm loving all the PowerPC excitement!

Glad you dropped by!

There are several of us here from all walks, countries and all ages. But we are all enthusiasts and get a lot of enjoyment from our Macs.

Hopefully you can stick around, it's nice to have you.

And thanks again for the CPU. I know I am going to enjoy it!

PS. And just so you know where the CPU is going to go…my Quicksilver.

 

[jbarley]

This is my first post here, just thought I'd join the conversation... I'm the ebay seller and previous owner of this Sonnet card. I'm loving all the PowerPC excitement!

If you hang around long enough you'll probably end up regretting selling the Sonnet card.
PowerPC is really quite addictive.

 

[eyoungren]

SMH, LOL!

This place is really great sometimes. I ended up buying my dual Sonnet from a MacRumors member, LOL!!!!

 

[TxBook]

I love the approach of creating the world's fastest Quicksilver G4! I actually had both the PowerLogix and the Sonnet Dual 1.8 cards, but I recently sold them both and I've got my Digital Audio graphite tower with its 20" ADC display for sale right now. The Sonnet is a rare and beautiful piece of kit, and it was really fun to use.

I toyed with the idea of maxing out my G4 in a similar manner (Sata card, graphics upgrades, etc) but I ended up picking up a 1st revision Mac Pro from a local seller which has become my main machine. It runs Yosemite beautifully and there isn't a day that I don't enjoy using it.

The thing that shocked me about moving from the dual G4 to the quad Xeon machine was that there isn't really all that much that I use my Mac for that I couldn't do with that G4 and the Sonnet chip! I can use newer versions of photoshop and office, and a newer version of the typesetting program that I use, but the results are pretty much the same. The web browsing experience is better with the MP, but even YouTube was pretty enjoyable under Leopard with the dual G4 (Tiger is another story).

I don't mean to hijack this thread, but I am really glad this CPU is going into such an incredible machine that is so representative of the long-term usability and value of PowerPC Macs! And with eBay and forums like this, I know that when I have the time/space/willpower to tinker with G4 towers again, I can! Until then, I have my 12" PowerBook to satisfy any PowerPC appetite I might have!

I hope the package arrives safely and soon, and I'm excited to see the performance of the ultimate Quicksilver!

 

[eyoungren]

I love the approach of creating the world's fastest Quicksilver G4! I actually had both the PowerLogix and the Sonnet Dual 1.8 cards, but I recently sold them both and I've got my Digital Audio graphite tower with its 20" ADC display for sale right now. The Sonnet is a rare and beautiful piece of kit, and it was really fun to use.

I toyed with the idea of maxing out my G4 in a similar manner (Sata card, graphics upgrades, etc) but I ended up picking up a 1st revision Mac Pro from a local seller which has become my main machine. It runs Yosemite beautifully and there isn't a day that I don't enjoy using it.

The thing that shocked me about moving from the dual G4 to the quad Xeon machine was that there isn't really all that much that I use my Mac for that I couldn't do with that G4 and the Sonnet chip! I can use newer versions of photoshop and office, and a newer version of the typesetting program that I use, but the results are pretty much the same. The web browsing experience is better with the MP, but even YouTube was pretty enjoyable under Leopard with the dual G4 (Tiger is another story).

I don't mean to hijack this thread, but I am really glad this CPU is going into such an incredible machine that is so representative of the long-term usability and value of PowerPC Macs! And with eBay and forums like this, I know that when I have the time/space/willpower to tinker with G4 towers again, I can! Until then, I have my 12" PowerBook to satisfy any PowerPC appetite I might have!

I hope the package arrives safely and soon, and I'm excited to see the performance of the ultimate Quicksilver!

Well, I have to say that with this, I have FINALLY achieved all I set out to do internally.

• Dual 1.8Ghz CPUs
• Radeon 9800 Pro
• Six displays
• USB 2.0 (with additional Firewire 400 ports)
• SATA hard drives
• Bluetooth 2.0

Now, I can finally turn my attention to collecting the rest of the Cinema HD displays I intend to use.

I use Adobe CS4 on this Mac a lot (it's my design/layout platform) so this is going to help immensely with that.

Details to follow soon of course. Looking forward to getting this later this week!

