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angelmb · Jan 6, 2005, 04:42 PM

Hi, I never have get in touch with a MDD series PowerMac, I would like to get one to replace my 17" 1 GHz PowerBook, maybe if you have or have had a MDD G4 could give me some advice about them.
Thanks.

hotani · Jan 6, 2005, 05:23 PM

they're loud. I went to the MDD from an iBook and just wasn't prepared for how noisy it was!

I've had mine for 2 years now and its still a great machine. I have upgraded the vid card to a GeForce Ti, the hard drive to dual 120s, added some RAM, replaced the power supply (Apple provided because of noise issues), and replaced the CPU fan on my own with a $7 quieter one.

I'm sure you can find some good deals out there, I would recommend a dual 1GHz or better machine - mine is a dual 867 but it still does quite well.

Lateralus · Jan 6, 2005, 05:50 PM

MDDs are great machine, and only some of them are loud. I had a Dual 867 and it was the quitest Power Mac I have ever owned.

The only place to find MDDs right now as far as I can tell is eBay. And unfortunately, they're going for far more than they're worth. I've seen a few Dual 1.25s end over $1,500 in the past few days.

You might want to look into a Dual 1GHz QuickSilver. Just as fast as the Dual 1GHz MDD, a little quiter according to many people, and better looking according to some.

Leonard · Jan 6, 2005, 06:03 PM

Check local Mac user group sites. Some have message boards where they sell and buy used Mac stuff. It's better to buy locally or with a province or state than long distance. Ebay is generally overpriced. You could also watch Forums like this that have a Buy and Sell, or Marketplace, and watch for G4 system in your locale.

NYCFarmboy · Jan 7, 2005, 08:08 PM

I absolutely love my 1.42 dual G4 ... its very quiet...Apple fixed the problems on the noise that preceded the 1.42 duals.

loh · Jan 7, 2005, 09:01 PM

Ive had my MDD 867 for over 2 years and I LOVE IT. Havent thought about buying a new machine yet..... Upgrade your memory and drive space, maybe throw in a faster burner or a DVDR and you're set man. BTW noise was kinda an issue at first, but after the replacement from apple, everything was is all good.

mindwaves · Jan 7, 2005, 09:09 PM

No problems with my Dual 867 here. MDDs are great machines. No thoughts about upgrading.

bighead · Jan 7, 2005, 09:20 PM

I ordered my MDD about 2 days after Apple announced their discontinuation in June of '04. Since then, it's not only been my fastest tower, it was the first desktop machine I've purchased new. I got a significant discount on the unit, but would have paid full price for the speed, reliability, and expandability of this monster.

I upgraded the heat sink to the copper model from the Dual 1.42 FW800 tower, since I live in a warmer climate. I've noticed the temps running a bit lower than before the upgrade, so the CPUs are getting cooled better. It's never a bad thing, and should prolong the life of the CPUs since the machine runs distributed.net almost 24x7.

I've got AppleCare for the thing, so that'll be under warranty until 2007, but I would even consider paying for a repair after that time because of the machine's utility. I don't boot into OS9, but show me a modern Mac that takes 2 opticals and 4 hard disks without any hardware hacks or addon cards.

In my opinion, it is one of the best, if not the best tower Apple has ever made. From a service standpoint, it's a cinch to work on and replace components in. From a user upgrade standpoint, almost any blind-deaf retard could cram a hard drive and DVD drive into it. It's quite possibly the perfect Mac.

<comicbookguy>
Best...tower...ever
</comicbookguy>

Agent69 · Jan 7, 2005, 10:14 PM

I have to say that I have been very happy with my G4 tower. I bought mine in Janary 2004, along with an Airport card, extended Applecare, and 2GB of Crucial RAM. It was been extremely reliable for me.

I have been considering selling it to fund the purchase of a Powerbook but haven't done so because I don't want to deal with shipping it.

mcsjgs · Jan 8, 2005, 10:14 AM

We have been very happy with our 1.25 dual. Robust, truck-like machine. Does get noisy though. Must be a good fan mod out there somewhere, but I haven't had the time to locate it.

