Upgrading G4 cube-Need Newcomer advice

[Solidsnake1019]

Hello everyone.

I am wanting to build a G4 Cube using modern hardware. I'm extremely new to the world of PC building. I've only upgraded my graphics card, installed fans, and replaced PSU's.

However, I absolutlety love the PowerMac G4 cube. It's a beautiful machine and I want one that is up to date. I want a Macintosh as well, so it will be my primary Apple machine.

I will be using this guide:
http://pmg5.dozuki.com/Guide/i7-3770S+Power+Mac+G4+Cube/2/1


I also need a guide on how to instal the latest version of OS X on the machine.



As for guides go, this guide isn't as detailed as I would like it to be.

Any chance someone here could help me out?

I hope i'm posting in the right board for this. I need all the help I can get. This is a passion project and i've been wanting to do this for some time now.

I hope you guys can help me

Please and thanks.


Also, my grandfather is going to be helping me build this machine. He is an electritian.


-Snake

 

[neilhart]

Hello everyone.

I am wanting to build a G4 Cube using modern hardware. I'm extremely new to the world of PC building. I've only upgraded my graphics card, installed fans, and replaced PSU's.

However, I absolutlety love the PowerMac G4 cube. It's a beautiful machine and I want one that is up to date. I want a Macintosh as well, so it will be my primary Apple machine.

I will be using this guide:
http://pmg5.dozuki.com/Guide/i7-3770S+Power+Mac+G4+Cube/2/1


I also need a guide on how to instal the latest version of OS X on the machine.



As for guides go, this guide isn't as detailed as I would like it to be.

Any chance someone here could help me out?

I hope i'm posting in the right board for this. I need all the help I can get. This is a passion project and i've been wanting to do this for some time now.

I hope you guys can help me

Please and thanks.


Also, my grandfather is going to be helping me build this machine. He is an electritian.


-Snake

Snake welcome to the forum. TonymacX86 is the place to be for support and also advice on the problems that you may encounter.

I suggest that you read through the threads here in this section to get a good idea of your tasks ahead.

I suggest going the "low power" route and not jacking with a GPU card. However do what you want and enjoy doing the project.

Good modding,
neil

 

[Solidsnake1019]

Snake welcome to the forum. TonymacX86 is the place to be for support and also advice on the problems that you may encounter.

I suggest that you read through the threads here in this section to get a good idea of your tasks ahead.

I suggest going the "low power" route and not jacking with a GPU card. However do what you want and enjoy doing the project.

Good modding,
neil

Hi Neil. Thank you for the welcome, I hope I make many friends here!


As for my specs, I don't plan on adding a dedicated GPU. The difficulty spike would be huge. I plan on using an integrated GPU on a processor. I'm hoping for an Iris Pro.

I'm also planning on adding an SSD and 16 GB's of RAM.


Any other helpful advice here would be much appreciated. That guide leaves out a lot, such as installing the SSD.

Thanks a lot!

 

[neilhart]

Hi Neil. Thank you for the welcome, I hope I make many friends here!


As for my specs, I don't plan on adding a dedicated GPU. The difficulty spike would be huge. I plan on using an integrated GPU on a processor. I'm hoping for an Iris Pro.

I'm also planning on adding an SSD and 16 GB's of RAM.


Any other helpful advice here would be much appreciated. That guide leaves out a lot, such as installing the SSD.

Thanks a lot!

My personal bias is to use a "thin mini-ITX" motherboard as that allows you to use an external power brick as the original Cube did. This saves space in the cube and avoids managing the related heat from an internal PSU. You may find a thin mini-ITX motherboard that has stacked m.2 connectors (WiFi/BT on the bottom with a data m.2 on the top). One thing to check on that is that the m.2 slot will accept a SSD device size of 2280 (as I have one that only takes up to 2260, a read disappointment).

And before going for a CPU with Iris Pro, check the forum for success with that CPU.

Good modding,
neil

 

[Solidsnake1019]

My personal bias is to use a "thin mini-ITX" motherboard as that allows you to use an external power brick as the original Cube did. This saves space in the cube and avoids managing the related heat from an internal PSU. You may find a thin mini-ITX motherboard that has stacked m.2 connectors (WiFi/BT on the bottom with a data m.2 on the top). One thing to check on that is that the m.2 slot will accept a SSD device size of 2280 (as I have one that only takes up to 2260, a read disappointment).

And before going for a CPU with Iris Pro, check the forum for success with that CPU.

Good modding,
neil

Thank you for the input.

