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CarlosC · Jun 13, 2005, 08:51 PM

Hello all,

I'd like to share my experience on upgrading my Sawtooth. (Mods: If this is the wrong message board, than go ahead and move it.)

My Sawtooth was getting long in the tooth with its 400MHz CPU. I've replaced the stock PS with a higher quality/higher watt model some time ago. I also changed the case fan to something less noisy. A DVD-R also was installed (removed the stock DVD-ROM.) I have a SATA card and 2 SATA drives in this machine at well. (I really recommend SATA drives and a SATA card since the ATA speed on the Sawtooth is sooooo slow.) There is a low-cost USB 2.0 card in this machine as well, along with 1.3GB of RAM.

I did the above over a few years, and not at one time. Recently I considered getting a Mac mini, but considered what I would get for spending $600+ (I'm in Japan.) I would be limited in HD space, and stuck at 1GB of RAM. Furthermore, the video card in the Mac mini isn't anything to do back flips over. It's only advantage is size IMHO.

So, rather than spending $600+, I decided to upgrade the CPU and GPU. The machine will give me a few more years of life -- while Apple sorts out its MacTel lineup.

I bought a 1.2GHz Sonnect card. I almost got the 1.4GHz, but I thought the 1.2 would be fine for my needs. Going from 400MHz to anything would be a joy.

For video card, my options made me ponder for a good amount of time. "Get the Mac version of a 'low-end' ATI?" or "Flash a PC card?" I have a Radeon stock card now. The ATI 8500 would be a great choice for my machine, but alas they are hard to find in Japan.

The Mac ATI 9200 is arounf $120, and the ATI x2/x4 9800 is about $224. After much googling, I bought this card:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814102362

Last night, I completed its alteration to a Mac card. Two big thumbs up! Worked like a charm, and the process was very easy!

If you have questions, you can ask me at:
http://www.idevgames.com/forum/showthread.php?p=89447

See the last few posts for info on the video card.

Cheers,

p.s. My Sawtooth is like a dream now! Super fast (for my humble needs!!)

THE MAC GOD · Jun 13, 2005, 09:18 PM

This is cool... I recently upgraded my Gigabit (which I thought was a Sawtooth for the longest time...) with the OWC Mercurty extreme 1ghz... and upgraded the Video to the 9200 Pro with 128MB ram... it was a toss up with the 9800Pro... that being the last card taht can run in a 2x. Anyway, My computer is LOT faster... not a gaming machine, but I can play games like C&C generals, homeworld, etc. I put in three drive (two off the motherboard) and one to replace the Zip.

I also put in a DVR-109 and so far so good! Burns like a dream and fast. Glad you had a great upgrade!

The only thing I wonder about is if we need to upgrade the power supplies.

CarlosC · Jun 14, 2005, 04:28 AM

I'm not sure for the 9200, but for the 9800, it is recommended to use a 300 watt PS. I used some simple directions on xlr8yourmac.com for converting an ATX power supply for the Sawtooth. That was super easy since the Sawtooth's PS/MB are ideal for an ATX PS. With more wattage, yet less noise, I highly recommend it!

Cheers.

yukon · Jun 14, 2005, 04:55 PM

I'm also looking to replace my PSU, with a decent quality one (it's VERY difficult to find a high quality 80mm fan PSU now). Case fan changed and modded. I may install a new DVD burner, but I hate DVDs. SATA card here too and an SATA drive (ATA100 isn't slow, you don't hit it's limits accept in addressing, which I hit).

I also concidered a MacMini, but found the lack of PCI slots, AGP, processor upgradability, and drive space to make my sawtooth "better". So I started upgrading the cooling and storage of the G4 and planned out the proper parts (video, ethernet, RAM, CPU, drives, and PSU to accomodate them). The Intel announcement put a huge damper on it, I canceled the RAM order I had made, I'm not going to upgrade the CPU until I find an insanely cheap upgrade (after the intel machines), the drive I'm not upgrading (bluray soon anyway), ethernet since the card can go into another machine, I will upgrade the PSU to increase the G4's lifetime and quietness (hey, it's cheap), and I'm waffling on the videocard upgrade now....it would speed up the interface, bringing new life to the machine while maxing out the upgradability there...

Unless there's gaming, I'd suggest to anyone to buy a dual CPU card instead of the video card....games are single-threaded so a fast CPU and a fast videocard are good there.

yukon · 09:28 PM

(double post)

IanP · Jul 15, 2005, 03:51 PM

>> I also changed the case fan to something less noisy

What kind of fan did you fit? I've just disconnected the one in my Sawtooth because it was driving me nuts, the damn things so noisy. There are so many fans in there now (GPU, Sonnet CPU card, PSU) that I'm not sure the case fan isn't redundant anyway. Any opinions?

astepanuks · Jul 20, 2005, 05:29 PM

On a Sawtooth note, is nVidia Gforce 4 MX video card comaptible with AGP x2 slot in the Sawtooth?

bossep · Jul 21, 2005, 08:10 AM

Originally Posted by astepanuks

On a Sawtooth note, is nVidia Gforce 4 MX video card comaptible with AGP x2 slot in the Sawtooth?

I have updated my G4 DA. I have now a Sonnet 1.2GHz, ATI 9800Pro, 1.5GB SDRAM. I have changed all fans, PSU is now a 80mm Papst, Case fan is a Vantec Stealth 120mm (but will be replaced by a Papst 120mm, as I believe Papst is less loud-+9. My ATI 9800Pro will get a Zalman VF-700, or a Verax G03 (any experience any one?). My Sonnet cpu will most likely get another 40mm instead of the stock fan. I have bought a SATA Pci card (Sonnet), and a Seagate Barracuda 7200.7 200GB. Having read MACUSER (UK) today, made me less happy. According to the test they had done, Maxtor Diamondmax Plus 9, is far better than my Seagate. The big ????, is if I will notice the speed increasement Maxtor deliver, with my G4 DA with a PCI card?

