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what can i upgrade on my Quicksilver G4?

A

austinsevo

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jun 9, 2008
175
0
Sherman Oaks: California
heres what i have right now.

PowerMac G4 Quicksilver
867MHz PowerPC processor
512MB PC133 SDRAM
60GB Ultra ATA hard drive
Superdrive (burns CD-R, CD-RW, DVD-R, DVD-RW)
4X AGP NVIDIA GeForce 2 MX w/ 32 MB RAM
IOmega 250MB ZIP drive built in
Firewire 400, USB ports, 56K modem
Gigabit ethernet
Airport-ready
Dual boot OS 9 and OS X 10.5 Leopard
 
svndmvn said:
http://www.macupgrades.co.uk/store/machine.php?name=powermac-g4-quicksilver2001
check that out.
I have the same 867MHz Quicksilver, Love it, but my GFX card sucks, I'll change it one day, I'm getting a macbook again though, sold the rev A.
I'd suggest you start with your RAM, taking it to 1.5GB will make a ton of difference, the GeForce depending on what you do,same goes for the HD.
Eventually,you can change the processor as well:)
Click to expand...

can i go with anything faster than PC133?

i was also reading i cannot upgrade the HD to anything bigger than a 120GB HD.
 
austinsevo said:
heres what i have right now.

PowerMac G4 Quicksilver
867MHz PowerPC processor
512MB PC133 SDRAM
60GB Ultra ATA hard drive
Superdrive (burns CD-R, CD-RW, DVD-R, DVD-RW)
4X AGP NVIDIA GeForce 2 MX w/ 32 MB RAM
IOmega 250MB ZIP drive built in
Firewire 400, USB ports, 56K modem
Gigabit ethernet
Airport-ready
Dual boot OS 9 and OS X 10.5 Leopard
Click to expand...

GigaDesigns used to offer some advanced G4 processor cards that might be compatible with your G4 system, increasing the clock speed upto 2Ghz but it all comes at a price. However, GigaDesigns ain't in business anymore but that doesn't mean you can't find some of their hardware floating around various auction houses.

box01.jpg

box02.jpg

body01.jpg

body02.jpg
 
austinsevo said:
heres what i have right now.

PowerMac G4 Quicksilver
867MHz PowerPC processor
512MB PC133 SDRAM
60GB Ultra ATA hard drive
Superdrive (burns CD-R, CD-RW, DVD-R, DVD-RW)
4X AGP NVIDIA GeForce 2 MX w/ 32 MB RAM
IOmega 250MB ZIP drive built in
Firewire 400, USB ports, 56K modem
Gigabit ethernet
Airport-ready
Dual boot OS 9 and OS X 10.5 Leopard
Click to expand...

Your hard drive looks little and slow. You'd be surprised what a ram and hard drive upgrade could do for you.
 
California said:
Your hard drive looks little and slow. You'd be surprised what a ram and hard drive upgrade could do for you.
Click to expand...

Guess the OP could install a SATA PCI card and upgrade and update those drives... though I doubt it'll speed the system up much, the logicboard's bus speed is still slow.
 
austinsevo said:
can i go with anything faster than PC133?

i was also reading i cannot upgrade the HD to anything bigger than a 120GB HD.
Click to expand...

You have the 2001 version so any drive larger than 120 will not be fully reconignized unless you purchase a PCI IDE or SATA controller. Only the 2002 and up Macs support 128gb+ drives. Like said before, buying a PCI SATA card would probably be your best bet since SATA drives are faster/larger/cheaper then IDE/PATA drives.

You could also pick up a 9800 Pro AGP video card as that will speed things up for you too. I don't think the stock card supports Core annimation but the 9800 does so a lot of your graphical stuff will unload that to the GPU freeing up your CPU making things a little faster. Also you will get some new eye candy too with the full Core image support.
 
OrangeSVTguy said:
You have the 2001 version so any drive larger than 120 will not be fully reconignized unless you purchase a PCI IDE or SATA controller. Only the 2002 and up Macs support 128gb+ drives. Like said before, buying a PCI SATA card would probably be your best bet since SATA drives are faster/larger/cheaper then IDE/PATA drives.

You could also pick up a 9800 Pro AGP video card as that will speed things up for you too. I don't think the stock card supports Core annimation but the 9800 does so a lot of your graphical stuff will unload that to the GPU freeing up your CPU making things a little faster. Also you will get some new eye candy too with the full Core image support.
Click to expand...

ah ok more questions.

1. Will this card work for upgrading the hard drives? i have a few of them laying around. Or are only certain ones compatible? http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16816124001
2. If i use a pci ide/sata card will that allow me to break the 127GB limit on HD space?
3. Do i need a special Mac certified hard drive? or will any work as long as i have a working PCI card?
4. Will any 9800 PRO AGP work? or is there a special mac edition?
5. Will this ram work? http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dl...1451&_trksid=p3907.m32&_trkparms=tab=Watching
6. Can i go faster than PC133 RAM?
7. i have a CD/DVD-RW DL burner laying around, can i throw it in the G4? its a sony.
thanks! im a noob i know..
 
austinsevo said:
ah ok more questions.

1. Will this card work for upgrading the hard drives? i have a few of them laying around. Or are only certain ones compatible?
image-3160356-10521304
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16816124001
2. If i use a pci ide/sata card will that allow me to break the 127GB limit on HD space?
3. Do i need a special Mac certified hard drive? or will any work as long as i have a working PCI card?
4. Will any 9800 PRO AGP work? or is there a special mac edition?
5. Will this ram work?
1
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=280294761451&_trksid=p3907.m32&_trkparms=tab%3DWatching
6. Can i go faster than PC133 RAM?
7. i have a CD/DVD-RW DL burner laying around, can i throw it in the G4? its a sony.
thanks! im a noob i know..
Click to expand...

