Building an Unreasonably Fast Power Mac G4
Vložit
- čas přidán 9. 09. 2022
- Head to squarespace.com/ActionRetro to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain using code ActionRetro
I'm finally doing it - upgrading the computer that I used to use daily way back when... to an absolutely unreasonable level. We're talking 2GHz on a Graphite G4 Power Mac!
LINKS:
🍎 Sorbet Leopard: macintoshgarden.org/apps/sorb...
🍎 PPC Minecraft: macintoshgarden.org/games/min...
🍎 Brian's Computer Retreat: / @brianscomputerretreat...
(Amazon links are affiliated links)
══════════════════════════
💾 For more vintage Apple stuff, please subscribe: czcams.com/users/ActionRetro?s...
💾 Support these retro computing shenanigans on Patreon! / actionretro
══════════════════════════
Check out my Amazon page with links to my tools, adapters, soldering equipment, camera gear and more: www.amazon.com/shop/actionretro
══════════════════════════
💬 Come talk about old computers on the BitBang Social Mastodon! bitbang.social
══════════════════════════
#PowerMac #G4 #Overclocked - Věda a technologie
I love how you censored applying the thermal paste so people wouldn't talk about how you put too much or less compound.
This man is not an amateur confirmed.
glad you explained, doc
It's too much obviously, mans insane with those amounts!
Not his first rodeo
I mean it's better to put alot then put less from how others say it
hey sean! thanks for trying out my minecraft 1.8.9 "PORT" to power pc. hope you enjoy it.. but it seems like someone lifted my release from the vintageapplereddit and put it onto the garden though :( but yeah the missing texures. no idea why some textures dont want to work. the 1.6.4 port (not released yet) does not have any issues with the new textures like horses
How were you able to get past the Java 6 limitations of 1.6? Were there any major challenges you had to deal with?
I appreciate the homestar runner reference...Consumate vs! The s is for Sean...I mean sucks.
I tried it on my iMac G4 and on servers it’s actually very playable at 40/50 FPS
@@mato_oppita3167 yeah it's quite neat the 1.6.4 for whatever reason no game audio.. Besides that 80 fps on a dual cpu 2 ghz g5 single player.
You made that port? Awesome! I use it on my G5 to play LAN with friends, works great!
I've seen MODERN computers run MC less stably than that, lol
Incredible upgrade
Dude, my 2010's HP mini, ran way worse than his STOCK 1999 g4 mac processor. Not even talking about the crazy upgrade.
It's just crazy how these machines are nice, and intel atoms are the total opposite of it
@@eduardoavila646: Yeah, in fairness the Atom “processors” were nasty, cheap and atrociously underpowered, though.
Intel really shamed themselves with that one.
@@stevearkwright indeed, my 1998 k6-2 desktop had better performance than my 08 atom netbook
@@eduardoavila646 IMO the Atoms were pretty much manufactured E-waste.
Your thermal compound wasn't pixelated enough...needs more pixelation for proper cooling.
i did 69
I miss Druaga. Ian, whatever you're doing ATM I hope you're well. CZcams hasn't been the same since you left.
When I was young, I owned a PowermacG4, gigabit ethernet though. I upgraded it from 400Mhz, to a dual 1.2Ghz and I used it regularly up until 2011, then sporadically after that. Its mobo finally died only in late 2020, just after it turned 20 years old. These were amazing machines and I did a lot of high end work and play on it back in the day. I still have plans to resurrect it, I have a new mobo for it, just haven't got around to dealing with it.
Heh, I love these old Power Macs. So much tinkering to be done to them!
Can be said with many popular old PCs, they're all fun! When they don't break (heck, even when they do break!)
@@atemoc
Which makes modern macs even more depressing because they can’t be tinkered with at all
@@ilcool90 That's true for most modern electronics :-(
@@atemoc shhhhh we dont talk about that on the internet. Apple bad, "10 year old ASUS PC that sounds like a prop plane on takeoff, but i can totally fit a 3080 in there way cheaper bro" good.
