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supported motherboard for early imac dv

Submitted by westieg3 on February 16, 2006 - 3:35am. Hardware Hacks

well since i'm having difficulty deciding on a new laptop to get at the moment and since my powerbook (the only computer i have that really works as of now) is dieing, i'm thinking of taking and old imac dv that i got from a relative back out of the closet and just using it. i'll need to replace the hard drive to start since there's data on it that i don't want to get rid of and i want a bigger/faster one. the cd drive must go since it's busted and spits out any disc that is inserted. help on those is appreciated, but i'd really like to know what motherboards the machine could take. i'll check it, but i do know it is a very early dv model that has the slot load drive and all, but no firewire. if i remember right, it's a 366mhz processor in there but i don't remember the stats. i've heard there aren't many dv motherboards that i could simply put in without modification, so what could i put in that would have a faster processor on it and allow me firewire and all?

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hmm... maybe you could fit...

Submitted by evilrobot on February 16, 2006 - 5:24am.

...a Mac Mini? that would give you a working cd/dvd drive, a whole bunch of ram, a bigger hard drive, firewire, usb 2, a G4, a MUCH faster CPU... a quieter machine... a brand new copy of 10.4, the iLife suite.... i think it might be a better route than sourcing all new parts to rebuild a dinosaur. probably alomst the same cost when your all said and done if you want to replace the motherbaord, hard drive, cd drive, memory, etc. of the iMac.

my $0.02 Smiling

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macintoshme's picture

500 mhz iMac DV board

Submitted by macintoshme on February 16, 2006 - 2:38pm.

Looks like what you have is a iMac 350, those are extremely common, and very easily upgraded to an iMac DV. All you need is to by an iMac DV motherboard off ebay. I think that a 500 mhz would be rather cheap. I wish you luck.

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westieg3's picture

500 mhz sounds adequate as lo

Submitted by westieg3 on February 16, 2006 - 9:14pm.

500 mhz sounds adequate as long as i put in a new hard drive. i added a 512 stick of ram to what was already in there (128 i think) from the pile of pc parts sitting around. i thought this would be an easy project since my ibook is too hard to upgrade and too many parts are broken on my wallstreet for me to want to fix and upgrade it. all i need is a system that can handle ichat, itunes, and safari at once with the possibility of word being open as well. fast hard drive and plenty of ram will be enough to cover that i think. the motherboard is just an extra upgrade for the sake of speed and expandability.

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dankephoto's picture

is the later iMac formfactor the same?

Submitted by dankephoto on February 17, 2006 - 4:14pm.

Here's a nice chart of the CRT iMacs. If the later ATI RAGE Ultra 128/16MB VRAM MLBs fit, that's what I'd be looking for.

Can anyone confirm those later MLBs work in earlier SL iMacs?

I've been thinking about OCing my daughter's Blueberry 400 (.mp4 playback stutters), but if a later MLB is cheap enough, why bother?

dan k

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westieg3's picture

i have a relative who knows t

Submitted by westieg3 on February 17, 2006 - 10:47pm.

i have a relative who knows the computer much better than me. i can ask him what boards would be the best for it. i don't think the 700mhz board will just drop in and work, but 700 sounds good since i'm on a 700mhz emac right now that i got a few years ago and since gave to another family member. this machine feels fine for me and does what i need it to do. even though the imac is a g3, the other upgrades will probably more than overcome a g4 upgrade.

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