Upgrade G4 Cube

[flyproductions]

As for the ATI 9000 vs GeForce 3, they're about the same for OpenGL as seen here: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/some-ppc-openmark-benchmarks.1848060/

Yes, in this case i had been able to verify it myself. And GeForce 3, Radeon 9000 Pro as well as 8500 all play in the very same league. With even slight advantages for the 8500 against the other two. But Openmark isn't the best tool to test. The most meaningful results are delivered by some version of Open GL Extensions Viewer from these days, i. e. 2.32, 3.0 or 3.20. In some places even XBench results are mentioned. But for the graphics part, even 2D, they are absolutely worthless.

 

[flyproductions]

...and also the ATI-cards have the by far better and mor versatile drivers for OS 9 and early versions of X. With i. e. the OpenGL Overrides etc. And with ATICellerator even a nice little overclocking utility is available. Butfor the Cube this should likely be better used for downclocking...

 

[jmilan0302]

But you will have to block pins 3 & 11 and give up ADC, so it's far from an ideal card for OP's purposes.

ADC should work but only video and display power, no USB or other stuff.
EDIT: Nevermind, I guess it won't work because the Cube has AGP 2x and the R9600 needs at least 4x.

 

[weckart]

ADC should work but only video and display power, no USB or other stuff.
EDIT: Nevermind, I guess it won't work because the Cube has AGP 2x and the R9600 needs at least 4x.

How so? Aren't pins 3 & 11 where the power is routed through the card to the ACD monitor?

 

[bunnspecial]

How so? Aren't pins 3 & 11 where the power is routed through the card to the ACD monitor?

Power is routed through the tab forward of the main slot.

I ran a G5 9600 in a Quicksilver for years, and have modified a few other for use 4x AGP G4s. On the ones I modified for ADC power, I dug into a stash of junk ISA cards(mostly old NICs) and would cut 3 "fingers" off of them. That then got soldered by a short length of jumper wire to the power tab on the card.

Everything worked perfectly, including USB, with the exception of being able to power on the computer via the monitor power button. With this set-up, the monitor power button behaves similarly to if it were power via an A1006 brick-the button will "breathe" on, stay lit for a second or two, and then fade off with nothing happening on the computer.

 

[weckart]

Power is routed through the tab forward of the main slot.

Interesting. when you say forward, do you mean nearer the bracket? Looking online, some 9600 G5 cards have an extra tab near the bracket about 3 pins wide



Others seem to be missing this altogether along with the hook tab at the other end but those are dual DVI so presumably don't need the power routing.

 

[bunnspecial]

Interesting. when you say forward, do you mean nearer the bracket? Looking online, some 9600 G5 cards have an extra tab near the bracket about 3 pins wide

View attachment 884882

Others seem to be missing this altogether along with the hook tab at the other end but those are dual DVI so presumably don't need the power routing.

Yes, the one between the bracket and the AGP socket.

You are correct that the dual DVI ones don't need it.

Of note, some "hot" G5 cards also use the power tab to pull extra power for the card rather than an extra molex or other power connector. The G5 6800 Ultra, for example, is also dual DVI but has the power tab. Presumably the X800 and X850 draw card power in addition to ADC power-both of these cards have ADC ports but the PC versions have molex connectors.

The PCIe G5s of course don't have any provision for ADC, so all but the base cards require an auxiliary power cable.

 

[ddbop]

Was anybody able to find out the clock multipliers for the Sonnet Encore/ST series? I have a Sonnet Encore ST/G4 clocked @ 1.6GHz, with a 1.67GHz 7447A CPU. I was hoping to run it faster since the chip is faster? I'd really like to try to add a 7448 if anyone has any spare CPUs.

 

[flyproductions]

Was anybody able to find out the clock multipliers for the Sonnet Encore/ST series? I have a Sonnet Encore ST/G4 clocked @ 1.6GHz, with a 1.67GHz 7447A CPU.

If it has a dipswitch-block, settings should be the same as for the powerlogix/newertech 7447a cards:

But i didn't get anywhere beyond 1.6 running stable. So i think also increasing the core voltage would be required for higher clocks. But for the dual cpu-cards wich also have switches for it, i was not able to find any documentation for the settings. And single-cards don't even have the switches.

So i wouldn't expect too much.

 

[ervus]

Was anybody able to find out the clock multipliers for the Sonnet Encore/ST series?

The sonnet cards auto-configure themselves with a micro controller, so there are no switches or jumpers to set. You could override the settings with a soldering iron... If you're going to re-solder a 7448 on there, then soldering should not be a problem for you.

 

[flyproductions]

The sonnet cards auto-configure themselves with a micro controller, so there are no switches or jumpers to set.

Yes, sonnet cards donte even seem to have the switches for the clock.

If you are able to get your hands on and even solder a 7448, please report! Wold be an interesting project, as they are known to run cooler and more efficient with higher clocks. But 7448 upgrade cards are just non existent today.

 

[tweedy7736]

Hijacking this thread to see if anyone can answer my (probably very basic) Cube question:

Can a cube with a GeForce2 MX 32MB video card power/use a 23” ADC Apple Cinema Display? I know the later cinema displays need more VRAM than the stock base Cubes (with the Rage 128 Pro) had, but does the video card upgrade change that? I see a good deal on a 23” nearby, but I don’t want to buy it unless I’m sure it’ll work!

