[Graymalkin]

After trying to counter some whining about QuartzExtreme I've gotten to wondering how many Cube and PM owners have upgraded their systems in some way. It seems like a sizable majority of forum folk are upgrade savvy but I'm wondering who has actually done it. Adding memory or a second hard drive is indeed an upgrade but not really what I'm wondering about. I'm thinking along the lines of video cards or processors.

[davidflas]

I have a PM G4/466 and I'm planning to swap the stock Rage 128 video card out and replace it with an ATI Radeon 8500 in order to take advantage of Quartz Extreme. Other than that I've added a SCSI II card, a Creative Soundblaster Live! audio card, a second HD and 896 MB of ram. I wish my CPU was faster, but I've always felt that CPU upgrades were not worth the price. Plus there really aren't any on the market that are appreciably faster than the cpu I already have.

[G4ME]

went from a rage 128 ADC to a twin view ADC with 32 mb, i must be a mind reader.

Other then that I got a 2nd drive 80 gig segate, two sticks of ram, 128 and 521, total of 704 MB PC100, a Belkin USB card.

Thats it for now, I kind of want an audio card but the software isn't there yet

[climber]

I have a B/W G3 350 with the following added:

-500 mhz G4 ziff
Pioneer A104 (superdrive)
Sonnet Eide HD controler (to fix rev 1 B/W problems)
Adaptec SCSI controler 2906

I have been using OSX since the public beta.

[joe]

Originally posted by Graymalkin:
<STRONG>After trying to counter some whining about QuartzExtreme I've gotten to wondering how many Cube and PM owners have upgraded their systems in some way. It seems like a sizable majority of forum folk are upgrade savvy but I'm wondering who has actually done it. </STRONG>

I upgraded my Cube with:
-Sonnet dual 500Mhz cpu (and 80mm cooling fan).
-Apple GeForce3.
-WesternDigital 100gig 7200rpm drive JB (jumbo buffer 8meg).

I didn't do this all at once though. I started with the hard drive last fall. I did the dualie upgrade next. The most recent upgrade was the GeForce3 about 2 months ago........joe

[Rev2Liv]

Started with a standard config Cube 450mhz,20gig,64mb ram, rage 128 adc.

Upgraded to:

80gig Seagate Barracuda ATA IV
576 megs RAM
Apple 500mhz Dual Processor module
nVidia GeForce2 MX

I had a GeForce3 in it for awhile, but found the fan to be quite loud and somewhat concerned about the elevated temperatures. I do miss it as it had a crap load of horsepower to run games like UT in 1280x1024 under the highest settings w/o slow down.

The Dual Processor helps X tremendously. VPC 5.0.2 runs slighty faster, Stuffit Deluxe flies, ripping MP3's is damn quick.

The best part about dual processors is that you can run processor intensive programs in the background while still retaining full control of the GUI.

With Quartz and Aqua being offloaded to the GPU, we should see a nice overall speed bump as both take up alot of cpu cycles.

Damn, why can't they release Jaguar any faster?

=ben

[ 05-07-2002: Message edited by: Rev2Liv ]

[pumpkinapo]

For those of you who have upgraded your cubes to dual processors, how difficult was it. I have read about how to do it, but it sounds difficult.

As for my cube...
450MHz Model
768MB RAM
Apple ATI Radeon (Fan version. But replaced the fan with a quieter one. Upgraded from Rage 128.)
60GB Maxtor Drive (This has to be replaced. Too noisy.)
80GB External FW Drive

[D'Espice]

http://homepage.mac.com/mjungowski/pm7300

That's mine, old but still working.

[stepson]

My cube was the standard 450Mhz model, w/ CDRW. i've since upgraded it to:

1.5GB Ram
80 Gig seagate barracuda IV
PC Visiontek GeForce2MX 400 (slightly faster than an Mx200 supposedly)

I want to get a dual, but they're kind of expensive ....

