Resolved Possible to Swap CPU’s from MDD G4 into a Quicksilver G4?

[kevinakerberg]

Hey everybody. I had a question regarding upgrading a 867MHz PowerMac G4 Quicksilver. Since third party CPU upgrades from the likes of Sonnet are either impossible to find or pretty expensive, I was wondering if it is possible to take the CPU’s from a dual processor MDD model or even from a faster Quicksilver like the dual 800MHz or dual 1GHz and swap them in? Thanks.

 

[eyoungren]

Hey everybody. I had a question regarding upgrading a 867MHz PowerMac G4 Quicksilver. Since third party CPU upgrades from the likes of Sonnet are either impossible to find or pretty expensive, I was wondering if it is possible to take the CPU’s from a dual processor MDD model or even from a faster Quicksilver like the dual 800MHz or dual 1GHz and swap them in? Thanks.

A faster QS should work, but I don't believe the MDD processors are compatible. Both because of physical differences and the bus.

 

[bunnspecial]

As @eyoungren says, any Quicksilver CPU will work. I was going to caution that the L3 cache PROBABLY won't work if the computer didn't ship with it(there's some possibilities that I need to experiment with on that) but you won't have that issue.

Also, if you get a dual processor, be sure you get a heatsink to go with it.

 

[kevinakerberg]

Thank you both for your help! I’ll look into getting a Quicksilver CPU and go from there.

 

[timidpimpin]

because of physical differences and the bus.

Both systems have a 133MHz bus.

Correction... only the dual 867 and single 1GHz MDD's have 133MHz. The rest are 167MHz.

 

[Traace]

Both systems have a 133MHz bus.

Correction... only the dual 867 and single 1GHz MDD's have 133MHz. The rest are 167MHz.

remove a tiny resistor (backside of mainboard) makes them run at 167MHz FSB too

 

[bunnspecial]

Both systems have a 133MHz bus.

Correction... only the dual 867 and single 1GHz MDD's have 133MHz. The rest are 167MHz.

Even if the bus speed were the same(which it's not on MOST MDDs that you actually find "in the wild") the CPUs are totally different and not in any way compatible.