Proud new owner of MDD dual 867mhz Power Mac G4

[KingKen1986]

Hey guys I just got a new addition to my PowerPC collection. An excellent condition MDD Power Mac G4 Dual 867 mhz. I have already maxed out the ram to 2 GB, It has the stock geforceMX graphics card with 32mb of VRAM. I was wondering what you guys would recommend for an upraded graphics card, I was thinking the GeforceTi 4600 that was an option for this machine at that time. Do you guys think that is a good choice? I absolutely love this machine, It has already had it's power supply replaced which is good as I know they had problems with them. I will post some pics when I get around to it. Any recommendations or advice will be kindly welcomed.

May The PowerPC be with you

 

[eyoungren]

Well, one of the top mentions for G4s around here is the FireGL X3. It has to be flashed to work in a Mac and you have to tape the pins (on G4s), but it works very well. It's a 256mb card.

You can find a PC one and flash it, or for a little extra there is a guy on eBay that sells them pre-flashed and tested in Macs. He charges around $60-80 for those.

I have two of these cards, one I flashed myself and the other I got from this vendor I mention on eBay.

However, neither card works in a Quicksilver, my model. One of these days I'll get a MDD and my G5 at work back and be able to use them.

But those with MDDs around here have reported total success with these cards so this is a good option.

 

[KingKen1986]

Thanks for the info, I was actually looking at the pre-flashed versions of those on ebay earlier today. For the price it seems you can't go wrong with that card. Yeah you need to pick up a MDD. It feels snappier and much better at multitasking than my single 1.6ghz Power Mac G5. I got mine off of craigslist locally for only 50 bucks, on ebay they sell anywhere from 100 to 300 dollars!

 

[eyoungren]

I will get one eventually. I'm getting it though for the tech advances over the QS, not for the design. I've always preferred the design of the QS over any other G4 Mac.

Fortunately, my QS came with a 1.2Ghz Sonnet upgrade so I'm not hurting that bad. Always on the lookout for a CPU upgrade though.

Some suggested upgrades for you…

SATA card and therefore SATA drives or SSDs.
USB/FW combo cards.

My QS has a flashed SATA card (I got it for $10) and two 1TB hard drives. I've got a Radeon 7000 PCI card, Radeon 9200 PCI card and a Radeon 9800 Pro AGP card installed.

So, yes, an MDD will be cool to own but my baby is my QS.

 

[KingKen1986]

Man that is quite a setup, I would be happy with my quicksilver too, haha. Here's a pic of my setup, I don't have 6 monitors

 

[eyoungren]

Man that is quite a setup, I would be happy with my quicksilver too, haha. Here's a pic of my setup, I don't have 6 monitors

That's very nice.

I will admit that the MDD look is growing on me though.

Cool Warthog!

 

[KingKen1986]

Thanks, I appreciate that. Yeah the warthog is my favorite military aircraft, so I have to keep my model on my desk, haha. What I like about the MDD is that it has the same sides as the quicksilver, correct me if I'm wrong, and a different front panel. I too like the look of a quicksilver and wouldn't have gotten anything but a quicksilver or MDD. I literally had been looking on craigslist for atleast 2 years to find a Power Mac G4 locally, and when I found one I pounced on it...lol

 

[robertdsc]

If you search for "Apple Clear Speakers" on eBay, you can find the Apple Pro Speakers which plug into the port at the bottom of your MDD. They work very, very well. I have a set for my Dual 1.25 and prefer them to anything else out there.

 

[KingKen1986]

Thanks, I'll look into that. Right now I've got a pretty good set of 2.1 speakers but I would like to make my Power Mac as authentic as possible so I definitely might get a pair of those.

 

[eyoungren]

Thanks, I appreciate that. Yeah the warthog is my favorite military aircraft, so I have to keep my model on my desk, haha. What I like about the MDD is that it has the same sides as the quicksilver, correct me if I'm wrong, and a different front panel. I too like the look of a quicksilver and wouldn't have gotten anything but a quicksilver or MDD. I literally had been looking on craigslist for atleast 2 years to find a Power Mac G4 locally, and when I found one I pounced on it...lol

Cool! I was lucky enough to have an MR member close by that was selling his QS. We settled on $50 and three iBook G3s. I got rid of 3 iBooks I didn't want and gained a QS and he got $50 and 3 iBooks he DID want.

Glad you got the Mac you wanted. Waiting for what you want and then getting it is always a good feeling.

P.S. I'm more of an A-7 Corair II guy, but I respect the A-10. Stomping on the rudder when firing that off centerline gun to prevent yaw is one of those awe-inspiring things.

 

[KingKen1986]

Cool! I was lucky enough to have an MR member close by that was selling his QS. We settled on $50 and three iBook G3s. I got rid of 3 iBooks I didn't want and gained a QS and he got $50 and 3 iBooks he DID want.

