The most extreme series of Mods Ever Done To A Powerbook G4 Titanium

[dtravis7]

Um, I own a fully maxed out 733 Quicksilver that will beat that Powerbook in every way and You Tube videos are jerky and almost slide show like with 10.5.8 Leopard and 10.4.11 Tiger. So that machine will NOT do what you want to do.

Sorry if that sounds mean, but I am just stating the facts. I have a LOT of experience with Older Macs BTW.

Specs on my Quicksilver"
733 G4 running at 133Mhz Bus.
1.5GB PC133 RAM.
ATI Radeon 7500 with 64 Megs VRam.

 

[pigoo3]

But the thing is, I have all of the software and OS discs I will ever need with this computer. My family had that G5 for a long time and they purchased a lot of PPC software.

First time you mentioned this. Having OS install disks...and software that's at least somewhat "vintage" to the Powerbook are Big pluses.

That 7200 rpm 500 gig drive is certainly going to cost you more than you paid for the computer. In fact since this is an older Powerbook...you need an ATA hard drive...and I don't think that you're going to find one bigger than 320 gigs, 5400rpm, all for around $112.99.

And it's probably a great ideas to max out the ram...and ram for these older computers can be MUCH more expensive than you think. Again...costing much more than the original purchase price of the computer. The 667mhz logic board has 2 ram slots (max. ram is 1 gig)...so 2 x 512 sticks of ram will cost you around $50 bucks...the 867mhz logic board has 1 ram slot. A 1 gig stick of ram for it will cost you around $36 bucks.

So it will still cost you around $150 bucks to get this thing upgraded properly. The computer cost you $20 bucks (plus at least $15-$20 for shipping, maybe more). Not sure how much this 867mhz logic board you want to put in it cost you. A standard replacement battery will cost you at least $75 bucks. Add to this the cost of the water cooling system. And you mentioned painting it (and other small stuff)

Add everything up, and eventually you'll easily have close to $300 bucks invested into this computer (maybe more).

You wanna know how much I paid for a really nice 2.0ghz Core 2 Duo MacBook, with a perfect battery, 2 gig of ram, and a 120gig HD??...$350 bucks on Craig's List...no shipping costs.

As you can see...a used MacBook does not cost much more than everything you have planned for this Powerbook G4. And this is assuming that the Powerbook G4 doesn't get trashed during the water cooling system experiments...or the logic board swap!

 

[nicholasdivitto]

Those are some good points with the hard drive, I'm going to have to reconsider. But I found two sticks of 512mb ram for 10 bucks altogether, and honestly, with these old computers its all about running smart. Thats why I was inquiring about different linux distros as more efficient alternatives. For youtube videos I'm using html5 instead of flashmedia and its fantastic. And I don't have 350 bucks for a macbook. I have a soldering iron, I have machining tools, I have creativity and raw materials, and I have a passion for this. believe it or not, not everything has to be bought...

 

[nicholasdivitto]

I apologize for the double post, but I feel that I have to clear some things up. I have a powerbook. I do not have a Macbook. I will be modifying my powerbook. I will not be modifying a Macbook, because I do not own a Macbook, nor do I have any desire to buy one.

If it makes you guys any happier, lets just say I'm doing this for the heck of it, not for a practical purpose, because this discussion about how I should buy a Macbook instead of modifying my powerbook, is frankly not getting anywhere.

That being said, I finished sanding the top of my Tibook and made a mock up of the radiator. I think it looks pretty decent. I will be posting pictures tommorow afternoon if anybody cares.

 

[cwa107]

I'll be interested to see what you come up with. I know what it's like to be a starving student, trying to keep an old computer usable. I did it back in the late 90's with an old Amiga 4000 - and that wasn't even a computer that could run even somewhat mainstream software.

That Amiga ended up getting spliced into a tower chassis, with lots of other mods to make it practical. It was a Frankenstein for sure, but it was a lot of fun playing around with back in the day. I remember overclocking it to 40MHz (from 25) so that I could play Quake - that was something to behold, all things considered.

I can certainly see the appeal. And it may be a doorstop to some, but if you like it and think it can be made to function for your purposes, go for it! Just be sure to post some pics.

I think the naysayers here mean well - they don't want you to spend money on what may very well be a losing battle. But hey, if you have the time, talent and resources, it's one less computer in a landfill, right?!

 

[pigoo3]

If it makes you guys any happier, lets just say I'm doing this for the heck of it, not for a practical purpose, because this discussion about how I should buy a Macbook instead of modifying my powerbook, is frankly not getting anywhere.

Like I mentioned earlier...if this project is one for learning and experimentation...that's great...go for it. Just wanted to make you aware of various financial implications that may result...so in the end you're not surprised.

I know that you mentioned being a high school senior. Consider that many of us here at Mac-Forums have been down the exact same road as you are heading...and then multiply it by 50-100x (or more). We've been where you are going...so we know what's up!

Good luck with the project...and keep us updated.

 

[TattooedMac]

I have a soldering iron, I have machining tools, I have creativity and raw materials, and I have a passion for this. believe it or not, not everything has to be bought...

I like your way of thinking. Will be interested in seeing how it all goes. Good luck with it all

Cheers

 

[MacDude121]

Um, I own a fully maxed out 733 Quicksilver that will beat that Powerbook in every way and You Tube videos are jerky and almost slide show like with 10.5.8 Leopard and 10.4.11 Tiger. So that machine will NOT do what you want to do.

