[Maflynn]

I'm thinking of upgrading my cube and was wondering if anybody has any info on it.
So far I know of three companies that supply cpu upgrades for the cube (powerlogix/sonnet/gigadesign). I don't know anything about them, i.e., support issues or quality issues,so any opinions or thoughts would be helpful.

I realize I will need to have a fan to keep the temp down (or one of those new enclosures from powerlogix).

Any issues with the VRM (I think thats what it is called) burning out?

I asked this question at cubeowner.com but things seem a little quiet over there - at least not at the level of discussion/help I'm used to here at macnn.

Mike

[JohnM15141]

I'm looking at doing the same. I think, due to heat issues the fastest processor that should be put in a Cube is 1.25GHz without a fan. I really don't want a fan in mine, at least not a loud one. The Radeon 32Mb Card I have in my Cube has a tiny fan. I'm going to change that as well. I have a Radeon 9000Pro that I took out of my desktop. Dr.Bott has a website that shows how to "Shoehorn" it into the Cube and how to adapt the powersupply to run it.

http://www.drbottkg.com/prod/Radeon9000Cube.html

I'm leaning towards an upgrade that uses the 7455A Processor like the one in the Gigadesigns upgrade I'm curious to see if anyone else has installed this upgrade?

Sorry I have no real info for ya, but I'll be watching this thread for info too!

[Maflynn]

Thanks for the info,

I've been reading reviews of cpu upgrades at xlr8yourmac and so far I like the reviews from the sonnet card.

I do decide to upgrade I may opt for the sonnet 800mhz. The cost upgrade and the speed increase are inline with my needs.

Still reading the reviews and what's needed to upgrade I'm still not 100% sold. I don't play a lot of games, most office apps, internet and development. A faster cpu would be nice but not required. I guess I started to get a little gun shy after reading some of the bad reviews.

Mike

[BugsyJA]

Check out the faq's at CubeOwner.com, they have a lot of info.

http://cubeowner.com/kbase/index.php?page=index_v1&c=1

[Maflynn]

Originally posted by BugsyJA:
Check out the faq's at CubeOwner.com, they have a lot of info.

http://cubeowner.com/kbase/index.php?page=index_v1&c=1

That's where I started and was disappointed in the lack of information.
They had a section within the faq for cpu upgrades titled "
Helpful Hints and Tips: Read this before you upgrade your CPU " but it said coming soon and that was modified last september.

They have a nice section for video card upgrades which I used when I upgraded my video card. I wanted some sort of checklist/matrix documenting what you need to consider, work effort, customer support for each of the vendors.

For all the talk of that faq for cube owners there really wasn't anything noteworthy. I found more useful information at xlr8yourmac.

Mike

[bbales]

I can't speak to the Cube, specifically, but yesterday I put an OWC accelerator (from 400 Mz to 900) in my G4 tower (gigabit ethernet, from late 2000). It works great, it was simple to do and the customer support was good. I had a question on the directions, so called before I even opened the machine up. The guy I talked to was very, very helpful and told me just what I needed to know. (For the record, the question was on the jumper cables part.)

So -- I can recommend OWC for your upgrade, too.

By the way, a couple weeks ago someone asked about the various companies, so I know there was a recent thread commenting on one company vs. another. Do a search and you'll probably find it -- it went into the pros and cons of the various designs. I don't believe it was Cube-specific, however.

I don't do gaming, either, so I didn't break the bank on my upgrade. It cost $265. But I'm very happy with it. The computer feels much faster. (and I didn't do any time tests first, so I can't back it up with numbers.) But I opened a bunch of programs, just to test everything out, and there have been a couple times when I could really tell the difference. I think a lot of times your experiences are so ingrained you have a mental picture of how long certain things take on yoru computer. And the picture had definitely changed.

MacAddict had a cover story in the February issue on upgrading your mac. In terms of processor upgrades it specifically said most newer macs don't need them and some of the older ones (beige-box Power Macs) aren't usually worth the expense, but the middle-aged ones can benefit from them. The article mentioned the Sawtooth, which is a little newer than mine, I think. And I think the Cube is a little older. So I'd say you're looking at a reasonable upgrade.

You might want to check out the article, by the way.

[JCT]

I put one of the 800Mhz Sonnet upgrades in my Cube last month.

Great bang for the buck, my machine is noticibly faster and the upgrade itself was very straightforward. The sonnet instructions are excellent. It's been running since mid-Feb without a hitch. I also upgraded my Ram (to 1.5 GB), video card and HDD at the same time.

I bought it from OWC, you may want to invest in their quieter fan. The one that comes with the Sonnet isn't noisy by any means (I have a 4-fan P4 behemoth under my desk ...now *that's* noisy), but OWC advertises a quieter one.

Be sure your Cube has the latest firmware before installing.

Oh, and Cubeowner is relatively quiet, but if you have an issue with the upgrade (for example) and post a question they'll help out in a flash. Great resource. Especially when it comes to flashing/upgrading video cards

rgds,

JT.

[Maflynn]

I'm looking at the very same sonnet card from OWC.

I've had luke warm (at best) results from cubeowner.com. The majority of the time my questions go unanswered. If its a hot topic like the black cube enclosure from powerlogix, then I will see some replies but most of the time nothing. Kind of disapointing since that forum bills itself as a cube cummunity to help one another.

I still like the FAQ's but they seem unfinished, which is surprising since the cube has been out for a while.

I got most of what I need here - thanks everyone - and from xlr8yourmac.

Now to decide if I want to part with the cash

Mike

[typoon]

Well I have the Sonnet 800 MHz Card. I actually got it from MacMall. They were about 10-15 dollars cheaper on it. It's a great card.