Powermac g4 - the italian job

​ Hi i'm new in This world but I what to share my first experience of g4 chase modding and hackintoshing

the goal is to fit a intel i5 into an old but still fascinating powermac g4 chase.

Second goal is to make it spending only few money, just in chase it will not work.

First of all is to find a g4 in good condition.
I was looking for a quick silver but I found an older one with original mouse and keyboard for only 60 €

Unfortunately I wasn't able to catch the original monitor for 15 €

Here it is, my little guy.

Unbelievable how big it is compared to my Mac mini. And how less powerful ....

In the last week I did a lot of reading to figure out how to do it, ad I also did part list.

Gigabyte z87 motherboard
intel i5
8 gb of ram
1 ssd
1 hd of 2 tera
new psu unit
wifi card

Soon I discovered it was too expensive. So I start cutting down

I switched to the less expensive gb h87 motherboard

i get rid of the 2 had an I bought a second Hand 500 gb 7200 rpm hd for 15 €.
this will solve the boot problem

Currently to cut down the budget I'm thinking about witch i5 model I should take.

I5 4440 looks the cheaper one. Any advise ?

Well it depends on what you intend to use the system for, in mine I've got an old sempron 3600+ which meets my needs fine, but if I was going to play games or do video editing then I'd want something faster. Either way an i5 is still a good modern processor

Thanks Powerg4, to be honestly to me the mac mini mid 2010 is still enought. I have no time for playing games, probably in few years my son will start ( he is 4 now).
at the moment I'm enjoying this new adventure of building a new computer. But one of the rule I have set to my game is to find the best compromise between computer speed and the cost because I'm convinced that the average user won't recognise the difference between a good computer and the best one that is going to cost 100-300 box more. .

I'll say more about this when i'll decide witch graphic card will suit me better. God they are wery expensive.

One good g. Card can cost as an entire computer.

valdagno said:

because I'm convinced that the average user won't recognise the difference between a good computer and the best one that is going to cost 100-300 box more. .
.

Click to expand...

i totally agree with you.
Especially as the average user will not know how to configure there OS and software for optimum performance. When it comes down to 0.1 of a second or 2 seconds read speed it's not that noticeable is it. Obviously there is that point of to far down the line where it becomes to outdated but for the most part

Hi i'm in vacation by the sea right now so i'not be able to start my job yet.
I decided to use this time to plan as much as possible in advance.

after reading about heat in the case I figure out my configuration. I think it will work well and without the need to add big fan on the top spoiling the case.
the original configuration had only one big fan put in the right position to blow air on the CPU heat sink and on the graphic card as well. I think that the fan was partially withdrawing fresh air from the back of the case but mainly recirculating the air in the case. The fan of the psu unit put in the upper part of the case was extracting the hotter air ( hot air goes up )

to to my understanding the problem is there wasn't enough fresh air intake in the case.

My my idea is to move the 12 mm on the botton of the case enhancing the natural chimney effect and using the psu unit fan to evacuate the hot air.

The two new fans of the CPU and graphic card will complete the work.

there is also the possibility to had a second fan on the back to help taking out the hot air or to put an additional fan in the original position but directly connected to the case to max air intake.

EDIT: I discovered later that the right dimension i the 80 mm fan that fit exactly in an hd bay. I suggest to put the fan not in the middle but using the bay on the back, in the middle there more space to put two or three hd one on the top of the other.

I've just completed my hack in a quicksilver case, temps are higher than normal but not too bad. I did however install 3 x 120m fans. One for the side intake located in the original spot and two exhaust fans located at the bottom of the case. You can see my build here: http://www.tonymacx86.com/powermac-g4/138585-project-quicksilver-power-hack-g4-i7-4790k-z97.html