Glad you got the Mac you wanted. Waiting for what you want and then getting it is always a good feeling.

P.S. I'm more of an A-7 Corair II guy, but I respect the A-10. Stomping on the rudder when firing that off centerline gun to prevent yaw is one of those awe-inspiring things.

Have you flown one? I only fly R/C aircraft....so I do consider myself somewhat of a pilot...haha, but if you have flown one you have now become my superhero, lol. Yeah, I just got it thursday, I put all of my customizations on it and haven't left the desk since..

 

[bunnspecial]

With regard to the "eyeball" speakers-there are two versions of them. One has a long cable, and the other a short cable. The short cable version is intended for the iMac G4, while the long cable version is for G4 towers.

They are electrically identical, although using the correct speakers with the correct computer makes set-up a lot easier. When I was using the "short" speakers with my QS, I found that I couldn't set them on my desk. I put one on top of the QS case and the other on top of the PowerMacintosh 9600 that sits next to it under my desk.

 

[KingKen1986]

With regard to the "eyeball" speakers-there are two versions of them. One has a long cable, and the other a short cable. The short cable version is intended for the iMac G4, while the long cable version is for G4 towers.

They are electrically identical, although using the correct speakers with the correct computer makes set-up a lot easier. When I was using the "short" speakers with my QS, I found that I couldn't set them on my desk. I put one on top of the QS case and the other on top of the PowerMacintosh 9600 that sits next to it under my desk.

Good information to know, thanks. Next week when I get paid I might just order a set of that along with an upgraded graphics card.

 

[eyoungren]

Have you flown one? I only fly R/C aircraft....so I do consider myself somewhat of a pilot...haha, but if you have flown one you have now become my superhero, lol. Yeah, I just got it thursday, I put all of my customizations on it and haven't left the desk since..

Oh no, LOL!

The best I ever managed was a Student Pilot's license when I was 19. Cessna 150s.

I'm just a big fan of military aviation and aviation in general. My dad was an electrical engineer who worked for Rockwell and TRW during the 60's, 70s and 80s though. He was involved with a lot of the major aerospace programs.

I did have a car when I was 16 (1986-1987) though that had a base sticker on it, so I got to pass through Norton Air Force Base whenever I wanted. That was a MAC base so lots of C-141s and C-5s on the flightline all the time.

 

[ptdebate]

Just wanted to chime in on the FireGL X3. It's the best graphics card you can get for an AGP PowerMac (all the way up to the DP 2.7GHz G5). It's an amazingly powerful card and runs very quiet. I've had one in my Digital Audio G4 and my G5.

 

[KingKen1986]

Just wanted to chime in on the FireGL X3. It's the best graphics card you can get for an AGP PowerMac (all the way up to the DP 2.7GHz G5). It's an amazingly powerful card and runs very quiet. I've had one in my Digital Audio G4 and my G5.

Do you also have to tape pins on that?

----------

oops sorry yeah you do cuz that's the same card we were talking about earlier, lol.

 

[bunnspecial]

As a word of warning(and speaking from experience) be sure you track down and install the ATI drivers on your MDD before putting installing the FireGl.

Funnily enough, it worked fine in my G5(which is where I flashed the card in the first place) but gives a funny grayscale screen in Leopard on the MDD when the drivers are not installed.

The PC&Mac edition 9600 does the same thing, although in all computers in which it's installed.

 

[mikiotty]

My QS has a flashed SATA card (I got it for $10) and two 1TB hard drives. I've got a Radeon 7000 PCI card, Radeon 9200 PCI card and a Radeon 9800 Pro AGP card installed.

So, yes, an MDD will be cool to own but my baby is my QS.

Be warned though... MDDs get hot. I mean, really hot. The best solution is to put 2 60mm fans behind the heatsink, above the I/O ports, and one 60mm fan on the intake grill on the front.
The PSU also gets hot, so a 50mm fan above the power plug inside the PSU would be a good idea too (can't remember if it would fit with the original PSU board. Mine has an ATX PSU's board inside, and there is room for a fan) Otherwise, they are great machines (when their PSUs work...)

 

[eyoungren]

Be warned though... MDDs get hot. I mean, really hot. The best solution is to put 2 60mm fans behind the heatsink, above the I/O ports, and one 60mm fan on the intake grill on the front.
The PSU also gets hot, so a 50mm fan above the power plug inside the PSU would be a good idea too (can't remember if it would fit with the original PSU board. Mine has an ATX PSU's board inside, and there is room for a fan) Otherwise, they are great machines (when their PSUs work...)

Thanks!

An MDD is still a very long way off for me yet, but the more I know before I buy the better prepared I am when the day comes that I bring one home.