IanP · Jul 26, 2005, 03:56 PM

Yeah, I saw the MacUser review. For what it's worth, I'm running both a 120gb Barracuda and a 120gb Maxtor DiamondMax (both ATA). Can't say I notice any different in speed, but the Barracuda is noticably quieter than the Maxtor, which kinda means more to me on a day-to-day basis than any minute difference in speed.

I'm in the process of replacing all of the fans in the Sawtooth G4. I've swapped the Sonnet fan for a 40mm Pabst and the difference is astounding. I've got an 80mm Pabst on order for the PSU, and I've just removed the case fan altogether. If the 80mm fan is as quiet as the 40mm version, then this is gonna be near-silent.

bossep · Jul 26, 2005, 04:07 PM

Originally Posted by IanP

Yeah, I saw the MacUser review. For what it's worth, I'm running both a 120gb Barracuda and a 120gb Maxtor DiamondMax (both ATA). Can't say I notice any different in speed, but the Barracuda is noticably quieter than the Maxtor, which kinda means more to me on a day-to-day basis than any minute difference in speed.

I'm in the process of replacing all of the fans in the Sawtooth G4. I've swapped the Sonnet fan for a 40mm Pabst and the difference is astounding. I've got an 80mm Pabst on order for the PSU, and I've just removed the case fan altogether. If the 80mm fan is as quiet as the 40mm version, then this is gonna be near-silent.

The Papst 80mm is really quiet. I agree with you regarding noise and speed. So, you can recommend to replace the stock Sonnet cpu fan, I guess?

IanP · Jul 26, 2005, 05:34 PM

I'd highly recommend swapping out the stock Sonnet fan for a better one. The Pabst has made a huge difference. The only thing to be aware of is that (on my 1GHz Sonnet card at least) the Sonnet fan is 50mm. I had access to a new 40mm Pabst, and had to get a little creative when fitting it.

bossep · Jul 26, 2005, 05:46 PM

Originally Posted by IanP

I'd highly recommend swapping out the stock Sonnet fan for a better one. The Pabst has made a huge difference. The only thing to be aware of is that (on my 1GHz Sonnet card at least) the Sonnet fan is 50mm. I had access to a new 40mm Pabst, and had to get a little creative when fitting it.

50mm, hm, strange! I recieved this answer from Sonnet:

"It is a +12V 40mm fan

Neal
Sonnet Customer Service"

IanP · Jul 27, 2005, 02:59 AM

"It is a +12V 40mm fan

Neal
Sonnet Customer Service"

I guess they've changed the design a bit - my card isn't particularly recent.

Are there any nasties I should look out for when opening up the PSU to install the 80mm Pabst? I've already snipped the fan grill off the PSU case, but I've never cracked the thing open before.

bossep · Jul 27, 2005, 04:11 AM

Originally Posted by IanP

"It is a +12V 40mm fan

Neal
Sonnet Customer Service"

I guess they've changed the design a bit - my card isn't particularly recent.

Are there any nasties I should look out for when opening up the PSU to install the 80mm Pabst? I've already snipped the fan grill off the PSU case, but I've never cracked the thing open before.

But the Sonnet cpu upgrade card had no fan before. You had to use your old heat sink. When opening the PSU, don't touch anything you really must to. It can be the last you do in this life!!

IanP · Jul 27, 2005, 06:01 PM

Blimey, that's a bit quiter then! i've swapped the original PSU fan for an 80mm Pabst now, and the G4 is WAY quieter.

I've added some images of the upgrades to Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/smallpictures/sets/655033/

bossep · Jul 28, 2005, 06:02 AM

Originally Posted by IanP

Blimey, that's a bit quiter then! i've swapped the original PSU fan for an 80mm Pabst now, and the G4 is WAY quieter.

I've added some images of the upgrades to Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/smallpictures/sets/655033/

I am very confused now?? Your Sonnet cpu, looks exactly like mine, and yours is a 50mm. According to Sonnet, its a 40mm. Don't they use the same fan on all? How thick is your fan? 10mm or 20mm.

bossep · Jul 28, 2005, 06:06 AM

Btw, didn't you say that your card didn't have any fan or heat sink? The one you have is the new model! Card+ heat sink + fan in one piece. The older card from Sonnet had no heat sink.

bossep · Jul 28, 2005, 06:39 AM

Hi again,
Did you replace the Sonnet stock fan with the Papst Type 412F (10mm thick) or Type 412 (20mm thick)? I discovered that the later has an airflow of 5.9, and noise level is 18dBA, while the Type 412F, has an airflow of 4.7, and a noise level of 22.1, to me two crucial factors. By the way, the are both 40x40mm.

IanP · Jul 28, 2005, 11:42 AM

>> didn't you say that your card didn't have any fan or heat sink?

No, my card arrived with heatsink and 50mm fan. I fitted a Pabst 412 fan. I got it from a mate who had bought it for a project, and never used it. I kicks out a lot of air, but it's still very quiet (before I swapped the PSU fan I couldn't hear a thing from it, I can only just hear it now).

I'm running the G4 with no case fan at the moment and, according to Temperature Monitor, it makes no real difference to the temp.

bossep · Jul 28, 2005, 12:29 PM

The same as I have bought. I was close to get the 412F, but that one is not as good as the 412. The "F", is noisier with 22.1dBA, speed 5400, and 4.7 in airflow. The physical difference is the thickness, the "F" is only 10mm, while the 412 is 20mm.