 

[bunnspecial]

Erik, I know you hate OS 9 but if you feel so inclined you can run it at warp speed with this processor!

Granted, your 9800 will be a pig, but the 9200 should run really nicely under OS 9.

BTW, I've been wanting to put together a hot rod Sawtooth. @LightBulbFun sent me a 9800 along with a 1.42ghz Giga single. I also picked up a single 1.52ghz Giga two weeks ago, and found "the" Sawtooth about three weeks ago. Even so, I've been putting it off partially for lack of time and also partially for dread of dealing with the Giga .

 

[eyoungren]

Erik, I know you hate OS 9 but if you feel so inclined you can run it at warp speed with this processor!

Granted, your 9800 will be a pig, but the 9200 should run really nicely under OS 9.

BTW, I've been wanting to put together a hot rod Sawtooth. @LightBulbFun sent me a 9800 along with a 1.42ghz Giga single. I also picked up a single 1.52ghz Giga two weeks ago, and found "the" Sawtooth about three weeks ago. Even so, I've been putting it off partially for lack of time and also partially for dread of dealing with the Giga .

Thanks Ben, I will keep that in mind.

Totally get you on the hesitation about the Giga's. There's another acronym I can think of that's appropriate to them sometimes and it would be the initials for Giga Designs.

Honestly, I don't know how that company stayed in business. They work, but it's like an AMC Pacer in the car world!

 

[LightBulbFun]

well at least I never had any outstanding issues with my G4 before I gave it to ben, it was sold as a 1.4Ghz G4 upgrade and it ran as such I was even able to run it at 1.5Ghz the CPU it self is a 1.25Ghz 7455B with 2MB of external L3 cache and I am sure with better cooling on the CPU and cache it could run at 1.6Ghz I got it to boot to the desktop like that but got very hot and twitchy and crashed LOL I Think the reason Giga used 1.25Ghz CPUs in your CPU upgrade is that supply of higher clocked chips was very slim and most where reserved for apple and there machines so as someone else talking to motorlla/Freescale they would only offer up to 1.25Ghz CPUs. I know an upgrade eyoungren would like to find is the 1.92GHz 7448 upgrade for DLSD PowerBooks find a 17 inch DLSD with one of those fitted would suit you very well heh

 

[weckart]

Hmm. I have a Giga Designs 1.6GHz processor ticking away in my Cube. Seems fine so far but it is a single chip design. Not sure the Cube would appreciate twice the heat output in that confined space, although dual chip versions exist.

You have got to love PPC era Macs for what they are to sink that sort of investment into them. For what such upgrades cost, you could get a Mac Pro and run most PPC software under Rosetta probably faster than on native iron.

 

[eyoungren]

I know an upgrade eyoungren would like to find is the 1.92GHz 7448 upgrade for DLSD PowerBooks find a 17 inch DLSD with one of those fitted would suit you very well heh

I did not know those existed. Thanks a LOT! LOL!

Now that'll be on my list and in the back of my head until I find one.

 

[eyoungren]

Hmm. I have a Giga Designs 1.6GHz processor ticking away in my Cube. Seems fine so far but it is a single chip design. Not sure the Cube would appreciate twice the heat output in that confined space, although dual chip versions exist.

You have got to love PPC era Macs for what they are to sink that sort of investment into them. For what such upgrades cost, you could get a Mac Pro and run most PPC software under Rosetta probably faster than on native iron.

The one experience I had with the Giga was just frustrating. I was the second owner. The previous one wanted to put it out for target practice.

If it wasn't heat, it was instability. If it wasn't instability it was heat or power. And sometimes both. The best I could get was 1.73 dual stable at one point.

Reinstalling the OS or doing anything that messed with boot caches often meant reflashing the ROM and starting all over again with an OS X install.

Even Ben has only been able to get it to 1.6 stable. And that's after he planed the bottom of the heatsink - something I had no capacity to do.

Messing with the dipswitches is a trial in frustration and the original plugs for the pins broke so I had to order new ones. Maybe that particular one was just a bad one but it left a distinct dislike for Giga. In comparing it to the single Sonnet I have physically, it just wasn't at the level of construction that the Sonnet is either.

I don't know. Just my experience with them.