 

[KingKen1986]

Be warned though... MDDs get hot. I mean, really hot. The best solution is to put 2 60mm fans behind the heatsink, above the I/O ports, and one 60mm fan on the intake grill on the front.
The PSU also gets hot, so a 50mm fan above the power plug inside the PSU would be a good idea too (can't remember if it would fit with the original PSU board. Mine has an ATX PSU's board inside, and there is room for a fan) Otherwise, they are great machines (when their PSUs work...)

Actually my MDD does not get hot at all, It has the updated power supply which does blow quite a bit of heat out the back but the processors stay quite cool, i can run it hard than turn it off open it up and hold my hand on the heatsink indefinitely, It already blows tons upon tons of air out the back I don't think any more fans are needed.

Do you have firmware version 4.4.8f2 on your MDD? That is a cooling fan control update and a few other tweaks that takes care of the noise issues and helps with cooling, you can still download it off of apple's website.

 

[mikiotty]

Actually my MDD does not get hot at all, It has the updated power supply which does blow quite a bit of heat out the back but the processor stays quite cool, i can run it hard than turn it off open it up and hold my hand on the heatsink indefinitely, It already blows tons upon tons of air out the back I don't think any more fans are needed.

My Dual 1.25GHz's CPU Board goes up to 55°C at max, which is not bad, with all the fans running at minimum speed. The problem is the heat generated from the other components in the case. A USB card + 3 graphics cards + 3 HDDs is going to heat up the case a lot, so more fans is a good idea.
A stock MDD can stay cool with just the stock cooling

 

[KingKen1986]

My Dual 1.25GHz's CPU Board goes up to 55°C at max, which is not bad, with all the fans running at minimum speed. The problem is the heat generated from the other components in the case. A USB card + 3 graphics cards + 3 HDDs is going to heat up the case a lot, so more fans is a good idea.
A stock MDD can stay cool with just the stock cooling

Do you have firmware version 4.4.8f2?

 

[MysticCow]

Congratulations on your new Hair Dryer!

 

[eyoungren]

My Dual 1.25GHz's CPU Board goes up to 55°C at max, which is not bad, with all the fans running at minimum speed. The problem is the heat generated from the other components in the case. A USB card + 3 graphics cards + 3 HDDs is going to heat up the case a lot, so more fans is a good idea.
A stock MDD can stay cool with just the stock cooling

I can testify to this, at least with the Quicksilver.

Apple designed these cases with the assumption that the average user was not going to add a large number of things to the Mac. So, the thermal design inside the case is adequate based on that assumption.

In my case however…
3 higher end video cards
1 non-stock CPU
1 SATA card
1 USB/FW card
2 1TB SATA hard drives

I have had to make "modifications" to my Quicksilver's case just to get drive temps into a normal range.

I knocked out a hole in the bottom of my case and there sits a 120mm fan. I've replaced the case fan, the PSU fan and the smaller intake fan with higher CFM models. I removed the speaker and drawing air in through the hole over my hard drives is an 80mm fan.

Both of my hard drives have coolers mounted, which is two 40mm fans per cooler (for a total of 4) and I have one last 120mm fan positioned to pump air directly over my Radeon 9800 Pro.

All of this means that my hard drives operate in a 98-108º temperature range, depending on processing intensity.

The spaces in a QS are tight and my understanding is that it's even tighter in the MDD. So, once you start loading out a lot more heat bearing cards and devices your heat may go up somewhat. I wouldn't think as much as they would in the QS, but heat will be a factor at some point if you maximize your system.

 

[KingKen1986]

I can testify to this, at least with the Quicksilver.

Apple designed these cases with the assumption that the average user was not going to add a large number of things to the Mac. So, the thermal design inside the case is adequate based on that assumption.

In my case however…
3 higher end video cards
1 non-stock CPU
1 SATA card
1 USB/FW card
2 1TB SATA hard drives

I have had to make "modifications" to my Quicksilver's case just to get drive temps into a normal range.

I knocked out a hole in the bottom of my case and there sits a 120mm fan. I've replaced the case fan, the PSU fan and the smaller intake fan with higher CFM models. I removed the speaker and drawing air in through the hole over my hard drives is an 80mm fan.

Both of my hard drives have coolers mounted, which is two 40mm fans per cooler (for a total of 4) and I have one last 120mm fan positioned to pump air directly over my Radeon 9800 Pro.

All of this means that my hard drives operate in a 98-108º temperature range, depending on processing intensity.

The spaces in a QS are tight and my understanding is that it's even tighter in the MDD. So, once you start loading out a lot more heat bearing cards and devices your heat may go up somewhat. I wouldn't think as much as they would in the QS, but heat will be a factor at some point if you maximize your system.

Here is a pic of the inside of my MDD, They added a fan on the side by the logic board that sucks air up from the bottom between the plastic and metal behind it. The processor daughter card has also been moved to the bottom back with a huge fan in front of it when closed, the RAM is immediately above the processor daughter card, with the AGP above the RAM and the 4 PCI ports above the AGP port.