Post Your PowerPC Setup

[barracuda156]

Here is my new G5 Quad + 23" ACD. Just picked them up couple of hours ago. Removed most of the dust inside and transferred a bootable SSD from my G5 DC.

Congratz! Quad rocks!

 

[ToniCH]

Reassembled the G5 2.0DC so I can service the quad cooling system. Its funny how cool the dualcore runs! There is Intel stuff there also.

 

[2aw]

My mid 2001 iMac G3 i use to play retro games, runs beautifully, complete with tons of photos and music from 2004 from the previous owner.

What resolution is that?

The black border is huge, are you able to adjust the screen edges so that the visible parts reach the edge?
Or is that not possible on a Mac?

 

[mectojic]

View attachment 2206362

What resolution is that?

The black border is huge, are you able to adjust the screen edges so that the visible parts reach the edge?
Or is that not possible on a Mac?

You can. In monitors control panel, you can stretch it horizontal and vertical to fill the space.

 

[ervus]

They could have gone for 133 × 7.5 but decided to be nice.

Does it have a Processor Performance option under Energy Saver? I would guess they did 133 x 8 so that DFS would work.

 

[amishallin]

Here is my heavily modified 2002 Quicksilver with dual 1.8ghz Sonnet upgrade. The table is a mess since i'm working on a G5 quad but here are some images. The whole system is geared for maximum airflow since it would constantly crash and kernel panic without the new fans... the stock Apple/Sonnet fans just weren't good enough and created a hot box. The metal on the top and the housing for the optical drive got hot enough to burn my fingers. Now it doesn't have a chance to even get warm. The air comes in through the bottom fan in the back, gets pushed up over the GPU with the little fan and finally pulled through the fins of the heatsink and sucked out the back with a Supermicro server fan. The CPU fan does actually pull air in the holes where the stock fan used to be. The server fan is connected to a Noctua fan controller (by itself due to power consumption) to help with the noise. I used extra rubber spacers from a NH-D15 CPU cooler to help disipate vibration. It isn't that loud at about 50% speed and the HOT air can be felt up to 6ft away. The rest of the fans are run through another Noctua controller in the bottom of the case and are at 100%.

That EVGA modular power supply was chosen since it was on sale and had the most compatibility with providing enough molex and SATA power connectors (and EVGA is my goto brand for power). The original power supply went out with a pop (BEFORE CPU/GPU/fan upgrades) and surprisingly didn't kill anything else.

The cards installed from front to back are ATI 9800 pro 256mb, Sonnet fw400/usb2, Sonnet fw400/800 and Sonnet Tempo SATA. Interestingly, the 9800 pro works with both a 128mb and 256mb vbios. However the 256mb vbios causes the chips on both sides to get very hot. If I remember right the memory chips are DDR. No mod was needed on the slot connector to get the card to work. It took a while to find this specific card.

 

[ervus]

Nice setup! Thanks for sharing. There have been a few different theories on which direction to point the various fans in these cases. It looks like you've worked out a good system. There is a preference pane that will let you reduce the speeds on the ATI graphics card when you don't need it, which should lower its temperature. I've also seen people stick little heatsinks on the VRAM chips to help.

 

[amishallin]

Here's my Performa 6300. This machine was used by the whole family until I got a B/W G3 450 for Christmas. The Performa sat on a shelf in the basement for a few years before being moved out to the barn for about 20 years or so.

The images from top left to right:
1) 1st boot after sitting in the barn for about 20 years... the original hard disk is alive!
2) Did a system restore with the original disk. There was nothing really of use on the hard disk.
3) This was after installing a sealed new old stock ethernet PDS card and maxing the RAM at 64mb. Took hours of cleaning and retrobrighting. At this point the B/W G3 and Quicksilver G4 were still in the barn. They currently sit on the right of the desk.
4) Using Netscape to download the highest version (4.8) supported on System 7.6.1
5) A place for everything and everything in its place. Really was a nice system to work with.
6) Found a sealed new old stock Apple TV/Video system. Already had the Video system but not the TV system.
7) Partitioned a 128GB SSD into 4 equal drives with System 7.6.1 on the 1st and 9.1.X on the 2nd.
8) Found a sealed new old stock Apple External Video Connector.
9) Had to do it. You can definitionally see the color difference between the monitor and retrobrighted Performa.
10) Everything is full now.
11) Checking to see how many floppies survived. The formatting progress of this particular disk is measured in inches.
12-15) Taking it apart was 1 thing. Remembering how it all goes back together was a different story.
16) The whole setup sometime in 2021. Installed some of the games from physical media and original boxes that were surprisingly kept. The G3/G4 were moved from the barn but not started yet. The G3 was mine and the G4 was dad's.

