Factory 32mb Video Card for G4 Cube

[Rick Dangerous]

So i've tried once to upgrade the video card for my G4 cube, which has 16mb VRAM from the factory.  I have found that the few other cards for G4 tower computers that technically *will* fit in the Cubes short AGP slot, but do not fit well, they need things removed, don't fit flush (ie are recessed and monitor cable doesn't plug in well), etc. etc.

The G4 cube supposedly had a factory 32MB options from two companies (source Low End Mac):  

• ATI Radeon with 32 MB of VRAM 
  
• Nvidia GeForce2 MX with 32 MB VRAM
  

Had anyone seen these in the wild ever?  Do both of them exist to peoples knowledge?

Would love to find one someday, but starting to lose hope on the factory upgrade card. 

 

[ScutBoy]

Find an Apple Radeon 7500, take off the slot plate and throw it in.

No flashing necessary, totally supported in any OS a Cube can run, no hassle.

Unless you are constantly plugging/unplugging the monitor cable it will be fine. The Apple card supports ADC displays as well as VGA.

It's my favorite card to put into the Cube. Anything bigger/better/faster is wasted unless you have a CPU upgrade, etc. and I don't know if you want to get on the CPU/VRM/Fan treadmill with your Cube

My 2 cents...

Edit - there's currently a seller on the 'Bay for $12.00 BIN with plenty available. I may buy a couple myself!

 

[EvilCapitalist]

I've got a Radeon 7500 in my Cube as well and it works great.  That being said, I feel like this is one of those situations where it would be silly not to pick up a few more of these.  $12.00 BIN with free shipping is probably the cheapest they'll ever be and since it looks like the seller has sold 267 of them you have to wonder just how many they have left.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/252074230275

 

[Bolle]

I am running a Radeon 9250 in my Cube. It’s tiny, doesn’t use much power and it is as fast as it can get for OS9 in the Cube without stressing things.

I have a GeForce 4 Ti 4200 that can be made to fit the Cube and is accelerated in OS9 but I do not want to risk to blow the VRM and kill everything.

I have not yet seen the Cube Radeon in the wild yet but I do have some of the GeForce 2 cards right here.

The only thing that differs from the tower variants of those cards is the bezel.

You can swap those bezels around between genuine Apple cards no problem.

 

[Rick Dangerous]

You guys are the best! 

Going to snap up a 7500 today and attempt to put the baseplate from my 16mb factory card on it.  If not, oh well, I keep my 17" Studio Display plugged into the ADC port full time anyway.

Thanks again! 

 

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

How does that card compare to my NVIDIA GeForce4MX. I may need a card for the QS when I set up the MDD a/o one for the DA when I play with it again. Dual Head 24bit at 1920x1200 off ADC and 1600x1200 off VGA under OS9 for Illustrator 9 would be the target.

7500s for $12, gotta get at least one I think, still have the Rage128 in the QS.

 

[ScutBoy]

Going to snap up a 7500 today and attempt to put the baseplate from my 16mb factory card on it.  If not, oh well,

The connectors will likely not line up, but as I said, I put mine in without the backplate and it works fine. As you said, if you're not going to be constantly plugging/unplugging I don't  think  you'll have a problem.

 

[Rick Dangerous]

So i get my new video card and DVD drive in and put everything back together, and sure enough my 80GB hard drive that I got a year ago from the headgap store dies on me!  Damn...if it's not thing it's the other.

I'd like to replace it with an SSD drive, any way to get that working with an IDE interface? Or even Compact Flash to IDE.  What are peoples thoughts on replacing HDD's at this time?  Seems like anything spinning is just bound to fail sooner rather than later, the QA not being what it used to be on these. 

 

[EvilCapitalist]

I used a SATA to IDE bridge in mine to put in an SSD:

https://www.microcenter.com/product/317195/sata-to-ide-bridge-board

The only downside is that that particular adapter was designed for a 3.5" SATA drive as opposed to a 2.5" SSD so the bracket I got to hold the drive in place doesn't fit.  I haven't had any issues yet with the drive just being loose inside though since it's not like I'm picking up my Cube and shaking it like a piggybank.

 

[Rick Dangerous]

Thanks I will look into this.

So I tried my old 20GB drive last night with similar results.  The 80GB gives me the folder with a question mark, the 20GB gives me the disk with a question mark.  I guess it's not that big a stretch that both drives could have gone bad.  Still given that I switched the video card and replaced the internal DVD drive, could it be anything else I need to troubleshoot?

I've zapped the PRAM, and hit the reset button for the Real-Time-Clock on the motherboard. Anything else I could do to get this thing up and running short of a new HDD?  I know the 80GB is bad because of the noise it makes, the 20GB i'm not so sure... working on replacing them regardless but just wondering as it seems like a coincidence that they would both be out.  What magical key sequences should I be trying?  

 

[Rick Dangerous]

Ordered a SSD from the Operator Headgap store with 120GB, Adaptor, and Dual boot 9.2.2 and 10.4.11.

I'm done dicking around with these 3.5 IDE drives  

 

[Mikeyy00]

I've recently bought a 7500 and waiting for it to arrive, however I've been reading that it might get a bit toasty without a fan.. is this true/untrue? I'd rather keep my Cube fanless if I can.. but the Rage 128 is just so damn slow.

 

[Byrd]

Yes, you'll need a fan when you add any performance upgrade in a G4 Cube - anything beyond stock makes the internals get very warm.  However, you can pick up very quiet 80mm fans these days that you won't notice; keep in mind the Cube has 80mm mounts for a slimline fan, but you can fit a normal thickness part in there with some bending of the bracket.

 

[Mikeyy00]

Hrm.. what if I left it bone stock except an SSD, and the 7500? Really trying to avoid putting a fan in.

 

[EvilCapitalist]

Better not to risk it.  It's not as though quality replacement Cube parts are both inexpensive and thick on the ground.  Things are already crammed in there pretty tight and if you get a good fan you won't even notice that it's on.

 

[ScutBoy]

You do what you think is right, but I've been running the Apple Radeon 7500 in a stock Cube for years with no additional cooling, and it's been fine. As always, your mileage may vary.

More cooling is never going to hurt. As stated, with a quiet fan, you might not even notice it. My Cube with the 1.5Ghz G4 upgrade does have a base fan, and I can't tell in day-to-day environments.

 

[ScutBoy]

So i get my new video card and DVD drive in and put everything back together, and sure enough my 80GB hard drive that I got a year ago from the headgap store dies on me!  Damn...if it's not thing it's the other.

Just a thought - if you put in a newer Apple drive, you might need to change the HD to an IDE "slave". Newer Apple Superdrives are hard set to "master", so the HD needs to be a slave. I've had to do this on Cubes where I've upgunned the internal optical drive.

 

[Mikeyy00]

Slightly off topic, but with the talk about swapping the DVD drive, what are y'all using for a bracket? I grabbed a superdrive from an iMac G5.. but the casing is slightly smaller than the stock Cube DVD.

 

[EvilCapitalist]

If I'm not mistaken you'd need a replacement bracket to use anything other than the stock drive, even drives from other Apple machines.  I seem to recall a company called MCE Technologies selling SuperDrives that fit the stock bracket, though they were a bit pricey at the time.

EDIT: Looks like they're still selling those replacement drives:

https://store.mcetech.com/mm/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=CUBEDVDR8DL