Successful CPU swapping G5

After much research I just want to let everyone know that it is possible to upgrade your PowerMac G5 tower's CPU(s) The only requirements are that the processors have to be in the same family 970,970fx etc, as well as the model Identifier 7,3 7,2 etc. Ive gotten my Dual 2GHz G5 to successfully accept Dual 2.5Ghz CPUs! There is barely any information regarding such an upgrade so I wanted to post this. So if you have that old Mac in storage bring it out and hop on ebay for some upgrades!

68RC040 said:

After much research I just want to let everyone know that it is possible to upgrade your PowerMac G5 tower's CPU(s) The only requirements are that the processors have to be in the same family 970,970fx etc, as well as the model Identifier 7,3 7,2 etc. Ive gotten my Dual 2GHz G5 to successfully accept Dual 2.5Ghz CPUs! There is barely any information regarding such an upgrade so I wanted to post this. So if you have that old Mac in storage bring it out and hop on ebay for some upgrades!

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Congrats on the cpu upgrade!

Like you mentioned...there isn't much info on the internet about this...and there kind of still isn't. How about a short DIY??

Also...one special thing about the 2.5ghz cpu's in Powermac G5's was...in both models where Apple used them...there was a liquid cooling system. So upgrading a dual-cpu 2.0ghz PM G5 with dual 2.5ghz cpu's (without a liquid cooling system) could run into temperature/overheating issues.

- Nick

Thanks Nick So far haven't run into ANY heating issues surprisingly. Here is the instructions on how to do this conversion http://scatcat.fhsu.edu/~r_fernandez/morphos/G5LCStoPassiveConversion.pdf


Requirements:
-Arctic Silver 5 High-Density (thermal compound)
-2x Passive CPU Heatsinks from an earlier generation G5 (I bought some 2.0ghz heatsinks)
-LONG allen screwdriver set. Believe a 2.5mm (Lowe’s had a set by Kobalt. #0349015 for $40ish)
-Torx bit set (Included in the set by Kobalt)
-small tipped Philips screwdriver (Included bit in the Kobalt set)
-flathead screwdriver (Included bit as well…)
-Copy of the 2.5.8 Apple Diagnotics Tools

Good luck to those that attempt this conversion! It was a straight forward process, just takes patience.

Awesome thanks for the extra info!

One question. Didn't you have a intact/complete dual cpu 2.0ghz PM G5 to start with? The reason why I ask is...why did you need to purchase more heat sinks? Couldn't you reuse the ones you had (assuming you had a complete PM G5 to start with).

Keep an eye on those temps. Seems curious that Apple used a liquid cooling system...but so far you said you are ok. Those things always added a lot of complication...and they can leak...causing all sorts of issues.

- Nick

p.s. I'm glad you proved that this could be done...but I hate to ask how much you had to spend to get it done (including the tools).

I do, I just copied and pasted the directions for a quick DIY that mentioned the heatsinks I will defiantly keep my eye on how hot it gets, Im not video editing or anything to cpu intensive. If anything happens I will most certainly post my experience. And for the spending part.. Lets just say I could of bought a cheap PC laptop! But hey.. Id rather have a G5 then one of those! haha

Hey I'm new and just joined the forum, and even though I'm aware I may still be letdown by future info in this regard I'm truly excited about hearing that the G5 can be upgraded. On the other side of things I can acknowledge sum truth to the matter and I'm really looking more more! 1st thing I want to say is apple made a G5 that was air cooled with an 970fx that was 2.7Ghz and while it was air cooled it was only a dual core meaning one chip with 2 cores on the die.

I really want any all knowledge that is possible to be obtained for the G5 mainly for the 2.5Ghz water cooled model. So please excuse me if this post of mine should be located in an different area of the forums.

I will not go into much detail but the 2.5Ghz water cooled model was a quad core G5, it had two dual core IBM 970 processors. 2 chips 4 cores, each core running at 2.5Ghz.

To any and everyone that may read this post and to anyone that cares I want u to know that I own a Quad Powermac G5. I have owned it sense nearly the day it was released which I guess was in early 2006/late 2005. In 2007 I had a water pump failure. To be exact my machine come with two separate water pumps (one for each chip) but the design or layout of each water pump led them both to route all water flow to one central radiator cooler (please excuse me if I'm describing any of this wrong). So to anyone thats taking time of their own to read this I only hope u understand the general description of what I'm describing.

All right picking up were I left off.

In 2007 I had one water pump that failed sense they r machinable water pumps I guess they don't last forever... At the Apple store an Apple tech told me one pump failed cause only 1 of the two processors to over heat causing it to fail and go bad ruining the whole daughter card of which the two processors are soldered on too. Sense even if one processors goes bad you still haft to replace both because they are together side-by-side on a daughter card of which that connects to the mother board.

So if I explained this correctly you may can understand how only one processor can go bad with only 1 water pump malfunctioning only because both pumps co-existed separately but were still tied together to one main radiator. So if water flow stopped for one processor the other would one still would flow sense these water pumps was designed I guess to keep water flowing for one chip at a time so 2 pumps 2 chips - 1 chip 2 hoses 1 pump - 1 chip 2 hoses 1 pump = 2 chips 4 hoses 2 pumps = 2 pumps 4 hoses tied into 2 that feeds 1 actual radiator.

It's very simple and I'm not being sarcastic.

I had Apple extended care and thankfully they covered the repair cost because at the time when I made the claim my warrant had gone completely out all of it extended too. Back then the Quad core daughter card which has 2 dual core IBM 970 cpu's running at 2.5Ghz making that a total of 4 cores at 10Ghz all day long 24/7 from start to end with settings set to high performance in the control panel along with an 1200Watt power supply to boost which sets in the bottom part of the G5 case.