 

[Certificate of Excellence]

Here's my Performa 6300. This machine was used by the whole family until I got a B/W G3 450 for Christmas. The Performa sat on a shelf in the basement for a few years before being moved out to the barn for about 20 years or so.

The images from top left to right:
1) 1st boot after sitting in the barn for about 20 years... the original hard disk is alive!
2) Did a system restore with the original disk. There was nothing really of use on the hard disk.
3) This was after installing a sealed new old stock ethernet PDS card and maxing the RAM at 64mb. Took hours of cleaning and retrobrighting. At this point the B/W G3 and Quicksilver G4 were still in the barn. They currently sit on the right of the desk.
4) Using Netscape to download the highest version (4.8) supported on System 7.6.1
5) A place for everything and everything in its place. Really was a nice system to work with.
6) Found a sealed new old stock Apple TV/Video system. Already had the Video system but not the TV system.
7) Partitioned a 128GB SSD into 4 equal drives with System 7.6.1 on the 1st and 9.1.X on the 2nd.
8) Found a sealed new old stock Apple External Video Connector.
9) Had to do it. You can definitionally see the color difference between the monitor and retrobrighted Performa.
10) Everything is full now.
11) Checking to see how many floppies survived. The formatting progress of this particular disk is measured in inches.
12-15) Taking it apart was 1 thing. Remembering how it all goes back together was a different story.
16) The whole setup sometime in 2021. Installed some of the games from physical media and original boxes that were surprisingly kept. The G3/G4 were moved from the barn but not started yet. The G3 was mine and the G4 was dad's.

Barn macs Love it

That QS is a beast - congrats & well done. Do you happen to have before and after temperature comparisons beyond a touch test? I've considered upgrading my QS from a dual 1ghz to an after market dcard but have been hesitant (cost aside lol) due to the additional heat before the psu/fan upgrade.

 

[Certificate of Excellence]

... I've also seen people stick little heatsinks on the VRAM chips to help.

This is what I often do as a 1st step after maintenance especially if the gpu is elderly or I plan to push it or both. Anyways they're available, cheap, passive & simple to install on vram.

 

[Certificate of Excellence]

I just realized that I did not post my Powermac G3 B&W which I've had on my desk in rotation since this years PowerPC Challenge.

Thought I put it here but I guess not. It is connected to a monitor that is out of frame-right.

 

[amishallin]

That's a nice G3. Be careful with that door latch... mine broke. Does your Zip drive work? Mine never worked even when it was new. Never could figure it out. Tried playing with the jumper settings and both connectors on a few ribbon cables. A couple years ago I got a couple used drives on Ebay that worked in the G4 BUT not in the G3. Just weird. Maybe it needs some kind of sacrifice.

On an unrelated note... I may have stopped using the computer as a daily driver BUT never stopped using the keyboard. It's still my daily driver. Use it between my MacPro 5,1 and a gamming PC I built.

 

[Spock]

That's a nice G3. Be careful with that door latch... mine broke. Does your Zip drive work? Mine never worked even when it was new. Never could figure it out. Tried playing with the jumper settings and both connectors on a few ribbon cables. A couple years ago I got a couple used drives on Ebay that worked in the G4 BUT not in the G3. Just weird. Maybe it needs some kind of sacrifice.

On an unrelated note... I may have stopped using the computer as a daily driver BUT never stopped using the keyboard. It's still my daily driver. Use it between my MacPro 5,1 and a gamming PC I built.

Very well could have been that faulty IDE controller chip that shipped with the first revision B&W G3 systems.

 

[amishallin]

Very well could have been that faulty IDE controller chip that shipped with the first revision B&W G3 systems.

Probably. It's a rev A board.

 

[VirtuallyInsane]

I decided to update my "PowerPC Table" when I tidied up.

