What to do with a Powermac g4 mirror door

[ThunderSnake]

I would like to make my 867mdd g4 the fastest it can be...so I was going to put in the 1.25 MHz dual processors.

Looking on eBay I am not sure what I need to buy and swap. Can someone let me know what is correct?


I was looking at something like

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Apple-Power...5579?pt=CPUs&hash=item3a6639033b#ht_500wt_689

The CPU module in your link will work (Any MDD CPU module can be made to work with any MDD motherboard). With no modification, the module will run at 1GHz on your 133MHz board. Take a look at the 133MHz column in this chart. You can clock it to 1.2 GHz or 1.267 GHz with only removing resistors (you don't have to solder anything back on). For example, to run at 1.267 GHz, you would remove R3, R4, R5, and R6 (R7 and R8 should already be open). This might look daunting, but you'll be surprised at the precision work you can do under a good quality magnifying glass.

An nice tutorial for applying fresh thermal compound can be found here. Note that it was written a couple years back and the same writer probably uses MX-4 now.

 

[ThunderSnake]

How to know which mb needed to upgrade a g4 867 mdd?

Are you planning to upgrade the MB too? Really, it might be more economical to look for a good deal on a working unit and keep your old one for the spare power supply.

 

[zen.state]

The CPU module in your link will work (Any MDD CPU module can be made to work with any MDD motherboard).

This is true but one stipulation on that is if you have a dual 1.42 daughter card it is highly recommended and even a must to use the copper heatsink as opposed to one of the 2 different aluminum variants.

 

[Nameci]

I have transplanted a dual 1.42 on 167Mhz single 1.25 logic board. And it works great.

 

[ThunderSnake]

This is true but one stipulation on that is if you have a dual 1.42 daughter card it is highly recommended and even a must to use the copper heatsink as opposed to one of the 2 different aluminum variants.

Yes, thanks! Very egregious omission on my part. I almost mentioned that I've picked up dual 1.42 modules in the same price range as the 1.25 linked above, but that does bring the need for the more expensive copper heatsink. These are hard to find good deals on and nearly always sell for the $50 asking price.

That said, with CHUD nap mode enabled, I'd be comfortable using the sheet metal version like this one. I actually did this for a few months on one of my machines while I was waiting for a good deal on a copper one. The difference was only about three degrees on average.

 

[Nova77]

I would like to make my 867mdd g4 the fastest it can be...so I was going to put in the 1.25 MHz dual processors.

Looking on eBay I am not sure what I need to buy and swap. Can someone let me know what is correct?


I was looking at something like

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Apple-Power...5579?pt=CPUs&hash=item3a6639033b#ht_500wt_689

Glad to hear you are not taking this machine to the dump... If you plan on doing so, please give it to me instead!!

After buying a CPU upgrade, you might consider buying another motherboard with 167 mhz front size bus, unless you want to try desoldering to make your 133 mhz motherboard reach 167 mhz. From what I've read, it isn't always as stable as a real 167 one, and it might not work at all.... You can always try it and dump the motherboard if it doesn't work.

 

[ThunderSnake]

Glad to hear you are not taking this machine to the dump... If you plan on doing so, please give it to me instead!!

After buying a CPU upgrade, you might consider buying another motherboard with 167 mhz front size bus, unless you want to try desoldering to make your 133 mhz motherboard reach 167 mhz. From what I've read, it isn't always as stable as a real 167 one, and it might not work at all.... You can always try it and dump the motherboard if it doesn't work.

He would also need new ram if he upgrades the motherboard. At that point, it might make more sense to get an entire working machine. Well, economically it would make more sense. It wouldn't be nearly as much fun.

This decision should be made before making any adjustments to the new CPU since you'll just have to solder those bridges back if you upgrade the motherboard later.

OP, what speed memory do you have? I'm assuming PC 2100, but if you happen to have PC 2700 or PC 3200 installed, you can use that with a faster board or first try Nova77's suggestion and see if you can get your own board running at 167 (doesn't always work). Then you wouldn't need to modify any settings on your new CPU module.

 

[76ShovelHead]

Well, I'm hoping to get a PowerMac sooner or later. Reason being, I wan't to "upgrade" it's motherboard to that of an Intel SB compatible one, or even just an LGA 775 and put my Pentium inside it. Then just put my Lion drive in it and bam I got an Intel Macintosh. People upgrade their systems all the time, even Mac Pro's, so thats the best way to look at it

 

[jbsmithmac]

He would also need new ram if he upgrades the motherboard. At that point, it might make more sense to get an entire working machine. Well, economically it would make more sense. It wouldn't be nearly as much fun.

This decision should be made before making any adjustments to the new CPU since you'll just have to solder those bridges back if you upgrade the motherboard later.

OP, what speed memory do you have? I'm assuming PC 2100, but if you happen to have PC 2700 or PC 3200 installed, you can use that with a faster board or first try Nova77's suggestion and see if you can get your own board running at 167 (doesn't always work). Then you wouldn't need to modify any settings on your new CPU module.

PC2600. All 4 bays with 512MB.

 

[Nova77]

PC2600. All 4 bays with 512MB.

If I am right, PC2600 don't exist. Its a system bug that shows it that way (same thing on my MDD). You have PC2700, which is OK for 167 mhz bus motherboard.

 

[Nameci]

Yes there is no PC 2600. It is PC2700. It shows the same too on my dual 1.42.

 

[jbsmithmac]

If I am right, PC2600 don't exist. Its a system bug that shows it that way (same thing on my MDD). You have PC2700, which is OK for 167 mhz bus motherboard.

I didn't think it did, but didn't know of the bug.

 

[aednichols]

This is true but one stipulation on that is if you have a dual 1.42 daughter card it is highly recommended and even a must to use the copper heatsink as opposed to one of the 2 different aluminum variants.

