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User profile for user: alfonsojon
alfonsojon Author
User level: Level 1
5 points

I'm looking to supercharge my G4. What are my options?

Hi, I'm the proud owner of a Power Mac G4 FW800, the dual 1.42GHz one. I just had the power supply repaired, and it runs wonderfully, other than it's starting to show its age. I'd like to know what I can do to maximize performance.


Here are my slight problems:

- Slower than desired file transfers

- Extremely slow video rendering

- iWork '09 complains about Core Image not being supported

- Minecraft 1.5.2 not exactly playable (~4 FPS, at least 15 FPS desired)


I also have the full CS4 Design Premium suite, and I'd like to get better performance out of that.

My budget is around $200, what are my options? Thanks!

PowerMac, Mac OS X (10.5.8), FW800 1.42GHz

Posted on Dec 2, 2014 3:29 PM

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23 replies
User profile for user: Glen Doggett
Glen Doggett
User level: Level 4
2,741 points

Dec 7, 2014 5:38 PM in response to Glen Doggett

Here is a picture of my MDD with the ATA133 RAID0 PCI card and a SATA PCI card. For a high performance striped RAID, you want each drive on it's own cable, hardware RAIDs will only stripe together a pair of Masters and/or a pair of Slaves. The ATA133 RAID0 card is probably the fastest performance you can get in the MDD with compatibility going back to OS 9. Not sure if there exists a similar hardware RAID SATA card for MDDs. But even a single SATA PCI drive does pretty fast as well. The on-board built-in ATA66 and ATA100 IDE interfaces in the MDD are much slower than these PCI card options.


See how the pATA ribbon cables have to route over the video card and heat sink, very cluttered. The SATA cable is much easier to work with. Here I have two drives in the front bay and just one in the rear bay. There are two cooling fans stuck to the heat sink to blow into the fins, these nest within the drive bracket in the rear bay when closed.


I am planning to migrate my data to the SATA drive and put another one in the front bay, and remove the striped RAID PCI card and drives, leaving the rear bay empty.


User uploaded file

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User profile for user: MichelPM
MichelPM
User level: Level 10
80,980 points

Dec 15, 2014 1:03 AM in response to alfonsojon

I didn't realized you posted twice about your G4 MDD PowerMac.

I have the the slighty slower 1.25 GHz CPU model and I installed a Mac version/flashed ATI Radeon X800XT 256 MB VRAM GPU card, I purchased on eBay, into that Mac.

It wasn't too bad, price wise (I think I paid $125 for that card about 5 years, ago.)

It's a tight fit where it had to go and runs on the hot side, but I also installed a PCI slot fan into one on my open PCI slots to help compensate for the extra heat.

That really boosted the video RAM in that Mac and it worked great in my PowerMac MDD.

In order to use that card in a G4 MDD model, you have to tape off two of the gold connection pins. on the bottom of the card.

I believe you have to carefully tape off (I used Scotch tape) pins 3 and 11, but I am not sure. I am sure two of the gold connector pins needed isolation by taping over them to have that card work properly in a G4 PowerMac model

You still can't play/stream 1080p video, but it does much better job with 480 and 720p video content than with the older 128 MB VRAM GPU I previously installed in my MDD PowerMac G4.

If you can find that GPU card and at a reasonable price, it's a good video upgrade for your MDD. If you have a spare PCI slot, I would, definitely, install an additional internal PCI slot fan to help push out the additional heat that this card generates inside the MDD case.

Good Luck!

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User profile for user: alfonsojon
alfonsojon Author
User level: Level 1
5 points

Dec 15, 2014 3:42 PM in response to alfonsojon

So, after a bit of research, I've found that a Nvidia GeForce 7800 GS is the best GPU I can get, and I've found one pre-flashed. I'm also going to be giving the CPUs new thermal grease, installing a PCI slot fan, and installing a PCI-X SATA II card with a solid state drive. It should be a lot more buttery after this!


I'll keep you all updated, as this might be useful for others who wish to upgrade their G4s. Thanks for all the advice!

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User profile for user: alfonsojon
alfonsojon Author
User level: Level 1
5 points

Jun 11, 2015 11:26 AM in response to alfonsojon

I'm back! After a good bit of research, I've determined that this is the hardware that needs to be purchased, and it will all cost me about $235. Slightly over my budget, but still affordable. I searched for these parts on Amazon; however, there are MANY MANY places on the internet where deals can be had! If you are looking to upgrade your outdated Mac, be sure to visithttps://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/lemswap for good deals. I'm going to try to order the GPU from a user there, and use Amazon as a last resort.


Here's the list of what will be upgraded or installed:

GPU *

* Requires pins 3 & 11 to be modified or taped.

* Requires a BIOS flash.

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User profile for user: alfonsojon
alfonsojon Author
User level: Level 1
5 points

Jun 11, 2015 10:38 PM in response to BDAqua

So, the hard drive went from a want to a need... my main HDD is going extremely slow on boot; the system does not see it until it sits for about five minutes. During that time, I get the "Missing OS" icon, and the boot menu (by holding ALT) does not go any faster, it just sits at the hourglass, waiting.... Therefore, the SATA II card and SSHD are definitely a priority!

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I'm looking to supercharge my G4. What are my options?

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