My "New" Beige G4

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Last seen: 2 years 3 months ago
Joined: Dec 20 2003 - 10:38
Posts: 234
My "New" Beige G4

I recently won a complete G4 Gigabit sans case on eBay for $90 shipped. I got the Logicboard, 400 MHz CPU, 512MB Dimm, AGP Rage 128, Power supply, and DVD-ROM.

I bought a used Antec ATX from work for $8 and about $5 for some other misc stuff.

So here it is a Beige G4.

http://redrouteone.net/g4/FRONT.JPG
http://redrouteone.net/g4/INSIDE.JPG
http://redrouteone.net/g4/INSIDE2.JPG
http://redrouteone.net/g4/TOP.JPG
http://redrouteone.net/g4/BACK.JPG

I added 3 256 MB DIMMS that I had in my G3 for a total of 1.2GB RAM. I also added an ATTO U2LD Ultra80 SCSI card, a 18 GB 10K RPM Ultra 160 Hard drive, and 30 GB Quantum HD from my old TiVo.

It took me about 8 hours to put together. I had to drill holes for the stand offs as none of the ATX ones lined up. There is a chip on the backside of the board that requires a heat-sink. I had to grind down an old 440BX north bridge heat-sink until it fit. I cut the I/O plate from a piece of roof flashing that I bought at Home Depot. It did not come out as well as I had hoped. I miss-drilled the holes for the audio ports so I ended up just cutting out a big hole for the both of them. Cable management took a bit of work but I am happy with the results. I just need to go buy some razor blades so I remove the stickers for the old motherboard.

In the near future I plan on upgrading the video card and possibly a Sonnet 1.0 GHz CPU. My old G3 was a 450 with a PCI Radeon and this one is so much quicker. So I am having a hard time convincing my self to buy the CPU upgrade.

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Last seen: 1 year 3 months ago
Joined: Dec 20 2003 - 10:38
Posts: 110
CPU upgrade...

If you can afford it, by all means buy the CPU upgrade. You'll really appreciate the speed boost. I dropped a 1.2 GHz in the 450Mhz Sawtooth and it flies. I bought an OWC Mercury G4 card though. Through my research and advice from others I found it to be a better deal and more reliable overall than the sonnet card.

That'll make a nice 'sleeper' system to confuse all of your PeeCee only friends.

CM

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Last seen: 8 years 7 months ago
Joined: Dec 20 2003 - 10:38
Posts: 354
Re: My "New" Beige G4

Nice work. $90? I guess the mini really has pushed down prices.

In the near future I plan on upgrading the video card and possibly a Sonnet 1.0 GHz CPU. My old G3 was a 450 with a PCI Radeon and this one is so much quicker. So I am having a hard time convincing my self to buy the CPU upgrade.

Don't force yourself to spend money! Wait 'till the thrill wears off, then get the upgrade, and by then maybe prices will have fallen some more.

eeun's picture
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Last seen: 1 year 1 day ago
Joined: Dec 19 2003 - 17:34
Posts: 1895
Looks good! The back panel's

Looks good! The back panel's fine from the photo. Just don't let people get too close to it if you're not happy with it Smile

$90 was quite a deal!

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