The 10.1.3 update killed my GeForce, i was stuck at 800x600, which sucked. I had to backdate the driver to the 10.1 version, and now everything still works. The card is a 32meg model, so I'm hoping it still works with Quartz Extreme, or else I'll have to find a Radeon or Apple GeForce card. Which kinda stinks, since even though they're older, they're going for more on ebay than i paid for mine 6 months ago (I paid $90, and i plugged it in and it just worked).

Since 10.2 won't be out for a while, and there is a Mac World in the interim, maybe some cool powermac towers will be released, and i'll just buy one of those... my cube is awesome, but it is getting on in years ....

[cjrivera]

Started with a G4 500mhz Cube 20Gb HD, 64 MB, Rage Pro...

Since then have upgraded

1) HD to a Seagate Barracuda 80gb HD (VERY quiet! Much quieter than the stock hd. Sometimes you don't even know the Cube is on.)

2) RAM upped to 1.2 GB - I got lucky and bought (2) 512mb sticks at $46 each, when they were dirt cheap. Seems to make a noticeable difference in OS X.

3) The Rage Pro was upgraded to a Radeon ADC OEM. This is where I am little worried. It is the fanless model, but has a heatsink exactly like the Rage Pro. Temps have bumped up a little bit using "Thermoindock" as a reference (from 30-45 C to 40-60 C) No other problems noted since the upgrade in graphics card. I have seen differring opinions on this card, but there was one Cube owner who apparently did a lot of testing on the Rage Pro, Radeon (with fan), and Radeon (without fan), and found very little difference in temps (using an actual thermometer for readings.) This is what I'm basing my use of the fanless Radeon. I'll try and find that post. It was on the xlr8yourmac.com forums somewhere.

4) I'd love to upgrade to the dual 500 setup, but I know NOTHING about soldering or more intricate upgrading, so I may have to wait for an upgrade path that would be easier than I've seen. Also, the thought of using a fan in my Cube is holding me back a little too.

[Epicurus]

Will an OEM Radeon for a G4 Powermac work with the Cube? It doesn't have the fan. Is there much of a difference between the OEM Cube Radeon and OEM Tower Radeon? Has anybody done this and it work.

[ 05-07-2002: Message edited by: Epicurus ]

[cjrivera]

The OEM Radeon (without fan) that I bought from OWC, was pulled from a G4 tower. So, yes, it should fit.

[cjrivera]

By the way... I did find the thread regarding heat and Radeons and Cubes....

Here is the link to the end of the discussion:
http://bbs.xlr8yourmac.com/ubb/Forum.../000648-4.html

... you can read through the whole 4 pages to get the big picture of what they are talking about.

But the post that made me feel easier about using the fanless Radeon goes like this....

"My final judgment on all this Radeon/Cube/Fan business:

I did extensive testing over the last week with a digital thermometer designed for electronics testing. I charted three temperatures every day for 7 days. The ambient temp, the core temperature of the cube (right in the very middle of the main chimney), and the temperature of the air coming out of the AGP vent (opposite the DVD slot on top).

I did this routine with a tennmax fan, the ATI radeon stock fan, and then the 628-40AB heatsink. (yes that means I have popped of fans and heatsinks and reaffixed them about a dozen times, yet amazingly my Radeon still works!)

Without posting tons of data, let me just sum up in my own words what I noticed. The ATI fan and tennmax fan produce the same temperatures. I did NOT notice any significantly cooler temps with the tennmax. The only reason I would recommend one is if your ATI fan is excessively noisey. The heatsink produced only marginally higher temps. Basically, I my room ambient temp was about 22-28 degrees every day. The main chimney was about 45-55 degrees, and I saw 55-65 degrees for the AGP vent. The fans produced the exact same amount of heat in the main chimney as the heatsink did. The AGP vent tended to be 5-10 degrees hotter with the heatsink that the fans.

