Quicksilver!

[John8520]

I've been looking for a Quicksilver for a few years now. They're my favorite style of the G4 towers (the B&W is my favorite of this style tower overall) and they seem to be fairly rare, at least as far as crossing paths with me goes. Granted, I have been being fairly picky - holding out for a 2002 model, preferably in good shape, and cheap is always good. 

Today I succeeded on all three counts, and picked up a Dual 1.0 for $30!

Pics here: https://photos.app.goo.gl/xIBH66qLmlpLX0l33

It's surprisingly clean, with no major scratches on the front or sides, and just a bit of dust inside. It has 2x512 and 1x128, which I've gone ahead and bumped to 3x512@133 from my stock. The original HDD is gone and it has a WD Blue 160, which is performing fine so far. I may drop in a SATA card later for comparison. It's also got the stock Geforce4 MX which is performing great in tiger.

The PRAM battery isn't dead (thank god), but it does get a little warmer than I'd like, so I'm going to take a shot at replacing the thermal paste and see if that helps any.

All in all, I am very happy!

 

[EvieSigma]

Quicksilvers are good! I love my 933MHz Quicksilver.

 

[Unknown_K]

QS are nice, there are 2 revisions one of which can get over the IDE 128GB partition limit.

I have 2 units a simple 800Mhz and an upgraded 1.2Ghz single. Dual 1Ghz CPUs eluded me and over time I just snagged a few MDD with dual G4s and called it a day. I think both of mine have the built in ZIP drive.

 

[John8520]

[...] there are 2 revisions one of which can get over the IDE 128GB partition limit.

Unfortunately this machine in question is capped at 128GB. I've put my SATA card in for now which gets around it, but still, you know.

I would like to put a zip drive in it, so I'm going to begin the hunt for a proper faceplate.

 

[CC_333]

It's a pain, but you can trivially upgrade to '02 standards (thus gaining support for >128 GB drives) simply by changing the logic board (all the CPUs from the original QS will work just fine on the '02).

c

 

[John8520]

Unless I find an '02 motherboard for peanuts, simply using a SATA card is much more effective. On top of that, the SATA card enables me to use a solid state drive which performs significantly better than even the fastest ATA drive can.

 

[SlateBlue]

Sweet find!

I got my Quicksilver 2002 (933 MHz) as part of a lot of Power Mac G4's. I think I've had it for 4 or 5 years. I've since added a zip drive and an OWC Mercury CPU (clocked at 1.2 GHz). I can't remember where I picked up my zip bezel from.

We Love Macs has the zip bezel (new), but it isn't cheap - CLICK ME! DVwarehouse shows none, nor could I find any on eBay.

The design of this Mac is pretty slick, but mine makes a lot of fan noise. It isn't exactly the quietest thing sitting on my desk.

 

[Unknown_K]

128GB is a decent amount of space for OS9/OSX10.4 apps anyway.

 

[John8520]

... but mine makes a lot of fan noise. It isn't exactly the quietest thing sitting on my desk.

Yeah, replacing the fans with something a bit newer and more quiet is definitely high on my list at the moment. I know the main system fan and CPU blower are both thermally controlled, which limits replacement options a good bit unfortunately. I’m not sure about the PSU fan, but on this box the system fan is the loudest so that’s where I’ll start.

Amazon carries this temp controlled fan for $7, so I figure that’s as good a place to start as any - http://a.co/4cyp2F7

 

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

Nice box, QS'02/Dual 1GHz is my daily driver for everything but Firefox, you'll love it.

I'll be following your fan upgrade saga [] ]'>

 

[CC_333]

Trash: You *could* put TenFourFox on there? Then you wouldn't need your separate Firefox machine.

If, of course, this is by design, then never mind

c

 

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

Dedicated, QUARANTINED, HP 1080p/14 NoteBook with the HORROR that is Windows10 on it. OMG do I HATE Win10!

 

[kerobaros]

Do you hate Linux or BSD more than you hate Windows 10? Just a thought.

 

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

Don't wanna derail the thread. Planning to put an SSD in it with ubuntu or another flavor of Linux on it, just haven't gotten around to it. Win 7 was usable in terms of handling files, even if I didn't use apps under it. I was giving Win10 a chance to grow on me  .  .  .  total fail there.

New thread? Windows 10, how do I hate you  .  .  .  let me count the ways.

 

[IIfx]

Nice Quicksilver! Mine is a lot rougher as the side door will not latch completely shut. The Dual 1ghz model must fly in OS X and OS9! My single 867mhz one does well in OSX and fantastic in OS9. The only thing I dislike about the QS series is the loud CPU fan and poor CPU fan grille on the back of the case.

 

[Unknown_K]

The single CPU QS make very good OS 9 machines.

 

[CC_333]

The dual QS makes a decent OS 9 machines too (though the second CPU is wasted). It makes dual-booting into OS X a pleasure, though!

c

 

[John8520]

Nice box, QS'02/Dual 1GHz is my daily driver for everything but Firefox, you'll love it.

I'll be following your fan upgrade saga [ ]

That's good to know, and I'll keep you posted on the fan progress.

Out of curiosity, what video card do you use? Mine has the stock Geforce4 MX, which is fine in 9 and Tiger, but I might be interested in something a bit more powerful (though I would like to retain OS9 compatibility, which I know is difficult with newer cards).