Sorry if that sounds mean, but I am just stating the facts. I have a LOT of experience with Older Macs BTW.

Specs on my Quicksilver"
733 G4 running at 133Mhz Bus.
1.5GB PC133 RAM.
ATI Radeon 7500 with 64 Megs VRam.

My iMac G3 500 MHz with 320MB of Ram and 16MB of Vram plays youtube videos fine. 240p + Camino is your friend.

To the OP, this seems like a pretty serious little project you're planning on doing. Especially the water cooling aspect of the mods. Like others have stated, the total outcome of this project might actually equal or slightly exceed the cost of a used Macbook, but hey, if this is going to be fun, a learning experience, and keep a PowerBook out of the landfill I say by all means go for it. I personally don't believe the PowerPC architecture is fully dead yet, these machines still have some useful life left in them.

Looking forward to see how it goes.

 

[nicholasdivitto]

I know the nay sayers mean well. I understand what they are conveying, and in the long run we'll see what happens.

Sounds like I'm gonna have to try camino out haha

 

[nicholasdivitto]

So I was exploring Wikipedia and was looking at the amiga 4000, anyway, aparently theres an amiga oS for powerpc. I saw some screen shots, and looks very OSX esque. Just sayin

 

[cwa107]

So I was exploring Wikipedia and was looking at the amiga 4000, anyway, aparently theres an amiga oS for powerpc. I saw some screen shots, and looks very OSX esque. Just sayin

There is, but alas the Amiga is deader than a doornail. It's last hope of resurrection pretty much died with Gateway, who bought it for the patents some 15 years ago. But in its day, nothing could hold a candle to it. It made the Mac look like a tinker toy.

 

[dtravis7]

My iMac G3 500 MHz with 320MB of Ram and 16MB of Vram plays youtube videos fine. 240p + Camino is your friend.

240p? My old P3 500 Thinkpad will do that. 240p to me looks so bad. Sorry. and I have seen no G3 that plays even 240p videos to my standard of smoothness. Maybe yours plays them, but it would bug me.

Camino is fine for those old Macs but is far behind the times for any modern surfing.

To the OP, Good luck. I was just pointing out about You Tube from experience. I have over 30 Macs here all in great shape, a collection. I know what each one will do. I modded a G4 667 Digital Audio and made it into a 1.8 Ghz G4 with 2GB RAM and Radeon 9800 Pro video. Very fast. It will play 360p You Tube vids quite smooth, but the upgrade parts cost me over $500 at the time. It was a fun project though but a lot of $$$. It does come very close to some of the early G5 towers in overall performance though. I really did it for the FUN of it as I am a big PC modder and always wanted to try a Mac. If it were a Powerbook though I really could have not gone this far.

Again Good Luck. Keep us posted.


And CWA, Stop the Amiga talk. You are making me want to pull out my Amiga 3000 from under the bed and mess with it!

 

[robduckyworth]

Watercooling 101 | bit-tech.net

^that will get you started in understanding how water cooling works. but where on earth are you going to plonk a radiator on a powerbook?

I stand by my opinion. I read all of your post, but to make my point i only quoted a section. I am fully aware, and respect the fact you want to make this computer more usable. I am a student, I understand what its like to be restricted with funds.

But if that really is your goal, then what you are planning to do is mega, mega overkill.

if it was me, I'd use that inverter you bought and fix the screen issue. Then I'd replace the thermal compound on the CPU with a slightly higher quality one (such as MX-5) to improve temps slightly. Maybe find a better fan. If you have a newer 867 mobo/cpu combo, id whack that in. While the case is empty you could paint it whatever you wanted. then it would be running on top form.

Water cooling and Overclocking a laptop? Thats a bit too bonkers. You dont have access to a BIOS on a Mac, btw.

 

[nicholasdivitto]

you don't overclock G4's using bios, you overclock it by soldering PLL resistor jumpers on the logic board to change the multiplier.

 

[dtravis7]

you don't overclock G4's using bios, you overclock it by soldering PLL resistor jumpers on the logic board to change the multiplier.

That is true but the over clocking is very limited. I looked at doing it to a 1.42 G4 Mini, and you could maybe get it to 1.5 or so. Not much of an over clock.

The resistor jumpers are VERY tiny so be careful and use a VERY fine tipped iron.

 

[hugtheslug]

The resistor jumpers are VERY tiny so be careful and use a VERY fine tipped iron.

Or use conductive silver paint to bridge connections; you can always scratch off any excess. I used this method to overclock a Toshiba Libretto.

Cheers

Hugh

 

[nicholasdivitto]

quick update: no time for pictures today, maybe tongiht. really busy. The new inverter came in so I'll try to install it tongiht.

 

[nicholasdivitto]

I screwed up bigtime. I accidentally bought an inverter for the DVI model... I guess its not so bad, since the logic board I'm getting is a DVI...

 

[cwa107]

I screwed up bigtime. I accidentally bought an inverter for the DVI model... I guess its not so bad, since the logic board I'm getting is a DVI...

The inverter needs to match the panel as well. Make sure it's rated for that panel, otherwise you might be buying a new CCFL tube as well.

 

[dtravis7]

Um, did you not say the screen was part dead? An Inverter powers the backlight. If just part of the screen has lines and black, it's the screen. The inverter either works or does not work. If it was bad there would be no light at all.