FINALLY! One of my most desired macs that I still did not own has finally found its way to me. Today, I won a bid on a cube for the amazing price of $32 +$23 shipping, so for $55 I got a 450MHz Cube without the PSU. I'm still looking for a PSU (preferably cheap), but have come up expensive so far. Thus, I wont be able to use it at first when I get it, but at least it will look nice for the time being. I'm extremely happy that I finally got a cube (and for the awesome price too). I cant wait to see it in person and eventually use it!
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CUBE!
- Thread starter Gamer9430
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Good for you, excellent purchase at that price!
I've had one PSU suddenly go 'Phuut!' with a burning smell. Completely expired. Looked around for another which when available were on average around 50€ ($55). I was in no hurry to purchase as I had a second Cube & PSU. Then a few months later I saw one a short drive away, priced at 22€ ($25) which I quickly grabbed.
Hope you find a reasonably priced PSU, but pending that, the Cube certainly makes an interesting & very attractive show-piece.
I've had one PSU suddenly go 'Phuut!' with a burning smell. Completely expired. Looked around for another which when available were on average around 50€ ($55). I was in no hurry to purchase as I had a second Cube & PSU. Then a few months later I saw one a short drive away, priced at 22€ ($25) which I quickly grabbed.
Hope you find a reasonably priced PSU, but pending that, the Cube certainly makes an interesting & very attractive show-piece.
Nice find. The single 450 MHz G4 is quite limiting nowadays (really wish upgrades weren't so rare and expensive), but I do like my Cube.
Did you get the USB Apple Pro Speakers with yours? These aren't easy to find separate from the Cube, and without an external USB or Firewire DAC you won't be able to play any sound.
Did you get the USB Apple Pro Speakers with yours? These aren't easy to find separate from the Cube, and without an external USB or Firewire DAC you won't be able to play any sound.
Thanks! Sadly, it definitely will be a bit limiting, but with some optimizations, Leopard should purr nicely. I know it's also possible to overclock it, so I might do that at some point.
Sadly, I did not get the USB pro speakers. I hope to get them at some point in the future if they aren't too expensive (haven't looked at prices). When you say USB DAC, do you mean if I get a different pair of speakers powered by USB, it would work fine? I'm not familiar with what a USB DAC is, so forgive me if it's something really basic.
The lowest I've tried it on was a dual-processor 450 MHz Gigabit Ethernet (before upgrading it to dual 500), and on there it ran acceptably quick, but the Cube has half as many processors and even Tiger feels a little sluggish. Do let me know how it runs.
A pair of speakers that only has a USB connection (not just for power) should work, it would have a built-in DAC. You can also get a standalone DAC with a regular audio-out port to connect standard speakers or headphones (not sure which ones work with a G4).
You can always get a cheap USB adapter. I bought this one below but it is out of stock now. It worked on Tiger. There are other clones that use the same cheap chipset on Amazon and Ebay. Search USB audio cards.
http://www.dx.com/p/usb-2-0-virtual...?utm_rid=28296997&utm_source=sas#.VsSonj8ZU6J
http://www.dx.com/p/usb-2-0-virtual...?utm_rid=28296997&utm_source=sas#.VsSonj8ZU6J
I've run Leopard on a 400mhz Sawtooth, although admittedly I have used better GPUs than are necessarily available(right now I'm running a Radeon 9800). I've also run it on a 400mz TiBook, which of course is severely limited in the GPU department(install the Rage 128 kexts from Tiger if you're going to try and use a Rage 128 in Leopard).
Now that I think about it, I also have it running on a B&W G3 with a 450mhz G4 upgrade, although I'm running a(flashed) FX5200 in that system(CI support).
A Cube can be made to run well with Leopard. I have more than one with it installed, although admittedly some of those do have CPU upgrades.
One last thing-I have one Cube set up with a Griffin iMic. It has both audio in and audio out capabilities, although I don't use the audio in. The Harmon-Kardon Soundsticks with the "jellyfish" subwoofer are a really nice upgrade over the "eyeballs" if you want to spend the money on them.
