Upgrading Dual 867 MDD Power Mac

[FadeToBlack]

As some of you may know, I bought a Dual 867 on eBay and it should be here sometime this week. I'm gonna be upgrading a few things on it. I already ordered a 16x DL Pioneer SuperDrive for it and I plan on adding a USB 2.0 PCI card, (any recommendations?) and a HD and maybe a new graphics card sometime in the future. Anyway, I was wondering if there are any guides online for upgrading Power Macs? I haven't really done any 'big' upgrades to a computer before. I put RAM in my eMac and that's about it. So yeah, does anyone know where any guides are? Thanks in advance!

 

[law guy]

So yeah, does anyone know where any guides are? Thanks in advance!

You might glean some useful information here: http://www.power-mac-g4.com/
Good luck with the upgrades.

 

[FadeToBlack]

You might glean some useful information here: http://www.power-mac-g4.com/
Good luck with the upgrades.

Lots of good info there! Thanks!

 

[law guy]

Lots of good info there! Thanks!

You're welcome. I have a soft spot for the G4 PM and I've found that site has some useful ideas for fixing problems, upgrading, etc.

 

[spinne1]

There is also much reading to do over at http://www.xlr8yourmac.com

Click the menus at the top of the main news section to get to the meat of the website (it is pretty expansive).

 

[bousozoku]

I recently put a Pioneer 109/A09 DL DVD-R drive into my dual 800 to replace the 103/A03 that originally came with it. Of course, you have to have a certain cable to get 16x speed, otherwise, you can only get 8x speed from it but DL capabilities are better for backup.

The Adaptec USB 2.0 cards work well and I recently got an ADS dual link hub to work with it.

Of course, my machine is dead at the moment unless I can coax the processor to work for a while.

 

[FadeToBlack]

I recently put a Pioneer 109/A09 DL DVD-R drive into my dual 800 to replace the 103/A03 that originally came with it. Of course, you have to have a certain cable to get 16x speed, otherwise, you can only get 8x speed from it but DL capabilities are better for backup.

The Adaptec USB 2.0 cards work well and I recently got an ADS dual link hub to work with it.

Of course, my machine is dead at the moment unless I can coax the processor to work for a while.

What kind of cable do you need to get to get the 16x speed?

Also, thanks for the recommendation on the USB 2 card. I really need to get one, since I have a 5th Gen. iPod and it doesn't use FireWire.

 

[jamesi]

if you really want to maximize the speed of the G4 then definately consider buying a G4 processor upgrade from some the different companies out there. for a dual system you can go as high as dual 1.7-2.0 G4 processors. i think sonnet has some of those, as well as OWC. max out your ram and get a 9800 pro. wam bam, your system is offically boss

 

[bousozoku]

What kind of cable do you need to get to get the 16x speed?

Also, thanks for the recommendation on the USB 2 card. I really need to get one, since I have a 5th Gen. iPod and it doesn't use FireWire.

I don't know which cable to get, but I know that the standard cable has been said to not support the faster speeds. I don't think it really matters, it's more about the DL support, right?

I'll tell you something about the PowerLogix 7447/7457 upgrade cards, should you consider them. They need a working machine to update firmware. I can't use the upgrade I ordered because the existing processor card seems to be dead.

 

[FadeToBlack]

I don't know which cable to get, but I know that the standard cable has been said to not support the faster speeds. I don't think it really matters, it's more about the DL support, right?

I'll tell you something about the PowerLogix 7447/7457 upgrade cards, should you consider them. They need a working machine to update firmware. I can't use the upgrade I ordered because the existing processor card seems to be dead.

Yeah, I don't even have any 16x discs, so I doubt I'll worry about getting that cable.

I doubt I'll do a processor upgrade. This seems plenty fast for what I do and I plan on adding a bigger HD eventually and maxing out the RAM to 2GB.

I just got it in today and when I turned it on, it booted OS 9. Evidently, the guy I bought it from was still running some old audio apps in OS 9. I tried holding down option to boot into Jaguar, since that is what came on these and the only option I had was OS 9. I went ahead and put Tiger on it and I'm downloading the updates right now. I'll probably post a pic of it in the Setups thread here in a minute.

 

[spinne1]

Yeah, I don't even have any 16x discs, so I doubt I'll worry about getting that cable.

I doubt I'll do a processor upgrade. This seems plenty fast for what I do and I plan on adding a bigger HD eventually and maxing out the RAM to 2GB.

I just got it in today and when I turned it on, it booted OS 9. Evidently, the guy I bought it from was still running some old audio apps in OS 9. I tried holding down option to boot into Jaguar, since that is what came on these and the only option I had was OS 9. I went ahead and put Tiger on it and I'm downloading the updates right now. I'll probably post a pic of it in the Setups thread here in a minute.

It really doesn't matter what was on there because if you buy any used mac or hard drive, you want to reformat it and install a fresh system OS X anyhow. (Yes, it is a pain to get a system from fresh install to finished system).

 

[FadeToBlack]

It really doesn't matter what was on there because if you buy any used mac or hard drive, you want to reformat it and install a fresh system OS X anyhow. (Yes, it is a pain to get a system from fresh install to finished system).

It actually only took me like 15 minutes or something to do a clean install of Tiger. The longest thing was probably downloading the updates. The ol' internet wasn't running as fast as usual today.