Loved the Digital Audio PowerMacs. I upgraded mine with a dual 1.8Ghz Sonnet Card, and it was great, albeit running a bit unstable at that speed. Like you, I sold mine, and am filled with regrets. Would be a great addition to my current collection.
I had two of them I trashed them cuz they would not sell lol
@@jordanplays-transitandgame1690: Oh, no! How could you? What a dreadful and, as it turns out, shortsighted thing to do.
Hopefully, someone else retrieved them and gave them upgrades and TLC. Lots of upgrades and TLC!
@@stevearkwright Someone took one of them lol. Hopefully he does something better!
Say it with me fellow Home improvement fans "More Power!!"
More power?
More Powwaaaa
*Aggressive Grunting*
aurgh aurgh aurgh!!
*Looks over fence*
Awesome work Sean, I love watching your videos. I used to be a machead? back in the early 2000s as well. My daily driver was a 1.25ghz MDD. Awesome machine. I have so much love for the G4 platform, it's where I transitioned from being a teen playing games, to creating content and getting involved in the community online here in Australia.
G4 glory days are both yesterday and today, love it! Thank you for your work!
My dad had one of those G4's when I was a kid. Like you, it's one of my all-time favourite designs, there's just something so sleek about it, even today. It's only narrowly beaten out by the G4 iMac, that things still futuristic looking even today
Also, the Druaga1 references always make me laugh
"Hey there, shmokerz, druaga1 here..."
G4 MDD 1,42 is my dream collectors item. Wanted it for 20 years now.. love the video Sean ❤️
I have one of these w/ an old beige Mac external mass storage unit tucked away in a closet. It was given to me years ago by a professional musician friend who was clearing out old gear. I've literally never even set it up and turned it on. This vid has definitely peaked my curiosity. I've also got a dual CPU G5 tower (no HDD) w/ matching 20" cinema display given to me by another friend, as well as my 1st ever computer...
A Rev-B original Bondi Blue iMac w/ maxed ram. Ha!
All three crammed into an apartment closet.
Well, not the cinema display. I'm actually using that with a 2013 (i7-4770/GTX-750M/256gb NVME) iMac that I got "as is" for $50 and refurbished/upgraded myself for audio production (Catalina).
I'm also running a maxed out 2008 iMac as a breakout VST instrument/ Retro Nintendo (NES/SNES/N64) gaming emulator!
"NeRd!!!"
LMAO!
I'm just gonna do something before I watch this video so I enjoy it 420% more.
weed
I had one of these G4's back in the day! It was actually my first touch to the Mac world, it had 800MHz G4(managed to modify it to run at 866MHz) and 1.5GB of RAM.
I've a very similar graphite Power Mac laying around, didn't know such insane tuning was possible nowadays. Great Video!
Inspired by your videos, i took a 1999 g4 400 tower that i inherited after a data recovery and fitted 2 internal drives: a 120gb ssd through an ide/sata bridge to the mobo ide (128 limit) and i took an ide/firewire bridge left over from an external case and wired it up, fitting a 500gb ide drive to the internal firewire port. good fun :)
It's a shame Apple didn't keep going with PPC, but look at them now.
amazing upgrade, thanks
Definitely becoming my favorite retro computer CZcams show!
Before discovering this Channel i hated old Macs..now i have to admit this Is a very interesting world! Nice vid as always
Love the pixellation on cpu cooler installation. Though I can’t imagine anyone criticizing you!
I like these videos you do just for your own fun and what you find important to yourself.
One of my favourites too!!! I had a used g3 that I ran my first Apache server on in HS. Web based VNC to read hackaday on the schools's computers 😎
Nicely done.
I have one of these upgraded to 1.5ghz maxed out memory and for some reason I decided to run a radeon 9800 on it.
And got the same problem with the power supply.
It runs 10.4 well enough, but when I boot in 10.5, it crashes after 5 minutes.
Now, I remember hearing that it is possible to adapt a standard ATX power supply to work on the mac, but for the life of me I couldn't understand it or make it work. I'd be thrilled if you made a video about this subject. I really want to make mine work.