Now that I think about it, I also have it running on a B&W G3 with a 450mhz G4 upgrade, although I'm running a(flashed) FX5200 in that system(CI support).
A Cube can be made to run well with Leopard. I have more than one with it installed, although admittedly some of those do have CPU upgrades.
One last thing-I have one Cube set up with a Griffin iMic. It has both audio in and audio out capabilities, although I don't use the audio in. The Harmon-Kardon Soundsticks with the "jellyfish" subwoofer are a really nice upgrade over the "eyeballs" if you want to spend the money on them.
Just for info, I somewhere read that it's wise to keep the Cube PSU always connected to the mains supply. On one of my systems, I used to shut-down the Cube by logging off, and then over a period of perhaps a few days, would disconnect the PSU from the mains supply several times (to use the single wall socket for another appliance). It was s short time after a similar series of events that the PSU blew!
Now with the replacement PSU, I always keep it connected to the mains supply and also to the Cube. And even with the Cube shut down, looking into the air exit vent at the top, one can see a dim light inside where the PSU is still maintaining a trickle supply of power.
This tip may prevent other users from having their PSU expiring earlier than designed to.
Now with the replacement PSU, I always keep it connected to the mains supply and also to the Cube. And even with the Cube shut down, looking into the air exit vent at the top, one can see a dim light inside where the PSU is still maintaining a trickle supply of power.
This tip may prevent other users from having their PSU expiring earlier than designed to.
The cube runs on 28v, so if you can find one of those good for a couple amps it could be used. Also, the 533MHz CPU from a tower makes a decent upgrade because these are inexpensive, have 7410 chips that use less power and nearly always do 600MHz easily. It's also possible to put in the dual 450/500 tower CPU, but this would probably require a base fan for cooling.
Awesome tip, thanks! I usually leave my stuff plugged in unless I have to move it or I need the outlet for something else, so that's good to know. I'll have to try and find a permanent outlet for it on one of my power strips.
Good to know. I think it's going to be a bit difficult to find a PSU, sadly. Also, I'd love to do a CPU upgrade at some point, so that would likely be a cheap route to use DA CPUs. I also plan to get a base fan as soon as I find one that will fit
You also need to solder to fit the dual 450 in the Cube as there is a copper coil that is too tall for the Cubes' heat sink. You would need to melt it down I think.
I think there was a post on cube owner about using 24v and it worked fine too (non ADC), so something like this would do it:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/252257040229
Go to cube owner dot com and look around. There is a power supply, dual output used from what I remember. I think it also labels all the pins so as not to fry anything.
So basically, I buy that PSU, then get some copper insulated wires or something, then plug them into their respective terminals on the PSU and power input jack on the cube?
The legend has arrived...
So it arrived safely this afternoon. There is a rather large crack on the top, I'm not sure if that is from shipping. There's also some scratches here and there on the case, but beyond that it's looking good. Anyway, upon opening it up, there's an AirPort card, DVD ROM ODD, 1.2GB of RAM (2x 512MB, 1x 256MB), an 80GB HDD, and likely a Rage 128. The sticker said 450MHz/64MB RAM/DVD ROM/20GB HD/56k, so the AirPort, RAM, and HDD were upgraded afterwards. The CPU is likely still a 450, but I won't be able to tell until it's powered up. Really excited to play with this thing in the future and its truly a work of art!
So it arrived safely this afternoon. There is a rather large crack on the top, I'm not sure if that is from shipping. There's also some scratches here and there on the case, but beyond that it's looking good. Anyway, upon opening it up, there's an AirPort card, DVD ROM ODD, 1.2GB of RAM (2x 512MB, 1x 256MB), an 80GB HDD, and likely a Rage 128. The sticker said 450MHz/64MB RAM/DVD ROM/20GB HD/56k, so the AirPort, RAM, and HDD were upgraded afterwards. The CPU is likely still a 450, but I won't be able to tell until it's powered up. Really excited to play with this thing in the future and its truly a work of art!