After realizing that the temperatures were basically the same with fans vs. a heatsink, I definitely stayed with the heatsink. Not only because it is completely silent (and I love that!), but also fans tend to stop spinning a year or two down the road, the exact day you leave for a two week tour of Europe, and you come back home to a burnt up CPU/GPU. With a heatsink i don't have to ever worry about the fan wearing out.

Thanks for all the help LC. Your advice was invaluable.

Cheule"

Hope that helps.

[joe]

Originally posted by pumpkinapo:
<STRONG>For those of you who have upgraded your cubes to dual processors, how difficult was it. I have read about how to do it, but it sounds difficult.</STRONG>

It's more time consuming than if you were doing the same swap with a G4 Tower. There's no easy way to do it. You have to take your Cube apart almost completely. That means keeping track of a dozen screws and several PCBs and brackets. If you have a background working on computers or electronics that probably sounds easy enough. Here are some key points from my dualie upgrade:

-Adding the cooling fan is relatively easy (apart from nipping away part of the shroud) since Apple already welded an 80mm fan bracket into the Cube. And you can grab power off the DVD (or CDrw) adapter board with a standard Y connector (normally included w/fan).

-You have to either modify the heat sink or use step up plates or a copper spreader to allow both cpus to make contact. I used step up plates from www.tennmax.com. They're not listed at their site except in a review of one of their products. You have to email and ask - they're a buck each and so is the special double stick tape.

-There is no soldering required if you choose the Sonnet dualie. The Apple dualies require you to unsolder and relocate a coil.

Those are the only rough spots. Be sure to purchase the fan and heat sink mods before you begin. That will garauntee you the shortest amount of downtime........joe

[Mac Zealot]

Just a 128meg stick in my g4 here, going to replace that with 1.5gb in the near future

[drjoe]

It says Power Macintosh on the front of by G3 DT Beige so I guess it qualifies. Then:

768 meg of Ram [up from 64] - this was a rev A beige

IBM deskstar 45 gig up from the 4 gig WD. [now living in the attic instead of the basement]

ATI Radeon 16 meg - an OEM card equivalent to the Orion.[a pull I guess] so now I can watch DVD's

An LG CDR/DVD-rom in place of the original matsushita

The CompUSA 'wonder' PCI USB/Firewire card

Initio Miles SCSI UW riding herd on a pair of 9 gig Ultrawide Deskstars with Apple's OSX striped array

KLR8 500 G4 ZIF

OS 10.1.4

XLR8 scrolling USB mouse

iMic 'cause the audio in in kind of flakey on the sound-in ports ever since 10.1.2

Before you all tell me how foolish it is to spend so much money upgrading, bear in mind that this was done over a four ear period. No one would do this much upgrading all at once but over a period of time it makes sense. I think. Looking at it, all that seems to be left of the original machine is the mobo, the case, and the power supply. Oh, by the way, did I tell you how much I LOVE my beige?

[drjoe]

It says Power Macintosh on the front of by G3 DT Beige so I guess it qualifies. Then:

768 meg of Ram [up from 64] - this was a rev A beige

IBM deskstar 45 gig up from the 4 gig WD. [now living in the attic instead of the basement]

ATI Radeon 16 meg - an OEM card equivalent to the Orion.[a pull I guess] so now I can watch DVD's

An LG CDR/DVD-rom in place of the original matsushita

The CompUSA 'wonder' PCI USB/Firewire card

Initio Miles SCSI UW riding herd on a pair of 9 gig Ultrawide Deskstars with Apple's OSX striped array

KLR8 500 G4 ZIF

OS 10.1.4

XLR8 scrolling USB mouse

iMic 'cause the audio in in kind of flakey on the sound-in ports ever since 10.1.2

Before you all tell me how foolish it is to spend so much money upgrading, bear in mind that this was done over a four ear period. No one would do this much upgrading all at once but over a period of time it makes sense. I think. Looking at it, all that seems to be left of the original machine is the mobo, the case, and the power supply. Oh, by the way, did I tell you how much I LOVE my beige?