Love this type of video! I know you have an affinity for Power PC architecture, but any interest in doing a similar “max upgrade path” in some of the initial intel product offerings from Apple over the years? Something like the Core line of the Mac mini’s, etc.
Thanks for the awesome content!
This is exactly the type of channel I was looking for. Awesome man.
thank you for another great video this video makes me want to upgrade my G4 😀
My first laptop was a Powerbook Pismo. Loved that machine. Ran PPC Debian on it for years.
Very cool video, was sent to me by the algo, subbed and looking forward to seeing more in the future.
I have 4 older macs like this I have that very Mac as well and a newer version that has dual processors in it also have a quicksilver version at 867mhz and finally a original G3 Mac running at 380mhz with slight overclocks 😎
You are literally the best vintage computing CZcamsr I've ever seen!
Nice as always! I have a custom dual 1.4ghz in my DA.
"It is a good day to be a G4 fan!" 19:32 lol
Honestly, I think the Gigabit Ethernet would have been a better pick for this. Sure, the bus speed is slower at 100MHz as opposed to 133, but you can shove an extra 512 stick in there for the full 2GB, which makes a difference for stuff like browsing and Minecraft.
Great video! I think the G4 tower series were the best pro Macs ever made. Could you imagine a modern Mac that didn't require you to remove a single screw to open it? I have a Digital Audio that I bought in 2001, and I absolutely loved that machine, even when I was getting kernel panics with OSX 10.0 and trying to use the buggiest SCSI adaptor in the world so I could use my old devices. It was my main computer until 2009, when I upgraded to an Intel 24" iMac, but I still have it running with a 1 Ghz upgrade card, even though it's gone through 3 power supplies. Replacing the hard drive in my iMac last week reminded me of why I loved the G4 tower so much.
oh man you're making me want to reacquire all the old Macs I used to use and just maxxing them out to unreasonable levels.
The first new Apple I ever purchased was a PowerMac G4 533DP, so this video immediately caught my eye.
Cool build! You've inspired me to continue playing with my Mac Mini. I need to upgrade it from an intel core solo to a core duo. Hopefully the best possible without mods.
Then see what OS will fit best. OS X or maybe Linux... or Haiku?
Well done on the thermal paste application...
Hi Sean: as for small fans I would like to suggest the little Noctua ones. While these aren't cheap they are almost silent and put a lot of air in the case. Keep it up.
Indeed, it is a good day to be a G4 Fan. (I still have my original G4 400 Mhz that I purchased back in 2000. Though, I have not turned it on for man than a decade now. Hard to believe because that was my daily driver from 2000 till I bought my 24" Intel iMac (white) back in 2006. Man, I loved that iMac too!
bro you have so much good memories of this PowerMac G4
Hi, I love watching you videos, and I have something to ask:
These processor upgrade cards are available for buying or are available on request?
Finally thank you very much
That is so cool!
This is one of the very machines I learned and used HTML on, Privilege Escalation (before I ever knew that was a thing with a term), and in high school, wound up taking down half my high school's student accounts BY ACCIDENT because they hadn't configured the privilege right correctly in the G5 lab. Never had the chance (or the thought) of seeing inside thee machines. Graceful they are.
I remember upgrading my old dell dimension desktop from an Intel Celeron to a Pentium 4. I think their was a 400 Mhz difference between the two chips, but wow, the performance difference was night and day. Halo and Half life two never looked so good and windows movie maker rendered much faster than I had ever seen before!
You just gave that PowerMac G4 a new lease on life.
13:43 The ghost of the Verge haunts everyone 🤣🤣
Good move installing that cooling fan on top of the passive CPU cooler.
2:22 I grew up with a few older macs, like the eMac, iMac G3, and a few others when I helped my grandpa at his old photography studio when I was young. I found a deal on this same exact max that I also grew up with and won the auction, so I am the same way
@actionretro I know this video is a year old, but I just dusted off my own 24yr old Sawtooth. it's the first iteration with 4 ram slots, and oddly has a 500Mhz PowerPC? i think it was maxed out by its previous owners in the day before it fell in to my hands.