Mac Write · Jan 8, 2005, 05:05 PM

Love my mom's and my DP 1.25GHZ/1.79GB/900Pro/SuperDrive/ComboDrive/160GB,

Now that the Radeon 9800Pro is $300 Canadian I will be adding it in Q2 for CoreIamge/Video support. I love this system. Heats up my place, so I am forced to open the window even though it's -2�. I also love the cold

We also have iSights and use them daily to video chat. great system, love the iSights.

spiky_dog · Jan 8, 2005, 05:20 PM

Originally posted by mcsjgs:
We have been very happy with our 1.25 dual. Robust, truck-like machine. Does get noisy though. Must be a good fan mod out there somewhere, but I haven't had the time to locate it.

http://forums.macnn.com/showthread.p...hreadid=209451
http://www.g4noise.com/mods.php?ID=77&p=all

digital audio and quicksilver advice is also applicable to mdd g4s. i have done the case fan, cpu fan, and fan grille mods to my quicksilver and the noise difference is appreciable.

SMacTech · Jan 8, 2005, 08:49 PM

I have a dual 867 and it is indeed loud. it was one of the first ones shipped. i got the replacement power supply but never installed it.

it is certainly fast enough for general use with panther.

angelmb · Jan 9, 2005, 06:36 AM

Thank you all, your advice is really welcome, I love the fact you can place two optical drives and upt o four HDs, that is a real computer!

No issue being noise, I think it can not beat my Octane2

normdzn · Mar 16, 2006, 05:13 PM

Originally Posted by hotani

they're loud. I went to the MDD from an iBook and just wasn't prepared for how noisy it was!

I've had mine for 2 years now and its still a great machine. I have upgraded the vid card to a GeForce Ti, the hard drive to dual 120s, added some RAM, replaced the power supply (Apple provided because of noise issues), and replaced the CPU fan on my own with a $7 quieter one.

Will replacing the power supply alone fix the noise problem? I have a MDD Dual 867 btw.

Kyle Dreaden · Mar 16, 2006, 05:36 PM

I LOVE my Dual 1.25GHz MDD. I've had it for almost three years, I think. First Mac I've owned and still kicking. I'm thinking of adding some more ram and upgrading the vid card to keep the thing on the cutting edge.

My hope is that it will last me until the Intel transition is 100% complete and has a few revisions under its belt.

hotani · Mar 20, 2006, 07:50 PM

Originally Posted by normdzn

Will replacing the power supply alone fix the noise problem? I have a MDD Dual 867 btw.

The loudest part of mine was the 120mm CPU fan. You can find a replacement at a good computer shop for around $10 that will not be so loud.

The new one I bought as mentioned above, was $7 and virtually inaudible. However, with decreased noise comes decreased airflow, so watch your temps. I replaced my heatsink with the Cu version from the 1.4GHz machines which is more efficient than the Al one you probably have currently.

My CPU temp stays around 59C for the most part which is acceptable - it's been running for 3 years with no problems.

Etnier · Mar 21, 2006, 06:20 PM

Don't forget about CHUD Tools and Nap mode: installing CHUD (must be version 3.5.2, not the later versions) will put a Hardware prefpane in System prefs.
ftp://ftp.apple.com/developer/Tool_C...ormance_tools/

Nap mode reduces the load on the processors and drastically reduces CPU temps. It must be re-enabled at every restart. This URL points to utilities which can be loaded as startup items-
http://homepage.mac.com/andydavison/...15/page15.html

normdzn · Mar 21, 2006, 08:15 PM

Originally Posted by Kyle Dreaden

My hope is that it will last me until the Intel transition is 100% complete and has a few revisions under its belt.

I'm with you on that one. I am using a Dual 2.3Ghz G5 at work and I use my Dual 867MHz MDD at home. I feel the difference especially running four or more programs at the same time. I can live with it for a couple of years, I hope. It's just that it's loud and a tech told me that if I change the power supply it would take care of the problem. I just want to know if the power supply would definitely, for sure, for sure make a audible difference. Thanks.

Etnier · Mar 23, 2006, 07:45 AM

IIRC the Apple mod involved changing a fan or two as well as the PSU.

Jerome · Mar 23, 2006, 11:24 AM

Originally Posted by Etnier

IIRC the Apple mod involved changing a fan or two as well as the PSU.

The Apple fix consisted of one fan and the Power supply... and it didn't helped much, only changed the pitch of the sound.

normdzn · Mar 23, 2006, 04:39 PM

Originally Posted by Jerome

The Apple fix consisted of one fan and the Power supply... and it didn't helped much, only changed the pitch of the sound.

