beachycove
Well-known member
Well, Bunson has got me a-thinkin about a tinker with my G4 Cube again, with his reference to dual G4/500MHz cards in a Cube. I can get one of these shipped on eBay right now for about $35, which is even less than the post referenced quotes.
This, however, leads to other considerations, and first up is the graphics card question. I don't really see any point in shoehorning a dual G4 into a Cube without addressing the piteousness of the Cube's 16MB OEM ATI graphics card. Better to keep it lowend than to put the equivalent of a v8 in a VW Beetle. Which leads me to my question:
I once had a Radeon 7500 for about a year in a G4 Cube, after which service the card became unstable, i.e., subject to frequent random monitor freezes and even blackouts. This behaviour developed suddenly, so that in the end, the card would work for a very short while and then konk out. It had worked fine previously. Given the failure, I replaced it with the OEM card, and stuck the Radeon 7500 in a drawer. Is the Radeon 7500 card most likely dead, as I thought at the time, or is rehabilitation possible?
In other words, did the heat generated by usage fry the thing beyond repair? Is this what happens to an overheated graphics card?
As I say, I have the Radeon 7500 still, but unfortunately, I don't have a G4 tower or the like in which to try it out with the benefit of better cooling. Putting it in the Cube, as some will know, is something of a hassle, so testing it is not the easiest thing in the world for me to do.
The reason for asking is that I think I would not go to the trouble and expense of sourcing a dual G4 if I also need to buy a new graphics card for the machine, as with shipping et al., the two purchases would take me into expenditures of real money as opposed to beer money. I am trying to cut back on the former. Better to keep the Cube stock and live with its slight limitations. However, if all that is needed is a fan, then I think I could rise to that level, as the cooling effects of a fan are certainly compatible with thoughts of lost beer. :lol:
If I thought I could rehabilitate the Radeon 7500 merely with a proper cooling strategy, I think what I might try in the first instance is some sort of cooling base on which to sit the Cube in order to mechanically force (filtered?) air up through the assembly. The fan could presumably be powered from one of the USB ports; leaving the faceplate off the card would also allow some extra air to circulate though the side where the graphics card is located.
Thoughts?
This, however, leads to other considerations, and first up is the graphics card question. I don't really see any point in shoehorning a dual G4 into a Cube without addressing the piteousness of the Cube's 16MB OEM ATI graphics card. Better to keep it lowend than to put the equivalent of a v8 in a VW Beetle. Which leads me to my question:
I once had a Radeon 7500 for about a year in a G4 Cube, after which service the card became unstable, i.e., subject to frequent random monitor freezes and even blackouts. This behaviour developed suddenly, so that in the end, the card would work for a very short while and then konk out. It had worked fine previously. Given the failure, I replaced it with the OEM card, and stuck the Radeon 7500 in a drawer. Is the Radeon 7500 card most likely dead, as I thought at the time, or is rehabilitation possible?
In other words, did the heat generated by usage fry the thing beyond repair? Is this what happens to an overheated graphics card?
As I say, I have the Radeon 7500 still, but unfortunately, I don't have a G4 tower or the like in which to try it out with the benefit of better cooling. Putting it in the Cube, as some will know, is something of a hassle, so testing it is not the easiest thing in the world for me to do.
The reason for asking is that I think I would not go to the trouble and expense of sourcing a dual G4 if I also need to buy a new graphics card for the machine, as with shipping et al., the two purchases would take me into expenditures of real money as opposed to beer money. I am trying to cut back on the former. Better to keep the Cube stock and live with its slight limitations. However, if all that is needed is a fan, then I think I could rise to that level, as the cooling effects of a fan are certainly compatible with thoughts of lost beer. :lol:
If I thought I could rehabilitate the Radeon 7500 merely with a proper cooling strategy, I think what I might try in the first instance is some sort of cooling base on which to sit the Cube in order to mechanically force (filtered?) air up through the assembly. The fan could presumably be powered from one of the USB ports; leaving the faceplate off the card would also allow some extra air to circulate though the side where the graphics card is located.
Thoughts?