[digdog]

Originally posted by joe:
I upgraded my Cube with:
-Sonnet dual 500Mhz cpu (and 80mm cooling fan).
-Apple GeForce3.
-WesternDigital 100gig 7200rpm drive JB (jumbo buffer 8meg).

GeForce3? You mean this one?
http://www.macsonly.com/arch00201.html#gf3cube

--
I want one

[ 05-10-2002: Message edited by: digdog ]

[maxintosh]

My mother is getting a new iMac and so I'm getting her old Cube cause my PowerBook G3 is feeling soooo slow lately. I love the cube, except it's noisy as hell, though, so on a quest to make it dead quiet, I'm doing the following upgrades/mods:

- Replacing the Radeon OEM noisy-ass fan with a Tennmax Lasagna iOp 5V cooler

and

- Replacing the even noisier OEM 20 GB hard drive with the dynamic fluid bearing Seagate 60 GB, or maybe the 80 GB, because everyone says they're really quiet.

I have a question for everyone. The USB speakers, well, suck, so I want to use the analog speakers I use for my Book right now. I have an iMic adapter. Can I just use that in place of the USB speakers that came with it? Will the Cube recognize it when it loads its USB sound firmware?

Thanks

[ 05-10-2002: Message edited by: maxintosh ]

[De Luca]

Originally posted by maxintosh:
<STRONG>My mother is getting a new iMac and so I'm getting her old Cube cause my PowerBook G3 is feeling soooo slow lately. I love the cube, except it's noisy as hell, though, so on a quest to make it dead quiet, I'm doing the following upgrades/mods:

- Replacing the Radeon OEM noisy-ass fan with a Tennmax Lasagna iOp 5V cooler

and

- Replacing the even noisier OEM 20 GB hard drive with the dynamic fluid bearing Seagate 60 GB, or maybe the 80 GB, because everyone says they're really quiet.

I have a question for everyone. The USB speakers, well, suck, so I want to use the analog speakers I use for my Book right now. I have an iMic adapter. Can I just use that in place of the USB speakers that came with it? Will the Cube recognize it when it loads its USB sound firmware?

Thanks

[ 05-10-2002: Message edited by: maxintosh ]</STRONG>

Yes the iMic is recognized by the built in USB Audio drivers. You can keep both plugged in but only one set can operate at a time. If you only have your iMic plugged in, you will no longer hear a startup chime (no biggie).

[fourstarcltv]

Originally posted by Graymalkin:
<STRONG>After trying to counter some whining about QuartzExtreme I've gotten to wondering how many Cube and PM owners have upgraded their systems in some way. It seems like a sizable majority of forum folk are upgrade savvy but I'm wondering who has actually done it. Adding memory or a second hard drive is indeed an upgrade but not really what I'm wondering about. I'm thinking along the lines of video cards or processors.</STRONG>

i've replaced the stock 16meg rage 128 with a 32meg geforce 2mx and am most looking forward to reaping the benefits once 10.2 arrives.

oh, and i've added a few sticks of ram.

[Ron Goodman]

G4 Gigabit Ethernet(AGPx2):

Sonnet DP 500 Upgrade
Adaptec 2906 SCSI card for my scanners
Bumped memory to 1.2G
Second hard drive
And in anticipation of Quartz Extreme, Radeon 8500 card

[Mac Zealot]

added 128mb ram to my dp800.

nothing else

[tr]

G4 450 Sawtooth

1.5 GB RAM
2 IBM 75GXP 45 GB drives
1 IBM 60GXP 60 GB drive (using a firewire/IDE bridge board and the internal firewire port, try that Quicksilvers )
Pioneer DVR-A03 DVD-RW
Adaptec 2930 SCSI card

next upgrade is probably going to be a Radeon 8500, to use QE. i might also try OC'ing or getting that new xlr8 550 upgrade. i wish i had a faster cpu, or a dual, but unfortunately i have a UNI-N rev 3 sawtooth


tr

[ 05-11-2002: Message edited by: tr ]

