I could no longer see the (arguably) best place on this forum empty. The PowerMac G4 is so awesome, it needs *something* in it's category. So I thought I'd share a photo of my baby. A continuous money drain but I love it all the same.
This photo is about a year old and the setup has changed since then but I am currently not able to take another pretty picture so this one will have to do.
This here started off as a 2002 FW800 model with a single CPU in it and the usual base specs for RAM, HDD, GPU etc.
It has since been upgraded to a 2003 board in the 2002 case (better thermal management design). Losing the on-board FW800 was not an issue as I have a PCI FW800 card installed.
It now has:
An additional SilenX fan sits on the heavy aluminum heatsink which results in better heat dissipation for the CPU's than the copper heatsink provides. I have yet to find a replacement for the stock Delta main fan or the PSU fans. I know there are plenty of options out there but they are all much lower rated in CFM than the originals. And as this puppy runs hot, I am not risking a reduction in air flow just yet.
Replacement fans will be coming in the future but at the moment I'm not in a hurry. The hum and occasional wind tunnel noise is part of the appeal/nostalgia
On top of the Mac sits a Contour Design G-Rack. Originally intended to hold CD's/DVD's but it's also perfect to hold a big external optical drive level. Underneath the Mac sits a Contour Design G-Riser, sometimes. It's cool to have a G4 stand on legs but I really don't use the space it creates under the Mac and I like the Mac to have the same height as the displays. So I remove those and put them back whenever I feel like it.
OS wise I switch it between OS 9.2.2 and 10.4.11. I don't need OS 9 for much and the fan control in OS 9 is pretty much non-existent so the fan is always on full tilt. In OS X the fan ramps down as soon as the login screen loads and only ramps up as needed, so OS X does give a slightly better experience.
The displays are switched up as needed (this Mac is not set up on a desk year-round) but I mostly use the 22" 2000 Cinema Display and 17" 2002 Studio Display together (with DVI to ADC adapters). The LCD's are perfect, backlight is good and they are just a delight to use. Speakers are the Apple Pro Speakers and while they sound fantastic, I really wish to add an iSub to the setup at some point.
That about wraps it up. Not even close to done tinkering with this hardware but no need or desire for tweaks or improvements either for the foreseeable future. Out of all G4's, this is hands down my favorite model!
This here started off as a 2002 FW800 model with a single CPU in it and the usual base specs for RAM, HDD, GPU etc.
It has since been upgraded to a 2003 board in the 2002 case (better thermal management design). Losing the on-board FW800 was not an issue as I have a PCI FW800 card installed.
It now has:
- Dual 2.0 GHz Sonnet Duet CPU
- 64-bit bootable FW800 PCI card
- Sonnet Tempo SATA PCI card
• 1TB Crucial SSD with OS 9, OS X and Storage partitions
• 1TB HDD for no good reason other than to have it in there - Startech USB 2.0 PCI card
- 360W PSU to replace the 400W original
- ATI Radeon 9650 with 256MB VRAM
An additional SilenX fan sits on the heavy aluminum heatsink which results in better heat dissipation for the CPU's than the copper heatsink provides. I have yet to find a replacement for the stock Delta main fan or the PSU fans. I know there are plenty of options out there but they are all much lower rated in CFM than the originals. And as this puppy runs hot, I am not risking a reduction in air flow just yet.
Replacement fans will be coming in the future but at the moment I'm not in a hurry. The hum and occasional wind tunnel noise is part of the appeal/nostalgia
On top of the Mac sits a Contour Design G-Rack. Originally intended to hold CD's/DVD's but it's also perfect to hold a big external optical drive level. Underneath the Mac sits a Contour Design G-Riser, sometimes. It's cool to have a G4 stand on legs but I really don't use the space it creates under the Mac and I like the Mac to have the same height as the displays. So I remove those and put them back whenever I feel like it.
OS wise I switch it between OS 9.2.2 and 10.4.11. I don't need OS 9 for much and the fan control in OS 9 is pretty much non-existent so the fan is always on full tilt. In OS X the fan ramps down as soon as the login screen loads and only ramps up as needed, so OS X does give a slightly better experience.
The displays are switched up as needed (this Mac is not set up on a desk year-round) but I mostly use the 22" 2000 Cinema Display and 17" 2002 Studio Display together (with DVI to ADC adapters). The LCD's are perfect, backlight is good and they are just a delight to use. Speakers are the Apple Pro Speakers and while they sound fantastic, I really wish to add an iSub to the setup at some point.
That about wraps it up. Not even close to done tinkering with this hardware but no need or desire for tweaks or improvements either for the foreseeable future. Out of all G4's, this is hands down my favorite model!
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