Powermac G4 MDD with PC video card?

[Krisz]

Well, as it happens, that Mac has a MPC7455, which looks to be an inferior cpu. Not, like, a massively inferior cpu, but it does have half the L2 cache. Sonnet upgrade cpu cards from the era would have used 7447, but those are basically impossible to get your hands on, especially for an MDD, unless you have stupid amounts of money and a lot of luck if anyone is even offering one on ebay.

And speaking of, god I wish I had one of these: https://www.ebay.com/itm/145964053463
(Mods, this is not my auction)

Sonnet products are so overpriced!
I don't understand how they have the nerve to charge such high prices?!

 

[Krisz]

Just for perspective, back when PMac G4 support was added even a 677MHz would beat the 1GHz Peg2 in most benchmarks. "Conservative" RAM timing and a AGP port that wasn't really one (rerouted PCI-X) being the culprits.

So a non faulty 1.25GHz MDD should be way faster than any Pegasos.

When I used the pegasos 2 computer, MorphOS 1.4.5 was installed, the system has improved a lot since then, but I still have to say that the Pegasos 2 was much faster!
I remember that all applications ran on it without errors
I still have my Pegasos 2 computer, but unfortunately it doesn't work and I couldn't find anyone who could fix it

 

[Bug-Creator]

Sonnet products are so overpriced!
I don't understand how they have the nerve to charge such high prices?!

Sonnet hasn't made or sold those products for decades and random ebay-user putting fantasy prices on stuff they think is rare (and may even be rare) is hardly news either.

But really you should look into your MDD if it has issues or even select a reproducible benchmarks, so other can compare and narrow down the root cause of your issue.

For all we know your MDD might be yet another slight variation core developers either haven't come across or haven't tested against in years.

 

[ToniCH]

As its a MDD, which are notorious for failing PSUs (all will fail sooner or later), it might even be a bad/weak PSU which cannot provide enough power for the computer to run properly.

I agree, benchmarks under MacOS might tell if there is a problem with hardware.

 

[Krisz]

Sonnet hasn't made or sold those products for decades and random ebay-user putting fantasy prices on stuff they think is rare (and may even be rare) is hardly news either.

But really you should look into your MDD if it has issues or even select a reproducible benchmarks, so other can compare and narrow down the root cause of your issue.

For all we know your MDD might be yet another slight variation core developers either haven't come across or haven't tested against in years.

Sonnet still makes accessories for Mac Pros and sells them at very high prices.
Unfortunately, they charge a lot on eBay, especially if it's something rare and old.

 

[Krisz]

As its a MDD, which are notorious for failing PSUs (all will fail sooner or later), it might even be a bad/weak PSU which cannot provide enough power for the computer to run properly.

I agree, benchmarks under MacOS might tell if there is a problem with hardware.

When I have time, I'll check the power supply to see if it's OK, or if the capacitors in the power supply need to be checked to see if they're

 

[Krisz]

It's also possible that MorpOS itself isn't well optimized, although I doubt it because Amiga developers usually do a pretty good job.

 

[repairedCheese]

I do agree that the best way to see if the MDD is having issues is to test it in OSX. I got lucky that my MDD had a power supply repair right before I bought it, it even came with paperwork for the repairs. It might be worth making sure the cpu is cooling properly as well. Those late G4 chips got pretty hot and the fans are all now 20 years old.

But as for Sonnet, they don't charge anything for parts like that on ebay, because Sonnet isn't the ones doing the selling. Their PPC upgrade boards are just rare now.

 

[Krisz]

I do agree that the best way to see if the MDD is having issues is to test it in OSX. I got lucky that my MDD had a power supply repair right before I bought it, it even came with paperwork for the repairs. It might be worth making sure the cpu is cooling properly as well. Those late G4 chips got pretty hot and the fans are all now 20 years old.

But as for Sonnet, they don't charge anything for parts like that on ebay, because Sonnet isn't the ones doing the selling. Their PPC upgrade boards are just rare now.

When I received the machine, I immediately cleaned the dust from it, the fans, and the heatsink.
the processor has Thermal Grizzly Kryonaut thermal paste on it so in theory it shouldn't get hot
I'll check the power supply later
When I bought the machine it had MacOS9 on it and it seemed very slow
I started an old game on it in classic mode and it was very sluggish

 

[Bug-Creator]

When I bought the machine it had MacOS9 on it and it seemed very slow

MDD/FW800 G4s use (AFAIK) variable clocks based on load/temp and for me it sounds like yours is stuck far below the specced 1.25GHz.

A quick test (in MorphOS), download/copy this to RAM: and extract there (via context menu). File was choosen just because it's big, all is done in RAM: to ignore drive speeds.

G5 2.3GHz : 6s
PB 1.67GHz : 9s

So you should get somewhere between 12 and 15s.

 

[repairedCheese]

When I received the machine, I immediately cleaned the dust from it, the fans, and the heatsink.
the processor has Thermal Grizzly Kryonaut thermal paste on it so in theory it shouldn't get hot
I'll check the power supply later
When I bought the machine it had MacOS9 on it and it seemed very slow
I started an old game on it in classic mode and it was very sluggish

The easiest way I can think of to get an idea if your G4 is objectively performing correctly is to give it a go in geekbench.

https://macintoshgarden.org/apps/geekbench-227

G4 MDD Single (2003) 1.25GHz - Geekbench

Benchmark results for a Power Mac G4 (Mirrored Drive Doors) with a PowerPC G4 (7445/7455) processor.

browser.geekbench.com

Power Mac G4 (Mirrored Drive Doors) - Geekbench

Benchmark results for a Power Mac G4 (Mirrored Drive Doors) with a PowerPC G4 (7445/7455) processor.

browser.geekbench.com

I don't have a single cpu model myself, not anymore, I did but I was able to get my hands on a dual 1.25 Ghz cpu board and it was well worth it. But I was able to find some scores for the single cpu version.

 

[Krisz]

Thanks
I'll try the tests later
I need to install MacOS to use GeekBench because I currently only have MorpOS on my machine