[Leonis]

Originally posted by Mac Zealot:
<STRONG>added 128mb ram to my dp800.

nothing else </STRONG>

Oh that's insane for an expensive setup

[joe]

Originally posted by digdog:
<STRONG>

GeForce3? You mean this one?
http://www.macsonly.com/arch00201.html#gf3cube

--
I want one </STRONG>

Yes! I bought it for $199 from OWC. Still have my original Cube Radeon though in case I get a 2nd Cube.

It is an Apple OEM GeForce 3 (VGA and ADC ports). I use the ADC port to my 15" Apple Studio Display - although I've also used it with my 17" Apple Studio CRT. That was the last CRT Apple sold - 17" flat square CRT display (ADC-only).

Also, I upgraded to a dual 500 Sonnet cpu. So those benchmarks are just a tad off. Try 113fps at default HQ with the GF3 and the latest Quake3 v1.31 (Quake3 v1.17 doesn't take advantage of dualies)!!! A single 500MHz cpu just doesn't have enough power to push the GF3 very hard. For that matter, neither does a dual 500. But at least my Cube is ready just in case some manufacturer comes out with a dual 800 or dual gig that will fit the Cube .........joe

[ranga]

I have upgraded my PowerMac G4/400 (Sawtooth). It has a PNY Vertio GeForce2MX
64 MB video card, 1 GB RAM and a second hard drive (60 GB Seagate). I used to
have a SCSI card and a TV tuner card, but I took them out because my machine
would sleep properly in OS X.

I'm planning on buying a IDE RAID controller. Any recommendations?

--ranga

[chatwood2]

I started with a G4 533 with 128MB RAM, GeForce 2MX, and the stock 40 GB HD, with a Hitachi 19" CRT

It is now:
1024 MB RAM
ATTO UL3D with 2 Seagate 18 GB X15 drives (first gen)
Formac Proformance3 with SGI daughter card attached to SGI 1600sw

I am waiting on a SGI multilink so I can hookup up my other 1600sw to the GeForce 2MX, I cannot wait!! 3200x1024 is going to be soo nice.

- Chris

[Jansar]

Upgraded my Cube video card from a Rage 128 to a Radeon.

The Radeon fried, and I'm back to the Rage 128 (talk about slow ass)...

However, my other specs are...
500 MHz G4
256 RAM
30 GB HD

[osiris]

I have an aging G4 400 AGP Sawtooth, over the years I've made these upgrades:

1) Replaced a Rage 128 with a Radeon 32mb card
2) Added a IBM 75GXP HD - great drive and fast!
3) Swapped out all ram and added two 512mb DIMMS
4) Added a SCSI card and an Ultra Wide SCSI card
5) Use G4 Strip to boost backside cache to a 1:1.5 ratio for that little extra kick.

I love this machine, even though it seems a bit slow with OS X - it flies under OS 9
and it is the most reliable computer I have ever owned.

[Epicurus]

Originally posted by Jansar:
<STRONG>Upgraded my Cube video card from a Rage 128 to a Radeon.

The Radeon fried, and I'm back to the Rage 128 (talk about slow ass)...

However, my other specs are...
500 MHz G4
256 RAM
30 GB HD</STRONG>

How did it fry? Was it the Radeon w/out the fan? Were you pushing it hard, or just regular use.

[Jansar]

Originally posted by Epicurus:
<STRONG>

How did it fry? Was it the Radeon w/out the fan? Were you pushing it hard, or just regular use.</STRONG>

In the future, just don't be like me and try to fly your computer somewhere in an airplane. For some reason, the fact it was airborne gave it reason to fry on me.