Amazingly, it's in basically mint condition, save for some minor exterior case grime and I had the foresight to remove the PRAM Battery before putting it in storage some years ago so the board has no damage at all. it also has the ATI Rage 128 Pro graphics card (16MB) and it still works! it fired up and ran. The hard drive did however complain and show signs it was about to fail, so I've since replaced the disk and copied OSX 10.4 over to it, it's still working but it is sadly by today's standards dog slow. I am looking for ways to make it a little more usable for retro shenanigans.
I love the hasty jump cut after the creeper took you down to 3 1/2 hearts! And I’m sure Jay absolutely loves the LED fan solution. 😉
nice mac computers awesome video!
Love the thermal compound scene haha
In late 2004 I bought a Sawtooth G4 and proceeded to upgrade the hell out of it. I still have it in storage, but I have a Dual Mirror that gets more love because it's newer/faster.
The performance you're getting on this 2001 machine is almost as good as my 2008 workstation laptop.
It’s cool that you can still download the latest updates for as far back as 10.4 even for powerpc
I had a Dual 1.8GHZ sonnet 7447 upgrade in my DA G4. Was great, tried the powerlogix 7448 dual upgrades, but they were not stable at the clocks that made them worth the price bump.
Been watching this channel for a while now, so I gotta ask... just what region is his accent from? It's SO good to listen to, such a fun cadence to it!
Love the Eizo panel.
That CPU upgrade card is a pretty slick install there. (power cables aside.)
I put a sonnet G4 card in my Blue and White G3 back in the day. With the LVD SCSI drive it was the fastest computer I've experienced to this day. It's a shame it wasn't stable I sent the card back. It was a gen 1 motherboard on the G3.
I love the Drauga1 reference! I've been watching his videos since 2008
I have that exact model. I got it as a graduation present in 2003. I wish I could still run it as I am still using software for OS 9.
get your tools sean,i lost an awesome mac collection in a fire! if i can get them back it would be great content and id be so thankful, i have no macs today and i had almost 75!
OMG I miss all my old G3 and G4 macs. I lost all of them in a large move about 10 years ago. ;(
Now I have to listen to the Totally not Cringy Emo Band
Hi, nice video, thank you friend. Interesting overclocking of an old G4 machine, who knows if you could use a double G4 at 2Ghz, the one I dream of for my 3 G4 MDDs. I'm looking for a "new" 7800, mine has failed because the original dissipation system was born too small and the operating temperatures are always at the limit.
I asked you some time ago if in addition to games and pure calculation tests to do a test of some application, such as graphics, videos and music, just to see how these machines behave. I hope you will satisfy me.
Hello and thanks again
I love such crazy upgrades just as much as time period correct hardware.
Too bad you didn't show macOS 9 with that hardware boost.
The DA was the model that broke the G4's 500MHz wall where they had been stuck for 2 or 3 years. Motorola had problems getting decent yields out of their chips and couldn't push the 7400 or 7410 past that in quantity. Thankfully, the 7450 (used in the DA 667 and 733MHz models) not only got them a decent CPU speed bump, but it also came with new L3 cache, and all of the DA models had that faster system bus courtesy of an updated system controller.
The interposer here is mostly to interface the 744x to a 745x board. The 744x has fewer pins because it doesn't have L3 cache support, so the interposer board is needed to adapt it to the larger grid of the 745x.
I should ask Herd to build me some stuff. I'd like to do it myself but proper BGA reworking gear is 5 figures. Not cheap for a hobby.
For my IIGS, do you recommend the Apple Squeezer or new Transwarp? Please advise (to the guy in the back by the board whom was living in a box) .
Really cool video. I want to upgrade my G4 AGP 400 with an ssd or something modern. Would the Kingwin SSD/SATA to IDE Bridge Board Adapter in your amazon link be a good choice?
I have one a dual 450 and I put a 1.8 in it works nice
I’m here for the *thonk* - it amuses me greatly for some reason. The last video missed a few where you thonked the monitor.
