taking G4 tower and upgrading internals

Joined
Jan 18, 2011
Messages
136
Reaction score
1
Points
18
Your Mac's Specs
MPB 2.2 Intel Core Duo 2gb Ram - G5 Tower PPC - iPhone 4 - 2x3GHZ 12gb Ram MacPro Tower, ATV2
Hi

I have the nice silver G4 towers that was once a decent editing and photoshop system. Now its unable to do any of that! But **** if it doesn't look good!

I always like to tinker with stuff but before I get going I was wondering if anyone knew if it was possible to upgrade the insides of a G4 to a G5?

i.e new motherboard and chipset etc

Would obviously need to do this with spares and repairs from ebay etc but was wondering if it's actually possible!

Thanks
 
Joined
Oct 22, 2007
Messages
8,967
Reaction score
287
Points
83
Location
London
Your Mac's Specs
Mac Mini Core i7 2012 | White 2009 MacBook 2 Ghz | 733 Mhz G4 Quicksilver
It would be cheaper just to buy a G5 tower, they go pretty cheap on ebay
 

robduckyworth


Retired Staff
Joined
Jan 4, 2011
Messages
2,971
Reaction score
109
Points
63
Location
Reading, UK
Your Mac's Specs
15" MBP, 2.5GHz i7, 750GB, 6770M 1GB, iPad 3, iPhone 4, custom PC
I am doing a similar project with a G5 case - though Im putting PC parts in it.

the motherboard of a G5 is big - and i doubt it would fit inside the case of a G4. Plus you'd have to slice the case up in order to get all the ports coming out at the correct place.

Also youd have to find a place for all those fans aswell.
 

pigoo3

Well-known member
Staff member
Admin
Joined
May 20, 2008
Messages
44,210
Reaction score
1,418
Points
113
Location
U.S.
Your Mac's Specs
2017 15" MBP, 16gig ram, 1TB SSD, OS 10.15
I always like to tinker with stuff but before I get going I was wondering if anyone knew if it was possible to upgrade the insides of a G4 to a G5?

i.e new motherboard and chipset etc

Not possible...simply because a a G5 logic board (and power supply) won't fit in a Powermac G4 case (directly). Now possibly (with some serious modification)...maybe you could get it to work.

What you may also not realize is that the Powermac G5's:

- cpu's & heatsinks are huge
- have 4 computer controlled thermal zones
- have 9 fans

Basically...the Powermac G5 case is not huge for for nothing!

Apple does not design their computers to be upgraded or tinkered-with in this manner. Not that they do this on purpose...it's just not the "Apple-Way".;)

- Nick
 
Joined
Nov 28, 2007
Messages
25,564
Reaction score
486
Points
83
Location
Blue Mountains NSW Australia
Your Mac's Specs
Silver M1 iMac 512/16/8/8 macOS 11.6
And upgrading to a G5 if it were possible is just not practical. Support for PowerPC programs from the G4/G5 days is finished. Better to look for a Core 2 Duo 64bit EFI model.
 

Shop Amazon


Shop for your Apple, Mac, iPhone and other computer products on Amazon.
We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon and affiliated sites.
Top