Apple replaced the main processor board but to fix the failed water pump as the Apple tech described to me he routed all four hoses coming from the 2 processors to one pump which was the still functioning water pump at that time then from that pump to the radiator he showed me this changes me made by using one water pump and I understood it completely sense I already understood how apple used the 2 pumps before I had it worked on and it's not a complicated setup and I only hope I can make my description clear to all and any readers on this forum because I believe the Quad Powermac is a rare Powermac without and maybe not having many owners of it's kind in existence.

At the time I had it worked on in 2007 everyone in the apple store told me from what they known that I was the only one that had purchased one from that store. At that time only one Apple store existed here and I live in NC. I realize and know that I'm not the only owner of one but in simple respect everyone in the Apple store kindly joked around with me saying I was the only one on the east coast that purchased one.

Midway sometime last year in 2013 sadly my Quad g5 started failing. Showing the same effects or near similar as to what it did back in 2007 it started freezing on boot, crashing while running with fan speeds running high. I always kept my system clean meaning my radiator sense air flow from front to back is completely out of this world the radiator would act as a air tilter and start collecting stuff in the air but it was always very easy to keep clean like cleaning lint off the screen from an old dryer.

Eventually I started to hear water passing through my system sounding like or having similar sounds to a toilet when it get flushed. I kept a good eye on my system and I never saw any signs of leak edge.

If I'm assuming this correctly my one water pump the one of which apple left me with has failed and it does not matter if 2 chips or if 1 chip is bad with 1 or 2 bad they both are being replaced sense both are on 1 board. It kinda matters to me if both processors are good sense I would just try to replace my water pump if thats the case and nothing more.

I had a lot of memory installed, I also had a WD black 1TB along with 3 other or more drives external and internal giving me a average of 2.5TB of regular space or more. I believe it was the GT6600 that I used for most of the life of my quad g5 but I did install a X1900 ATI Radeon and little but a lot to say about it is that it lasted going full throttle wide open until my warranty expired on it and then it started showing artifacts up in games and began to crash my system under normal use. After ATI refused to warranty my claim on it I put my 6600 back in and kept on keeping on. During the whole use of my system I always had two displays hooked up which consisted of a dell 2408wfp and a u2410 both are dell and both are ultrasharps 24". TBH I did not used the u2410 before the year 2010 but I have always used dell ultrasharps sense the start of widescreen displays.

I really may be describing or giving out too much information and this might not be the right place for this post. I only want to finish what I started now so please forgive if I upset anyone.

I called Apple sometime last year to see if they would service my Quad and I was rejected. I tried to speak to the most important person at Apple over the phone and yet none of them had ever heard of the Quad Powermac G5 *cry* I was told my G5 was too old for them to fix or service but I was given a e-mail so I can contact them back if I could not find anyone else to service it and along with with contact I was given from the nearest mac certified servicer they rejected me also only after calling me back the next day which I was told from them they took the time to research and see if they could get parts only to find out they couldn't.

I don't really think anyone cares. I have tears in my eyes now and feeling like i'm gonna choke trying to describe this.

It's like the person told from Apple, (I have his name written down but i'm keeping it disclosed) nothing wrong with what he said I guess so I'm not upset I'm just sad or I mean it makes me sad... He told me that I got some good use out from that system saying that from 2006 to 2013 was a long time and it was good that I really enjoyed my time with it then he told me that if I really and truly did enjoy the powermac g5 that I shoulder consider buying a new mac.

I'm starting to cry right now just trying to type this, I always get so sad I give up and for once I want to just get across what I'm trying to explain and describe to anyone that cares and I'm trying to understand something that I believe I know all to well so easily.

See i'm not new to computers or to electronics. My knowledge is what I know and I know what I know. It's not my fault nor am I knocking the QuadG5 down in any way.

Before my QuadG5 started failing I bought a new macbook pro.

My previous post got erased so this is what I had copied I'm too upset to finished it now

Hey it is only a computer! Not a life changing event.

Congrats on the upgrade, but ... you started with a G5 and ended up with ... a G5. Faster yes, but still so far behind today's chips I have to wonder why bother (apart from "because it is there" or "fun" of course, both valid reasons).

I need to update that post I bought a non retina macbook pro before my Quad failed again last year. It was MacBook Pro "Core i7" 2.3 15" Mid-2012 2.3 GHz Core i7 (I7-3615QM)

2 days after I got that macbook pro Apple introduced the retina model for a cheaper price, so i returned the one I bought and they happily give me a complete refund on store credit. Sense my G5 was going strong at the time I choose to get store credit and wait.

Last year my quadG5 started failing and eventually quit, so late last year I used my store credit and purchased a macbook pro Retina, 15-inch, Early 2013 2.4 GHz Intel Core i7 8 GB 1600 MHz DDR3 NVIDIA GeForce GT 650M 1024 MB. 10,1 model.

I'm very embarrassed trying to described my situation, I feel i'm about to puke as I'm typing this and usually I start crying but now I feel like i'm gonna puke please don't let me upset any of you.

I try not to believe by my QuadG5 failing is not life changing, it was a work horse, it never give me trouble, and it was beyond fast, i really like apple.

I was born in 1984 and my 1st mac was a 450Mhz graphite G4.

chas_m said:

Congrats on the upgrade, but ... you started with a G5 and ended up with ... a G5. Faster yes, but still so far behind today's chips I have to wonder why bother (apart from "because it is there" or "fun" of course, both valid reasons).

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And that's true (the fun part). Reminds me of a friend of my Dad (when he was alive) who restored antique cars. A 1932 Ford was still a 1932 Ford after it was restored, but there was the satisfaction of having done it and of course the fun part. Expensive hobby, by the way!

It was merely just for the fun of it, and finally proving that the G5 CPU can be upgraded I use it on a daily basis also, runs like a charm