 

[Intell]

Yes, a G4 Cube with a GeForce2 MX 32MB video card can drive a 23" ADC display.

 

[tweedy7736]

Awesome, thanks

 

[jmilan0302]

Yes, sonnet cards donte even seem to have the switches for the clock.

If you are able to get your hands on and even solder a 7448, please report! Wold be an interesting project, as they are known to run cooler and more efficient with higher clocks. But 7448 upgrade cards are just non existent today.

I know some of their 7447 cards have jumpers though. At least the MDD/Xserve ones do.

 

[kremex]

Hello,

I found a lot of discussion in this thread about Cube VRM.
I bought one non-working Stratos upgrade VRM (https://www.artmix.com/PowerMac_G4_VRM.html)
Had anyone chance to troubleshoot/fix it?

When I turn on the Cube using this VRM, LEDs go ON, but hard drive does not spin, black screen.
On the VRM itself, 5V LED (D9) is barely lit or is blinking - which means something is wrong with 5V rail I guess. Picture attached.


With OEM VRM the Cube boots fine.

 

[p4ush]

Apologies for digging up an old topic, but I have a rather cheeky request for flyproductions Assuming they get to see this message..

I currently have a WANG 6200 flashed with the usual ROM, but wanted to explore the improved model you mentioned.

I’ve managed to source the Sparkle model per your eBay link.

I would be eternally grateful if you could somehow share your patched ROM for this, as you kindly mention in your earlier post

Thank you.

 

[DearthnVader]

Apologies for digging up an old topic, but I have a rather cheeky request for flyproductions Assuming they get to see this message..

I currently have a WANG 6200 flashed with the usual ROM, but wanted to explore the improved model you mentioned.

I’ve managed to source the Sparkle model per your eBay link.

I would be eternally grateful if you could somehow share your patched ROM for this, as you kindly mention in your earlier post

Thank you.

Geforce 6600/6200 Rom Makers

did you/they ever get any non PCIe 512MB card working in PPC OS X? I remember attempts at the special 7800 GS Gainward card, but the moment they tried to enable more then 256MB of VRAM it fell over I have to wonder if its something to do with the AGP GART etc so I have wondered if a PCI...

forums.macrumors.com

 

[p4ush]

Geforce 6600/6200 Rom Makers

did you/they ever get any non PCIe 512MB card working in PPC OS X? I remember attempts at the special 7800 GS Gainward card, but the moment they tried to enable more then 256MB of VRAM it fell over I have to wonder if its something to do with the AGP GART etc so I have wondered if a PCI...

forums.macrumors.com

Thank you very much

So if I’ve understood correctly, I need to extract the ROM from the card and then open it in this tool?

I will have a go at this as soon as I receive the card.

 

[flyproductions]

Geforce 6600/6200 Rom Makers

did you/they ever get any non PCIe 512MB card working in PPC OS X? I remember attempts at the special 7800 GS Gainward card, but the moment they tried to enable more then 256MB of VRAM it fell over I have to wonder if its something to do with the AGP GART etc so I have wondered if a PCI...

forums.macrumors.com

PCIe is no problem! Even with PPC. The 7800 GTX 512 i. e. works fine with it's full VRAM available. And others should too. AGP sagly is a nogo. There have been Roms showing the full memory with a save boot. But as soon as drivers are loaded with one of them, booting will hang.

 

[flyproductions]

I’ve managed to source the Sparkle model per your eBay link.

Sure you can have the rom.

But the most advanced 6200 which can be used in the Cube is the actively cooled Club 3D. Do you have a pic of your card, so i can see if the layout matches and (most important) if it has the fast 400MHz memory.

 

[DearthnVader]

PCIe is no problem! Even with PPC. The 7800 GTX 512 i. e. works fine with it's full VRAM available. And others should too. AGP sagly is a nogo. There have been Roms showing the full memory with a save boot. But as soon as drivers are loaded with one of them, booting will hang.

It's in the soft straps, 512MB works just fine, you just need to know how to properly edit the NVStrap.

 

[p4ush]

Sure you can have the rom.

But the most advanced 6200 which can be used in the Cube is the actively cooled Club 3D. Do you have a pic of your card, so i can see if the layout matches and (most important) if it has the fast 400MHz memory.

That is very generous of you, thank you

Now let’s just hope I have bought the correct card.

 

[DearthnVader]

That is very generous of you, thank you

Now let’s just hope I have bought the correct card.

View attachment 1743174View attachment 1743173View attachment 1743175

Unless you compare PC VBios for each card, and they are identical, then you want to used the ROM Maker, cards that are not identical in every way you just can't flash some random FCODE rom to them.

 

[p4ush]

Unless you compare PC VBios for each card, and they are identical, then you want to used the ROM Maker, cards that are not identical in every way you just can't flash some random FCODE rom to them.

Totally understand that. I was hoping the fact that the card I've got seems to visually match the one on the auction link from flyproductions would at least be a good starting point. I will try the ROM Maker too once I can grab a copy of the ROM from the card. Thanks.