This Apple Studio Display is AMAZING. It's crazy how much better that it is than the eMac's CRT. It also seems a lot bigger than the eMac's display, which is the case most of the time with LCD's. They have a larger viewable area. I'm definitely impressed!

My Pioneer SuperDrive also came in today (along with iLife '06, which I still haven't got to play with much yet.) I'll probably end up throwing in the SuperDrive tomorrow.

 

[SmurfBoxMasta]

Dont be so quick to spend money on the video card...

UNLESS you:

A) Do 3D work or play games
B) Need CoreImage support

the stock cards in that machine is already QE supported, so some the eye candy & GUI is already being accellerated by the GPU...making the overall system faster.

IMHO, I would spend more momo first on a big SATA II HD & controller card, and mAxDaRam 4 sure

 

[FadeToBlack]

Dont be so quick to spend money on the video card...

UNLESS you:

A) Do 3D work or play games
B) Need CoreImage support

the stock cards in that machine is already QE supported, so some the eye candy & GUI is already being accellerated by the GPU...making the overall system faster.

IMHO, I would spend more momo first on a big SATA II HD & controller card, and mAxDaRam 4 sure

Yeah, after some thought, I decided it'd probably be a waste of money for me to upgrade the graphics card. This one already seems better than the ATI Radeon 9200 that was in my eMac.

Not sure if I'll go SATA or not. I may just get a regular ATA HD, most likely a 160GB. I only have about 25GB used on the 60 that's in here now.

I will definitely be upgrading the RAM, though. I got used to the 1GB in the eMac. I'm sure 2GB in this G4 will be very nice.

 

[OllyW]

I recently sold my dual 867 MDD to move up to a G5 PM.

I added most of the upgrades you list above....


2nd hard drive - I went for a 160GB IDE, easy upgrade with no problems.

DVD/RW - I used the Pioneer 107, it was the latest Apple supported drive at the time so it worked with all the Apple applications. Fairly easy to fit, just remember to remove the tray edge bezel so it doesn't catch on the case. Plenty of good advice here http://forums.xlr8yourmac.com/drivedb/search.drivedb.lasso

Memory - It had 512MB fitted, so I upgraded to 1.5GB, gave a massive improvement in usability.

USB 2.0 PCI card - I chose a Belkin 5 port (4 external) card which was marked as Apple & OS X compatible. It worked fine for connecting USB devices, unless the computer tried to enter sleep mode with a device connected. The mac didn't go fully to sleep, there was some fan activity and it was impossible to wake up. I think was a problem with Tiger and I never fixed it before selling the MDD.


I left the standard video card and apart from the USB 2.0 problem everything ran fine. I just couldn't resist the lure of the G5.....

 

[FadeToBlack]

I recently sold my dual 867 MDD to move up to a G5 PM.

I added most of the upgrades you list above....


2nd hard drive - I went for a 160GB IDE, easy upgrade with no problems.

DVD/RW - I used the Pioneer 107, it was the latest Apple supported drive at the time so it worked with all the Apple applications. Fairly easy to fit, just remember to remove the tray edge bezel so it doesn't catch on the case. Plenty of good advice here http://forums.xlr8yourmac.com/drivedb/search.drivedb.lasso

Memory - It had 512MB fitted, so I upgraded to 1.5GB, gave a massive improvement in usability.

USB 2.0 PCI card - I chose a Belkin 5 port (4 external) card which was marked as Apple & OS X compatible. It worked fine for connecting USB devices, unless the computer tried to enter sleep mode with a device connected. The mac didn't go fully to sleep, there was some fan activity and it was impossible to wake up. I think was a problem with Tiger and I never fixed it before selling the MDD.


I left the standard video card and apart from the USB 2.0 problem everything ran fine. I just couldn't resist the lure of the G5.....

Awesome, thanks for the info and the link to that website!

 

[OllyW]

Awesome, thanks for the info and the link to that website!

Oh, I forgot to add, if you decide to keep the combo drive in, move it down to the bottom optical drive shelf. The top shelf has more efficient airflow, which the DVD/RW drive will take better advantage of.

Enjoy the MDD, it's still a fine computer.

 

[FadeToBlack]

Oh, I forgot to add, if you decide to keep the combo drive in, move it down to the bottom optical drive shelf. The top shelf has more efficient airflow, which the DVD/RW drive will take better advantage of.

Enjoy the MDD, it's still a fine computer.

I'm gonna probably give the Combo Drive to my friend for his B&W G3. He had a Combo Drive that he was using in his PC that we installed, but it wasn't compatible with OS X. So hopefully this Combo Drive from the MDD will work in it.

I'm loving this computer. Apple makes THE most elegant computers on the market. It amazes me how awesome this looks.

 

[FadeToBlack]

I order all of my upgrades from OWC and the only PCI USB 2.0 card that I could find on there is this one:

http://eshop.macsales.com/item/IOGEAR/GIC251U/

Anyone have any experience with this card?

EDIT: Well, just found some reviews and one of them said that it doesn't support deep sleep. Since I usually always have my computer sleeping at night, that would be a problem. Hmm, I really need a USB 2 card. I may just go ahead and get the Belkin from somewhere else. Does anyone have a direct link to somewhere that I could purchase it? Thanks!