Cube G4/450!

[John8520]

Was out of town for work yesterday and on my way home I decided to stop into a local thrift store to have a poke around, and what do you do know, there was a cube sitting all alone on a shelf! It had a sticker saying it was untested and had no cables, and a search of the adjacent cable bins for a PSU turned up empty. Seeing at it was just $50 and in great physical condition, I decided to go ahead and nab it anyway. Initial impression: this thing is heavy!

Got home and popped the case, did a more thorough inspection and dust-out. It's the lower end model with the G4/450, 20GB HDD, and Rage128 pro. Previous user added two 256MB sticks on top of the original 64. I pulled the HDD and popped it in my QS and it's in bad shape - incredibly loud and very, very, slow, so I'll be replacing it. The original drive is readable - though unfortunately all of the original content is gone and has been replaced with an empty tiger install.

I ordered a PSU that will hopefully be in in a week or so - looking forward to playing with this thing!

Pictures here: https://photos.app.goo.gl/ZUqyYI8k3vSbTgCE2

 

[MOS8_030]

Neat score!

That's one thing I hate about thrift stores/Goodwill. They have a really annoying habit of separating or losing power supplies for items.

Or they want to charge you extra for for the power supply.

 

[John8520]

Generally speaking I don't mind paying extra for one, as cables tend to be fairly cheap. One big issue at our local thrift stores is that things don't necessarily get processed in the order in which they arrive - so the PSU may have been put out months ago, or it may go out in a week, or maybe it was never donated in the first place.

 

[John8520]

Not too surprising.. the HDD is in very bad shape.

 

[EvieSigma]

That's Maxtor for ya...

 

[rickrob]

That cube is in great shape.  You can get a 32MB Radeon 7500 on ebay for $10. It drops right in. The only thing is the slot cover plate will need a little rework. Or, you get get a project off Thingverse and 3-D print a slot cover

https://www.ebay.com/itm/ATI-Radeon-7500-32MB-DDR-VGA-ADC-AGP-Video-Card-for-Apple-Power-Mac-G4/252074230275?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2060353.m1438.l2649

I modded mine to Dual 500's, 128GMB WD hard drive and added a fan plus the Radeon 7500.  I'm about to add in a super drive from a G4 powerbook, sa my CD-RW drive has trouble ejecting.

 

[EvilCapitalist]

Congrats on finding a Cube!  I definitely wasn't looking for one when I found mine but after I started using it became one of my favorite machines and I've now fallen down the rabbit hole of trying to upgrade it.

That's Maxtor for ya...

Oh jeez, Maxtor.  I learned my lesson about buying those when I picked up a pair of them at CompUSA in the early 00s to use in a file server and they both died just after the warranty period expired.  Never mind all the tray loading iMacs and early slot loaders I've seen with dead Maxtors.

 

[John8520]

That cube is in great shape.  You can get a 32MB Radeon 7500 on ebay for $10. It drops right in. The only thing is the slot cover plate will need a little rework. Or, you get get a project off Thingverse and 3-D print a slot cover

https://www.ebay.com/itm/ATI-Radeon-7500-32MB-DDR-VGA-ADC-AGP-Video-Card-for-Apple-Power-Mac-G4/252074230275?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2060353.m1438.l2649

I modded mine to Dual 500's, 128GMB WD hard drive and added a fan plus the Radeon 7500.  I'm about to add in a super drive from a G4 powerbook, sa my CD-RW drive has trouble ejecting.

Good to know. I have one of those 7500s in my Beige G3 and I love it, for the DVI output mostly. This cube is just going to be running 9.2.2 so the odds of me installing X are pretty low, so the 128 Pro will be sufficient. I might install an SSD instead of HDD to help with heat. 

Could you give me some more info on how you setup the fan in yours?

 

[EvieSigma]

Congrats on finding a Cube!  I definitely wasn't looking for one when I found mine but after I started using it became one of my favorite machines and I've now fallen down the rabbit hole of trying to upgrade it.

Oh jeez, Maxtor.  I learned my lesson about buying those when I picked up a pair of them at CompUSA in the early 00s to use in a file server and they both died just after the warranty period expired.  Never mind all the tray loading iMacs and early slot loaders I've seen with dead Maxtors.

Every Maxtor I have that isn't dead is noisy as hell compared to my WD and Seagate drives. I'm not a fan.

 

[rickrob]

Good to know. I have one of those 7500s in my Beige G3 and I love it, for the DVI output mostly. This cube is just going to be running 9.2.2 so the odds of me installing X are pretty low, so the 128 Pro will be sufficient. I might install an SSD instead of HDD to help with heat. 

Could you give me some more info on how you setup the fan in yours?

I installed an 80mm fan in the bottom of the Cube--There is a mounting bracket there already.  The VRM moudule has a 12V fan connector, and I bought the pins and matching connector.  The fan runs all the time, but the one I bought is quiet.

I can post the part numbers from Mouser when I get home. I think this was the page I got the info from.

http://www.mactech.com/2004/08/13/dual-cpu-cube#2

 

[John8520]

Oh wow that's very interesting, good to know. I'm not a huge fan of convection-only designs - we had an iMac G3/700 and man it got smoking hot, I was always surprised that the plastic didn't warp.

I don't have any problem with a fan running all the time, I can always throw a little potentiometer on there and dial it up and down as needed. 

 

[rickrob]

Good to know. I have one of those 7500s in my Beige G3 and I love it, for the DVI output mostly. This cube is just going to be running 9.2.2 so the odds of me installing X are pretty low, so the 128 Pro will be sufficient. I might install an SSD instead of HDD to help with heat. 

Could you give me some more info on how you setup the fan in yours?

BTW, that Radeon I linked to is ADC and VGA -- If you get a 15 or 17 inch Studio Display for the Cube, that card will work with it.

 

[John8520]

BTW, that Radeon I linked to is ADC and VGA -- If you get a 15 or 17 inch Studio Display for the Cube, that card will work with it.

Aha, I had assumed it was the same as the one I got a while ago - unfortunately it looks like the seller is no longer selling those.

Either way, I'll be sticking with an externally powered monitor so as to keep as much load off the PSU as possible.