04-12-2006, 12:10 PM

Hi would the guys from a G4 fit into a G3 B&W casE?

I know i would have to upgrade the PSU as i would want a owerful graphics card but would i have any other problems?

thanks

04-12-2006, 01:26 PM

You can get the Sonnet ZIF socket for G4s which would take you to 600MHz (100MHz FSB) and 1GHz (66MHz bus). The best graphics card you can get for a B&W G3 is the Radeon 9200 PCI.

Apart from that you should be fine.

Vicky

04-12-2006, 01:34 PM

Could you please explain what you mean by sonnet ZIF sockets? thanks in advance

04-12-2006, 01:41 PM

ZIF - Zero Insertion Force. Basically where you drop a processor into the socket with no pressure needed and a lever is clamped in place to lock it in. Processors before this had to be pushed into sockets and that could easily break them.

http://www.sonnettech.com/product/encore.html

Vicky

04-12-2006, 01:50 PM

Hi thanks for the info,

You mention the 9200 being the best card i can get for my G3 is is a mac specific card? or am i able to use a normal 9200 with different mac drivers?

thanks

04-12-2006, 01:55 PM

You can potentially flash a PC Radeon 9200 card with a Mac ROM

http://www.cubeowner.com may have more info as well as http://www.strangedogs.com.

There is also a specific Mac version available too.

Either way, it's the ROM that needs to be a Mac one, the drivers are included in OS X.

Vicky

04-25-2006, 06:19 PM

I upgraded my G4 350 PCI to a G4 500 two years ago with no problems since. It has been trouble free. It was very easy to swap. Almost as easy as adding RAM. I havent heard which upgrade is faster, 600 with 100mhz bus or 1gig with 66mhz...so I cant help you there.

aurora art

04-25-2006, 08:08 PM

Even if the 1Ghz was faster (I dont think it really is) the price is insane. The 600mhz is the best value.
You also might try a ATI 7000, I'm using one in my B&W and its great. The price difference is huge compared to the 9200 and I doubt its that much worse. Its not like you would use a B&W for gaming anyways. Ebay Radeon 7000 Mac with a good price.

04-25-2006, 08:45 PM

Good advice.

Once you start looking at the 1GHz upgrade, its time to look at Power Mac G4s with all honesty, and the Graphite looks like as cool as Bondi Blue (IMHO it is better!).

As Bluesmudge says, for 2D, any Radeon will do—the Radeon 7000 is fine for supporting slick Quartz 2D in Mac OS X.

Vicky

04-26-2006, 01:26 PM

I currently run a Radeon 7000 in my B&W G3 Mac, and it runs great. I've actually played UT, Quake 3, Quake 2, etc on it, and they all ran beautifully (Well enough that I'd take it to a LAN party over my gaming rig -- if these were the games to be played )

It was infact originally a Windows card, which I had to flash to use in my Mac. The process was kind of scary, but everything went smoothly and the card worked perfectly on the first try.