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roders · Dec 28, 2003, 08:07 AM

I have a 450 G4 Cube with NvGf2Mx, CDRW, 448Mb Ram, and 20 gig 5400rpm HD.
I want to upgrade it to play games a little better, for a minimum amount of cash, or for the best $$ per fps.
I'm thinking a CPU upgrade is my best, and I'm diggin the new Gigadesigns Cube 1Ghz (tweakable to 1.2) fanless CPU upgrade.
The only better vid card's that will fit without modification are the 64MB version of my card fitted to the Dual 800 Quicksilvers (when they were top of the line) and the Geforce 3, which I think will be hard to find, and too costly/not very good value for the price (although I'd like one, in fact if anyone has either of these cards and is thinking of selling them, please contact me!) second on my list would be a FAST HD (7200rpm, 8MB cache) and then some more ram (all three slots are in use at the moment so I'd have to chuck some away, not very good value for money).
So do I have my priorities in the right order for the best gaming upgrades per bang/fps, per buck?
What do you think?
Anyone have any experience of upgrading a G4 Cube a bit for gaming, and were the results worth it?

P.S I've noticed that Powerlogix CPU upgrades come with 512k Lvl 2 cache (incl. their cube cpu upgrade) like most of Apples pro products do now, where as the Gigadesigns CPU comes with only 256k Lvl 2 cache (as well as a generous Lvl 3 cache, as does the powerlogix cpu upgrade) my question is; do you think OSX is being tuned for large Lvl 2 cache's at the expense of Lvl 3 cache performance, or is it all about even at the end of the day?

Maflynn · Dec 28, 2003, 10:01 AM

Originally posted by roders:
I have a 450 G4 Cube with NvGf2Mx, CDRW, 448Mb Ram, and 20 gig 5400rpm HD.

go to www.cubeowners.com they have a comprehensive faq on upgrades. The talk there seems to lean towards the powerlogix upgrades for reliablity and support, so check them out. Also a faster hard drive as you mentioned is a must.

the thing to remember is the cube cools itself by convection and so you may need to install a fan if your going to start putting in some faster components.

Good luck, the cube is an awesome machine and I wish Apple would release a g5 version.
Mike

saru boy · Dec 28, 2003, 10:25 AM

Apple OEM GeForce3 - around $400 on eBay.
1Ghz/1.2Ghz upgrade - around $400-450.
New fast(er) 120GB 7200rpm hard drive - around $90.

You're talking close to a thousand bucks. If you want to play games, build a PC. For a thousand bucks you could put together something that would smack the Cube (and most other Macs) around silly when it comes to frame rates, etc. As much as OSX and the new G5s kick butt, the "best $$ per fps" is found in the PC world.

I have a Cube that I upgraded with 1GB of RAM, a 80GB 7200rpm HD, and an Apple OEM GF2MX. I looked at how I could improve performance further and the options were just too expensive for whatever speed gains they offered...

Lateralus · Dec 28, 2003, 02:37 PM

Upgrade your cube for gaming by buying a Nintendo GameCube.

roders · Dec 28, 2003, 10:03 PM

Thanx 4 the replies, I'm not going to be "JUST" gaming, but it's the only thing it can't do well enough at the moment, I know roughly what to expect performance wise from these upgrades for the other stuff I do (light audio and Web design) but I also like to relax with a game after working, hence upgrading primarily for gaming.

P.S is the Ati radeon 7500 really that much better than a NvGf2Mx on the Mac?

I think I'm gonna get a the CPU upgrade (1Ghz) , smallish/quite/fast HD, and a little extra Ram (which i can get real cheap).

bbales · Dec 29, 2003, 08:39 PM

My new MacAddict magazine just came today and has an extensive article on upgrading. Take a look at it. (I think it's on page 16 -- don't ask me why I can remember THAT.) I think you'll find it useful -- it specifically mentions the sawtooth; it's one of 4 separate, disparate computers editors/whoever upgraded. Talks about the best things for various functions, prices, what's worth the money and what's not, etc. etc. etc.

roders · Dec 29, 2003, 09:18 PM

Thanks 4 the heads up bbales!

P.S does anyone know somewhere that sells these for a reasonable price in the UK, ideally with 0% credit?

bbales · Dec 30, 2003, 07:36 AM

try the macaddict.com web site and see if you can get the article online.

bbales · Dec 30, 2003, 07:49 AM

OK, just checked. The web site still has the December magazine online. but I'd say January must be coming along any day now. Check later in the day, in fact.

As for inexpensive -- hmm, just thought of libraries. I don't if many carry that magazine, though. But give it a try.

roders · Jan 2, 2004, 01:29 AM

Am I right in thinking the Apple OEM ATI 7500 (fitted as standard to the SP 800 QS ) fits straight in the Cube withought modification?

P.S Is it Ok to run this card fanless, and do you think it would be a better card all round than the Twinview 64MB Vram NvGf2Mx?

roders · Jan 2, 2004, 01:51 AM

Does the Rad7500 fit in the Cube with just a faceplate swap (if pulled from a tower), or does the Cubes faceplate need to be removed alltogether or machined to fit the ADC and VGA portss on the Vid card?