1. I'm not sure, it doesn't say anywhere that it'll work with a Mac.
2. Yes using a compatible PCI 64bit card will remove the 128gb limit of hard drives.
3. Any IDE/PATA hard drive will work. Make sure you format it with an Apple partition Map and enable Journal.
4. Any Mac one would work. I have flashed PC 9800s fine and used them in my G4s. Note that any 9800 Pro with a red board is a PC card, if it says it's for a Mac, then it has been flashed. You can find PC 9800 Pros for under $20 on ebay. Expect to pay at least twice as much for one with a Mac rom on it. This is known as the Mac Tax ;).
5. I'm not 100% certain as it's High-density. Make sure it's Low Density as it's more compatible. I think I remember hearing some success with High-Density modules in a G4 but you can never be 100% sure.
6. PC133 is the fastest memory you can install. Faster DDR modules won't physically fit anyways. You can use PC100 as well.
7. You should have no problems installing that DVD-RW. Mac OS-X will recognize it and without any additional software needed so you can Burn within the OS-X.

Everyone's a noob at least once ;)
 
OrangeSVTguy said:
1. I'm not sure, it doesn't say anywhere that it'll work with a Mac.
2. Yes using a compatible PCI 64bit card will remove the 128gb limit of hard drives.
3. Any IDE/PATA hard drive will work. Make sure you format it with an Apple partition Map and enable Journal.
4. Any Mac one would work. I have flashed PC 9800s fine and used them in my G4s. Note that any 9800 Pro with a red board is a PC card, if it says it's for a Mac, then it has been flashed. You can find PC 9800 Pros for under $20 on ebay. Expect to pay at least twice as much for one with a Mac rom on it. This is known as the Mac Tax ;).
5. I'm not 100% certain as it's High-density. Make sure it's Low Density as it's more compatible. I think I remember hearing some success with High-Density modules in a G4 but you can never be 100% sure.
6. PC133 is the fastest memory you can install. Faster DDR modules won't physically fit anyways. You can use PC100 as well.
7. You should have no problems installing that DVD-RW. Mac OS-X will recognize it and without any additional software needed so you can Burn within the OS-X.

Everyone's a noob at least once ;)
Click to expand...

ah thank you!

okay so i found a few AGP video cards laying around... an X700 and a FX5500. can i flash either to make them work?

as for the PCI IDE/SATA controller, i noticed 32bit cards fit. it appears the board was made for using some. But ive tried 3 different ones so i take it it "HAS TO BE" a 64bit card.. e.g. the long ones.

also i have a question about the PSU that comes with the mac. is it adiqute for supporting more hardware? like memory/hard drive/controllers?
 
austinsevo said:
ah thank you!

okay so i found a few AGP video cards laying around... an X700 and a FX5500. can i flash either to make them work?

as for the PCI IDE/SATA controller, i noticed 32bit cards fit. it appears the board was made for using some. But ive tried 3 different ones so i take it it "HAS TO BE" a 64bit card.. e.g. the long ones.

also i have a question about the PSU that comes with the mac. is it adiqute for supporting more hardware? like memory/hard drive/controllers?
Click to expand...



AFAIK, those cards are not flashable to work in a mac. But the 9800pro IS, and quite readily available for ~$80 or so.

For the controller card, you MUST have one built for macs with the appropriate firmware or it wont work.....just go to macsales.com & caugh up the $65 for a SIIG, Sonnet, or Firmtek SATA card & drive(s)......I've used all 3 in my QS nottaproblemo. And it DOES speed up the system too :p

The stock PSU is fine. My QS has 1.5 GB of ram, DVD-RW, the 9800pro (which requires a power feed to work) plus a SIIG 4 port SATA card, USB 2 card, 4x 10,000 rpm HDD's, AND 2 extra fans nottaproblemo for over 2 years now...........
 
The FX5500 might very well be flashable into a Mac card.

It is for all intents and purposes a 5200, hence we wrote a ROM for it.

Look for info at usual spots just sub 5500 for 5200
 
SATA > PATA.

Faster data transfer speeds, effectively faster performance. Though you are limited by the relative bus speed of the Quicksilver logic board.
 
yellow said:
Though you are limited by the relative bus speed of the Quicksilver logic board.
Click to expand...

right thats what i mean.. i know on a modern system going from IDE to Sata is a big differense.. but i have 2 IDE HDs laying around at home. Is it even worth it buying 2 new sata's just for the mac? will i notice any difference?

also where do i mount the 2nd HD? i didnt see any mounts for it in the case.

EDIT: i think i found a link.. http://www.kenstone.net/fcp_homepage/install_third_ata_drive.html
 
To be honest, disk speed is not a serious limitation on those macs (I have the same one, heavily upgraded at home). RAM + processor is about the best you're going to get out of it.

The 2nd disk goes above the 1st disk in the tray it's sitting in. And 2 more disks can go to the left of that.
 
yellow said:
To be honest, disk speed is not a serious limitation on those macs (I have the same one, heavily upgraded at home). RAM + processor is about the best you're going to get out of it.

The 2nd disk goes above the 1st disk in the tray it's sitting in. And 2 more disks can go to the left of that.
Click to expand...

about the disks.. it looks like my only option is to lay it on top of the first disk.. no mounting available.. I looked on ebay for trays but not sure which one i would need.
 
The tray that comes with it should have walls slightly taller than the drive that in there, and have screw holes on the sides.
 
It doesn't look like this?
This is from a Quicksilver I have in my office.
Every Quicksilver (20+) I've ever come across looks like this..
 

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