I moved the ACD over to my main rig for another screen and put the Dell in its place, which is connected to the PB12" (which is 1GHz, 1.25GB, has a 256 GB SSD, and is running 10.4.11). The monster beside it is a 17" PBG4 (1.33GHz, 2GB RAM and also running 10.4.11, but I might upgrade it), with a freshly installed 265GB SSD in it. The iMac G5 is 1.8 GHz, has 2GB RAM, and runs 10.5.8 on the original HDD. I got it a wireless keyboard because it looks a hecka lot better than before.

 

[Doq]

Is that the actual original iPod Touch (a.k.a the 3rd Gen)? The taste is classy with this one.

Reminds me that I should update the space the Six Dollar eMac lives; include my 3rd Gen in it. More on this later.

 

[VirtuallyInsane]

Is that the actual original iPod Touch (a.k.a the 3rd Gen)? The taste is classy with this one.

Reminds me that I should update the space the Six Dollar eMac lives; include my 3rd Gen in it. More on this later.

Thank you, and yes it is a 3rd gen that still holds a charge and works somewhat xD Even though it's mostly docked up, I still do take it out and listen to it from time to time. I prefer this look to the old one.

Yes, you definitely should. Updates are good.

 

[Certificate of Excellence]

Thank you, and yes it is a 3rd gen that still holds a charge and works somewhat xD Even though it's mostly docked up, I still do take it out and listen to it from time to time. I prefer this look to the old one.

Yes, you definitely should. Updates are good.

Love mine as well which still works considering its age. I occasionally bring it into the office with my Sears Courier briefcase & Canon Palmtronic 8 for the curious youngins on my team. Such a fan of the red LEDs.

 

[amishallin]

The PowerPC experience spanning 11 years! The only one not purchased new was the G5 quad. The jar on the G5 isn't piss... but the remains of the decomposing dexcool in the cooling unit.

Specs in signature. The Performa is mentioned a few posts above. The G4 is mentioned here.

 

[Certificate of Excellence]

That's a nice G3. Be careful with that door latch... mine broke. Does your Zip drive work? Mine never worked even when it was new. Never could figure it out. Tried playing with the jumper settings and both connectors on a few ribbon cables. A couple years ago I got a couple used drives on Ebay that worked in the G4 BUT not in the G3. Just weird. Maybe it needs some kind of sacrifice.

On an unrelated note... I may have stopped using the computer as a daily driver BUT never stopped using the keyboard. It's still my daily driver. Use it between my MacPro 5,1 and a gamming PC I built.

Well, I'm blind evidently Yep, the zip drive works great on this machine. I don't use the on-board ATA even though it is a revB. I use a flashed 3512 sata card (Weibetech flashing utility) and a Zetac 128gb SSD in this B&W. It takes a few seconds for the PCI card to be recognized but then quickly boots into Tiger via the SSD.

Just for fun, I still do want to run two ancient 4gb Fireballs in raid0 off ATA in that B&W. I figure I'll eventually get to it when life slows down a bit lol.

 

[gagigu]

Well... What do you think of this? 4x the holy grail in 20", two are boxed, one without HDD and one is as external monitor connected to a M1 Mini.

 

[Quackington]

View attachment 2258536

Well... What do you think of this? 4x the holy grail in 20", two are boxed, one without HDD and one is as external monitor connected to a M1 Mini.

Love this. And the speakers!

 

[3922434]

Picked up this little guy today…saved from a landfill…the company was throwing out a pallet of them and said grab what you want 😲 it’s in great shape to although the fan is so loud when it comes on.. .I don’t remember them ever being this loud. Anyone heard there’s spin up? Does it sound like vacuum cleaner? Louder then my PowerBook..Now to figure out what to do with it 🤔

 

[marcosfisica]

View attachment 2267630
Picked up this little guy today…saved from a landfill…the company was throwing out a pallet of them and said grab what you want 😲 it’s in great shape to although the fan is so loud when it comes on.. .I don’t remember them ever being this loud. Anyone heard there’s spin up? Does it sound like vacuum cleaner? Louder then my PowerBook..Now to figure out what to do with it 🤔

Nice machine! Congrats!
No, it should not be that loud. You should disassembly it and perform a good cleaning and lubrication of that fan. Be prepared to a screw nightmare!!!😂😂

 

[Mark.g4]

Congratz! Quad rocks!

Beautiful!