Thanks Jerome, that's pretty much what I needed to hear, whether it was worth it or not. I'm not too techy so I could not do it myself. I guess I would just have to live with it for a bit.

Jerome · Mar 23, 2006, 04:45 PM

It's not very hard to do, the instructions are clear and precise. As for the sound, the time you can endure it depends where you put the computer. I never bother to change it for a while because my computer was on some carpet in a very big open room. When I moved and put the computer in a small room with a wood floor, it became quite annoying. So I did the fix but it didn't do much of a difference. I have since put the G4 in a closed cabinet, big enough to have some air.

Etnier · Mar 23, 2006, 05:47 PM

FWIW I have a dual 1.42GHz MDD and its fan noise is about what I got from my 533DP. No problem whatsoever.

68shelbymustang · Mar 24, 2006, 08:52 PM

I just bought a MDD Dual 867 off ebay for $595 and upgraded it to the max. Here are it's "new" specs...

Stock Combo Drive
16x Superdrive
2 GB Ram
4 250GB SATA Drives
SATA PCI Card
9600 pro video card

All total about $1350 for ONE HECK of a CPU. I couldn't be more pleased. Sure it's not near G5 speed, but speed is relative. It's able to handle about anything I can throw at it, plus it'll still boot into 9 so I can natively run all my older stuff. I'll more than likely keep this MDD around for years.

I WAS the One · Mar 24, 2006, 09:41 PM

Damn! bro... you owned my dream MDD Machine right there. I got 2g Ram, 4 HDs differents storage amounts, the rest is the factory same. How much you spend doin that? I mean Just the graphic card and super drive?

68shelbymustang · Mar 25, 2006, 01:09 AM

I bought the Graphic card from OWC ($65) and the Superdrive off ebay ($40)

Phroon · Mar 28, 2006, 01:54 PM

I just bought a dual 1.25 MDD this weekend, and I have been happy so far. The only problem I have with it is that the main 120mm fan has been connected directly to the power supply using a 4-pin connector, so it always runs at full speed (12V), and it's loud!

I'm thinking of getting a medium-speed panaflo to replace it, and connecting it back to the proper fan connector. Problem is, I'm not sure where it is. I'm assuming connector J26, because it's right next to the heatsink and is 3-pin, but I'd like to be 100% certain. Can anyone confirm for me?

Thanks,
Dan Tessier

bgordon · Mar 29, 2006, 03:47 PM

Almost 100 percent certain the 120mm fan connector is the three-pin connector located on the door way down near the case hinge, almost underneath the ribbon cable connecting the front hard drives to the mobo. The hard part, of course, is finding 120mm fans with three pins (I'm not solder-guy, so I have to work with what I have.) I've just taken a Vantec Stealth 120mm and modified the connector to work at 7 volts direct current, bypassing the mobo connector.

Beware the MDD...I've had one of the original dual 1Ghz models for 3.5 years, and I've sunk almost $600 (maybe more) into quieting it (can you say "sucker?") It's manageable now, with the following mods:

1. replacement PSU fans from Verax (M11 kit)
2. copper heatsink from Smalldog
3. Vantec Stealth 120mm case fan modded to run at 7 volts (instructions here: <http://www.cpemma.co.uk/7volt.html>)
4. Radeon 9000 fanless video card.

With all of these mods, it runs pretty quietly in my bedroom, which is cold in winter/spring here in NYC. In the summer, my room heats up (despite central air) and the CPU temps rise to 59.5 C. I've found that 60 C is the magical temperature for the PSU fans (the noisiest culprits now) to start spinning up; so if I can keep things under that, I'm okay.

Either way, it's been a major annoyance/hassle/etc. to have to do the mods that I did. Throw in the countless 120mm case fans I have laying around the house in my never-ending quest for a quieter MDD, and you can see why I say caveat emptor.

- bgordon

Phroon · Mar 30, 2006, 07:19 PM

I found a service manual, and yes, the fan connector is indeed right under the ATA cable for the optical drives.

The MDD I bought already had the PSU fans removed, and a 92mm fans placed in front of the opening, drawing cool air from where the speaker used to be. I've replace that fan with an Antec tricool, which has a built-in switch to select between high, medium and low speed. I've also replaced the main CPU fan with a medium-speed Panaflo, and now the system is quieter than my wife's PC, so I can't really hear it. And I use the CHUD tools to enable NAP mode, so the temperature stays pretty low.