Factory 32mb Video Card for G4 Cube

[Paralel]

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

I don't see that being an issue. SSD's run very cool, so you'd gain positive thermal budget over any mechanial drive that was in here. That might be enough to offset the 7500. Hard to say. I'd give it a shot, and monitor temps. If temps are unacceptable, then either get a fan, or put the old video back in.

 

[ScutBoy]

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.

There was a guy on the old Cubeowner.com site (parism?) who sold what was basically a 3d printed (or carved/routed plastic) bracket for the newer drives. I don't know how or where one would find him now, since cubeowner has been gone for a while. It's a shame, that was the best site for Cube info.

 

[trag]

These are standard slot loading IDE optical drives, so they'd need an adapter, but the price is very good (~$15 new):   https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001B7XYZO/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01__o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

There are also IDE to MSATA adapters available (see Sintech's website, e.g.) , but I always stumble on the issue of whether they have a setting for master/slave.

 

[Mikeyy00]

These are standard slot loading IDE optical drives, so they'd need an adapter, but the price is very good (~$15 new):   https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001B7XYZO/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01__o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

There are also IDE to MSATA adapters available (see Sintech's website, e.g.) , but I always stumble on the issue of whether they have a setting for master/slave.

Those don't fit the Cube though. The stock drive is chunkier? So to use one like you linked would need some sort of bracket or 3D printed mount.

https://www.thebookyard.com/product.php?manufacturers_id=24&products_id=1756

 

[Mikeyy00]

There was a guy on the old Cubeowner.com site (parism?) who sold what was basically a 3d printed (or carved/routed plastic) bracket for the newer drives. I don't know how or where one would find him now, since cubeowner has been gone for a while. It's a shame, that was the best site for Cube info.

Yeah. I owned a cube back when they were new, and sold it. Recently picked up a used one, and a LOT of links online refer to CubeOwner.. and wayback is hit and miss with what it cached. Pity.

 

[Byrd]

Shame Cubeowner went down so quickly, especially when it was maintained and active for many years after the Cube was released.  It was a fantastic resource.

 

[rjnicko93]

Sorry for reviving an old thread, but I too am also doing the Radeon 7500 upgrade mod myself and also fitting in an SSD.
 

Do you know what type of fan connector Plug I need? It Looks like some kind of two pin header inside the Cube, But there’s so many options online for all different types of connectors, some are two pin, but look much too large for the tiny header inside.

I Really hope someone can point me in the right direction as eager to get started. 
 

Hopefully I’ve found someone who can 3D print me a proper Cube I/O plate for the Radeon 7500 rather than cutting and sawing down the original. 

edit: this connector seems like the right one? But unsure https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/324195995627

Here she is below chillin with Mac OS X Jaguar.

Thanks

View attachment FFD55341-D95B-4CDD-94D7-064A83CA809D.jpeg

Ryan

 

[beachycove]

I think a base fan would most easily connect to the molex connector on one of the drives. If you aren’t going to be doing much gaming, though, the 7500 will be perfectly happy without a fan. My kids did manage to cook a fanless Radeon 7500 in a Cube years ago while gaming (I think it was endless Harry Potter and the something or other) but all the same, it ran for a couple of years in intensive use by adolescents, and the identical replacement card is still going strong. Not that the latter has had such frequent or heavy use, mind.

 

[ScutBoy]

I can confirm that the fanless Radeon 7500 runs great in a Cube without extra cooling for normal use. I could see a lot of multi-hour gaming probably not being a good idea, but for "everyday" use, I've not had problems with either of my Cubes with Radeon 7500s in them.

If you get stuck, I can print you an IO plate that should work. I put one on one of my Cubes, but the other runs without and hasn't had any problems.