Thread

Power PC G4

68kMLA PowerPC 14 posts Jul 8, 2008 to Jul 10, 2008

#1 Tue, 8 Jul 2008 - 23:43 68kMLA

Today I rescued a Power Pc G4. It was going to eWaste and the owner contacted me. The only thing missing is the monitor. :'(

I can put it in my room because it came with an Airport Extreme card!

I'm quite glad.

#2 Wed, 9 Jul 2008 - 00:13 68kMLA

Wow i wish someone would give me a G4 for free, good find man. Those things are extremely powerful for the time and for their clock speed. They still sell for lots too.

#3 Wed, 9 Jul 2008 - 00:18 68kMLA

Wow i wish someone would give me a G4 for free, good find man. Those things are extremely powerful for the time and for their clock speed. They still sell for lots too.

Indeed. There's still lots of life left in any G4 so long as you avoid Flash ;-)

#4 Wed, 9 Jul 2008 - 00:20 68kMLA

G4s (early ADC ones) should be freecycle finds sooner or later. I would like to find something with AGP for free.

#5 Wed, 9 Jul 2008 - 04:16 68kMLA

Wait; it came with an AirPort 'extreme' card, or a regular AirPort card?

If the latter, nice score; those are a bit lusted after today.

If the former, what model tower is it? If it really is an AirPort extreme card, then you've got yourself a nice tower, 'cause it's possibly a mirrored-drive-door G4 or something new like that.

#6 Wed, 9 Jul 2008 - 07:05 68kMLA

Congrats, sounds like a swell machine.

#7 Wed, 9 Jul 2008 - 15:51 68kMLA

Wait; it came with an AirPort 'extreme' card, or a regular AirPort card?

Yes, it's an Airport Extreme card. Flat, shiny all over and measures about 2'' X 1''.

If the former, what model tower is it? If it really is an AirPort extreme card, then you've got yourself a nice tower, 'cause it's possibly a mirrored-drive-door G4 or something new like that.

Nope, it's the standard 10 GB HD, 400 MHz, 64 MB RAM, CD/DVD Optical. I wish it was the fancy mirrored door one though. It also came with other miscellaneous things. Among them another 400 MHz Processor. Question is, can I put that other one in to make it 800 Mhz?

I smell OS X and Halo (if possible) being installed.

#8 Wed, 9 Jul 2008 - 15:56 68kMLA

There is only one processor slot, so no.

You can use the spare processor to upgrade your Beige G3s though!

#9 Wed, 9 Jul 2008 - 17:35 68kMLA

There is only one processor slot, so no.
You can use the spare processor to upgrade your Beige G3s though!

Hmmm. Now you got me thinking. Can I do that to the iMac?

#10 Wed, 9 Jul 2008 - 18:00 68kMLA

Nope. The iMac G3 233-333MHz, tray-loading, series is limited to its own breed of processor cards (233-333MHz), or a limited number of third-party upgrades (HARMONi). The G4 uses a much different processor.

#11 Wed, 9 Jul 2008 - 19:19 68kMLA

A 400Mhz G4 wouldn't have an Airport Extreme card, it would have to be a Sawtooth cause the Yikes! never had an Airport slot. Also, OSX will run if you bump the RAM to 512 (it will work with less but is a waste of time) and halo will not run on any mac under 1.2GHz.

Also the processor the sawtooth uses doesnt work with a Beige G3 or an iMac, only with other sawtooths (sawthii?) and maybe a few later G4s. Now, they also made the Yikes! G4 which used a G4 ZIF that -was- compatible with the Beige G3, and the B&W G3, however this machine wouldn't have an Airport slot so there is a bit of confliction.

#12 Wed, 9 Jul 2008 - 21:19 68kMLA

A 400Mhz G4 wouldn't have an Airport Extreme card, it would have to be a Sawtooth cause the Yikes! never had an Airport slot. Also, OSX will run if you bump the RAM to 512 (it will work with less but is a waste of time) and halo will not run on any mac under 1.2GHz.
Also the processor the sawtooth uses doesnt work with a Beige G3 or an iMac, only with other sawtooths (sawthii?) and maybe a few later G4s. Now, they also made the Yikes! G4 which used a G4 ZIF that -was- compatible with the Beige G3, and the B&W G3, however this machine wouldn't have an Airport slot so there is a bit of confliction.

It is a sawtooth. Sorry for not clarifying.

#13 Thu, 10 Jul 2008 - 00:21 68kMLA

A 400Mhz G4 wouldn't have an Airport Extreme card, it would have to be a Sawtooth cause the Yikes! never had an Airport slot. Also, OSX will run if you bump the RAM to 512 (it will work with less but is a waste of time) and halo will not run on any mac under 1.2GHz.
Also the processor the sawtooth uses doesnt work with a Beige G3 or an iMac, only with other sawtooths (sawthii?) and maybe a few later G4s. Now, they also made the Yikes! G4 which used a G4 ZIF that -was- compatible with the Beige G3, and the B&W G3, however this machine wouldn't have an Airport slot so there is a bit of confliction.

Click to expand...

It is a sawtooth. Sorry for not clarifying.

A Sawtooth wouldn't have an Airport Extreme slot. My Digital Audio is a later machine than the Sawtooth and only has an original Airport slot and Airport Extreme came after that. As far as I can tell, the Firewire 800 is the only G4 Powermac to support Airport Extreme.

#14 Thu, 10 Jul 2008 - 00:30 68kMLA

It also came with / another 400 MHz Processor. Question is, can I put that other one in to make it 800 Mhz?

The dual CPU G4s are on a single module that goes into the same (one) CPU socket as the single G4s. So, no.

A Sawtooth is a way better score than a Yikes, IMHO, simply because the range of available CPU upgrades is much better, and cheaper, than those for a ZIF socket. And you have an AGP video card slot as well. Have a look at xlr8yourmac.com's G4 Systems page for more info.