I looked up that motherboard. It looks like there is an HDMI output built in on the board. My concern is I don't know how the I/O's will line up on the cube itself when I install it. I'm hoping it will be in the same place as the original motherboard, so I don't have to make any modifications. I know you have built a Cube before, what kind of modifications have you had to make to your Cube?

Also, i don't know what "stacked m.2 connectors" means, also not sure what you mean by the motherboard "accepting a 2280 SSD".


Again, i'm very new to this. I'm deeply, sincerly sorry if I come across as a burden to have you explain this stuff to me. I'm trying to learn as much as I can.


Thank you so much for taking the time to reply and help me, it makes a huge difference and i appreciate it beyond words.

 

[neilhart]

Thank you for the input.

I looked up that motherboard. It looks like there is an HDMI output built in on the board. My concern is I don't know how the I/O's will line up on the cube itself when I install it. I'm hoping it will be in the same place as the original motherboard, so I don't have to make any modifications. I know you have built a Cube before, what kind of modifications have you had to make to your Cube?

Also, i don't know what "stacked m.2 connectors" means, also not sure what you mean by the motherboard "accepting a 2280 SSD".


Again, i'm very new to this. I'm deeply, sincerly sorry if I come across as a burden to have you explain this stuff to me. I'm trying to learn as much as I can.


Thank you so much for taking the time to reply and help me, it makes a huge difference and i appreciate it beyond words.

Okay with just about any approach that you take, you will end up doing some kind of metal work to get your IO setup to the bottom plate of the G4 Cube. Again read the threads here and you will see what has been done.

Today motherboards with HDMI connectors are very desirable in my opinion as HDMI connects to many devices and is directly convertible to DMI displays.

The m.2 sockets provide fast PCIe lane connections: m.2 sockets are keyed (google the spec and read the overview). For SSD the m.2 socket is "M" key; the width is 22mm and the devices are available in 42mm, 60mm and 80mm thus the "2280" in the model naming. The speed of these devices is a factor of how many PCIe lanes are implemented in the motherboard design and the SSD design. Currently I love the Samsung SM951 AHCI which is carzey fast (again google for more info).

Because space constraints, stacked m.2 connectors allows for this type of stack:

A major space saver on very busy motherboards.

If you want a little more of my opinions and thoughts, read my current thread:
http://www.tonymacx86.com/threads/a-proposed-skylake-cube-any-interest.197843/

And asking questions is one way to learn and minimize the risk of doing something costly.

Good modding
neil

 

[Solidsnake1019]

Okay with just about any approach that you take, you will end up doing some kind of metal work to get your IO setup to the bottom plate of the G4 Cube. Again read the threads here and you will see what has been done.

Today motherboards with HDMI connectors are very desirable in my opinion as HDMI connects to many devices and is directly convertible to DMI displays.

The m.2 sockets provide fast PCIe lane connections: m.2 sockets are keyed (google the spec and read the overview). For SSD the m.2 socket is "M" key; the width is 22mm and the devices are available in 42mm, 60mm and 80mm thus the "2280" in the model naming. The speed of these devices is a factor of how many PCIe lanes are implemented in the motherboard design and the SSD design. Currently I love the Samsung SM951 AHCI which is carzey fast (again google for more info).

Because space constraints, stacked m.2 connectors allows for this type of stack:

A major space saver on very busy motherboards.

If you want a little more of my opinions and thoughts, read my current thread:
http://www.tonymacx86.com/threads/a-proposed-skylake-cube-any-interest.197843/

And asking questions is one way to learn and minimize the risk of doing something costly.

Good modding
neil

Thanks for the information.

I'm trying to wrap my head around all this new stuff, it's a lot to take in for a noob like myself.
I'm doing the best I can to keep up with it all.

I'm trying to understand the m.2 connections and things like that.

And half the battle for me will be physically putting it together and the metal working.

Again, I've not really done anything like this before so it's pretty intimdating.

When my Cube and the parts get here, I will be asking a lot more questions.

Right now i'm trying to figure out what parts I want to order, how comptatible they will be with each other, and how i'm going to install everything and put it all together.

The guide i posted is obviously for more experiences users. I'm going to need more than that when the time comes. I hope I can get more guiding from you guys when I go to do this.

I will post pictures and stuff and do the best I can to illustrate my questions.

I read through your thread. A lot went over my head, but I got the gist of it. I just wish I had more knowledge about this stuff, and more experience.

If you have any extra advice for me, please post it. I would love to hear it, I need all the help I can get.

Thanks!