😂 excellent
Dude... u give hope
These Macs looked so damn quirky. Love it 💪😅
cool i need to do this
i always preferred sata adapters that plug into the ide interface on the mainboard so i only had to deal with sata cables (and molex to sata power adapters)
I have the 533MHz G4 Digital Audio, I always wanted to get a dual CPU upgrade for it.
I have one of these sitting in the attic... Maybe i should do something with it.
I used to play Beta 1.7.3 on my Dual 500Mhz G4 tower.
It was more or less playable.
As a tip, it runs way better playing on a server. Offline play is far more intensive because you're actually running all the game logic locally.
I would love for my MDD to be able to do this sort of thing.
So are these upgrade parts still available? Where does one go to buy the cards?
Playing minecraft on a old LCD monitor is oddly nostalgic
Will you please guide me on how update my old server pc board to add more floppy disks driver and gaming cartridges or gaming??
Several years ago I trash picked a G4 tower that was a 450MHz and ended up putting 10.4 on it. After a little while I realized that I was using it more than the brand new (at the time) Core 2 Quad machine I had just built running Windows XP. It was a crazy time, I got REALLY into classic Macs, but to this day I still can't get into modern macs lol.
If it wasn’t for zoom and teams during Covid I’d still be on my PowerBook g4 as my daily. These things go on forever. Grew up modish these things in like 2014
"Nice Druaga1 Reference" I was cracking up at this lol
I'd love to see someone take on recreating the 900MHz G3 for the Pismo. I've never seen one in the wild, nor a video comparison to the G4 upgrades. From that I've read way back, the 900MHz was faster for smaller tasks, but since the Pismo's graphics are very weak, having the G4 with the velocity (vector) engine is more beneficial overall, which is why they're much more popular. It would also be cool to overclock the G4 past 550Mhz. but I'd have to imagine there's a good reason why that isn't a thing.
Is the person making those cards selling upgrades also for iMac 233?
Awesome stuff!
also i need to buy one so whats the oldest mac that could still be a daily?
If you like Minecraft, consider Vintage Story. It's a bit more involved, gameplay-wise, takes awhile to go from survival to mining with the best tools, but it's more rooted in reality, save for that lovecraftian twist as you discover the quirks of its world. But here's the best part of all; it's an _independent_ block game that doesn't try to moderate its player base.
It's just some company making a really cool game. And its terrain generation is rumoured to be the impetus of Minecraft's Caves & Cliffs update. Modification is available off-the-hop with no loader necessary. Both it, and the mod scene for it are improving with time and commits from others.
This is by far my most favorite Apple tower... wish I had kept mine. 😢
EDIT: I swear I wrote this before you mentioned it was your favorite design too! 🤝
I would like to actually overhaul one, with modern Apple software and hardware, any reccomendations?
I’m really interested in the full whiteboard guy lore.
Would you know of a way to fix a "drooping" battery on an ibook g4? Also, do you know of anyone who could repair/replace caps on a Powerbook 145b?
I had a 733 DA, I still own a dual 1 ghz qs and a 1.25 ghz MDD. The very last G4 that can nativity boot Mac OS 9 out of the box. Besides a much faster IDE drive and memory, it's fairly still stock because upgrading it would very potentially break Mac os 9, the sole reason for keeping such an old Mac to begin with. I also have a dual core G5 too, but that one like my QS is mostly just for looks since it's case is in mint condition. It's just too nice to part with. Well, for right now anyway.
Same here, I have (“dual 1 ghz qs and a 1.25 ghz MDD. The very last G4 that can nativity boot Mac OS 9”). I find it strange and pointless to upgrade G4 macs with the intention of running any version of OS X because there is no point or advantage to running OS X on a G4; when it can be run much faster and for less money with G5 or above.
@@spottedtauren I definitely agree, I would say the g3 wpuld be the ideal cpu for newer Mac OS classic versions, say like 8.6, but anything newer a higher end g4 just makes sense and Mac OS X works so much better on the G5s.
Would love to know if you're aware of any upgrades for an iBook G3