I'm familiar with the copper sink and the really heavy machined aluminum block, but no more. What models did it ship with?

 

[zen.state]

I'm familiar with the copper sink and the really heavy machined aluminum block, but no more. What models did it ship with?

These are the two different aluminum heatsinks. The thinner-finned one tended to be found mostly in the single and dual 1.25GHz models. It's a bit better than the fatter-finned one that I had in my dual 867MHz.

 

[ThunderSnake]

These are the two different aluminum heatsinks. The thinner-finned one tended to be found mostly in the single and dual 1.25GHz models. It's a bit better than the fatter-finned one that I had in my dual 867MHz.

Is that aluminum? I've always assumed that it was something else since it's so heavy. In any case, that's the one I was talking about (zen.state's top picture)--The one that I consider an acceptable alternative on a budget. I used this for a few months with a temperature difference of less than three degrees compared to an identical machine (both dual 1.42) with a copper one. However, I did not overclock this machine until I replaced it with the copper one. Again, as always with my MDDs, this is with CHUD nap mode enabled.

This was a HEAVY USE machine, though. It was before I got my MBP, so I was still using it for encoding video, often running it at full speed for 20+ hours at a time.

 

[Tyroler]

I have an old powermac g4 that is just sitting around with 10.4 installed.

I thought of selling it but it looks like I can only get about $20 out of it...not to mention the $35 to ship it if the person desired.

I do a lot of image editing and thought this might be good for a network file server, but then thought the network would be too bogged down (home network).

So looking for ideas as to what I could do with it before it goes to goodwill or something of the like.

www.Gumtree.com/macs http://www.gumtree.com/macs
http://www.gumtree.com/cgi-bin/list...4+&search_location=United+Kingdom&ubercat=702

 

[yguttu]

Can I upgrade a powermac g4 MD past OS 10.5.8?

Hi, I"m new to the forum

I've taken over a friends Dual mirror Door Mac
I've been contemplating an upgrade as follows:

a faster processor (mine's the slow version 867)
a new, quiter fan (!!!)
upgrading the OS ( current system is 10.2.)
More disk space

Here are my questions:
What is the "highest"/newest OS a G4 MD can take?
In this forum I've seen OS 10.5.8

I"m guessing the disk space/processor speed is the limitation, so in what order should I do stuff?

Upgrade the system ?
Get More Disk space
Upgrade the processor
Switch out the noisy fan?

Thank you for any input!
yguttu

 

[MisterKeeks]

Hi, I"m new to the forum

I've taken over a friends Dual mirror Door Mac
I've been contemplating an upgrade as follows:

a faster processor (mine's the slow version 867)
a new, quiter fan (!!!)
upgrading the OS ( current system is 10.2.)
More disk space

Here are my questions:
What is the "highest"/newest OS a G4 MD can take?
In this forum I've seen OS 10.5.8

I"m guessing the disk space/processor speed is the limitation, so in what order should I do stuff?

Upgrade the system ?
Get More Disk space
Upgrade the processor
Switch out the noisy fan?

Thank you for any input!
yguttu

Help us by including the current specs. That can take 2GBs of RAM. No, you cannot upgrade past 10.5.8. Definitely upgrade the OS, 10.2 is unuseable. Either 10.4 and 10.5 would work. 10.5 is slower but has better compatibility with software. 10.4 is faster, slightly less compatibility. 10.5 is a RAM hog, so if you have 1GB or less go with 10.4.

 

[sheddz]

G4 as Server

Hi,
I'm new to the forum so apologies if I make a faux pas.

I currently run a G4 Mirrored door mac as a fileserver for my home studio. There are two of us working off the machine everyday (web dev, graphics, print etc). The system has been up and running for more than a year without any issues.

I have added two sonnet PCI (can't remember the name) cards (small firmware upgrade to the cards required) so I could install larger capacity sata hard drives instead of the smaller, slower pata(?) drive, 2 of which are configured as RAID 1 and acts as the main drive, another smaller drive for the OS and another as a backup.

I have also installed 'sharepoints' from hornware.com as the system is currently running a standard install of 10.4.x (Needed to add sharing capabilities)

I use Chronosync from econtechnologies.com as my backup software (They provide a OS 10.4 version if you ask). Which backups up to an external firewire hd.

It's all connected though CAT5 GB ethernet via Netgear switch.

I administer the G4 using VNC software as there's no keyboard on monitor attached.

The only issues I've so far encountered is the occasional file permissions sometimes goes a bit funny. It's a very minor issue which happens very rarely and is easily fixed by accessing the G4 remotely and changing the file permisssions as the local admin user account.

I have been toying with the idea of using the G4 as my web dev server (apache + mysql) as well be decided to use a redundant Intel Mac Mini instead.

I recently got a copy of OSX 10.5 server from ebay so gonna install that on the old G4 over the Christmas break which I'm hoping will solve the small permission errors.

I spent a good deal of time online researching everything that I thought I'd need before starting the build and setup. When setting up, it's a good idea to document the steps in case you need to rebuild or back track a little.

Hope that's useful to anyone else thinking about reusing and old mac. If you've got the time and don't mind 'having a go' then in my experience it's a worthwhile thing to do, especially if budget is tight.

Vintage Macs rock

Cheers, Sheddz.

 

[seveej]

I have an old powermac g4 that is just sitting around with 10.4 installed.

SNIP

So looking for ideas as to what I could do with it before it goes to goodwill or something of the like.

This might not be what the OP is out for, but I've seen it done wit a quicksilver, and it should be doable with an MDD:

A nesting box: Remove the innards, pop out the speaker or a drive door, Close the holes in the bottom (tar paper?), turn it upside down, hang it in a tree. It even has a good latched side for periodic cleaning.

RGDS,