A Rather Extreme Upgrade

Thanks pcbway.com for sponsoring today's video!
Today, we're one step closer to my ultimate goal of building the world's fastest G4 cube. But is it a step too far...
LINKS:
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🍎 The 68kMLA forums: 68kmla.org/bb/index.php
🍎 The original Cube upgrade series: • I Turned my G4 Cube in... ✋👋👉🫲
(Amazon links are affiliated links)
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💾 For more vintage Apple stuff, please subscribe: kzbin.info?s...
💾 Support these retro computing shenanigans on Patreon! / actionretro
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Check out my Amazon page with links to my tools, adapters, soldering equipment, camera gear and more: www.amazon.com/shop/actionretro
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💬 Come talk about old computers on the BitBang Social Mastodon! bitbang.social
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#Apple #PowerPC #G4

[@breadworkshop]

The deadpan thermal paste application censorship gets me every time 😂

[@Lampe2020]

I don't even understand why he censored it… What background knowledge am I missing?

[@mrf160]

@@Lampe2020 The joke is that 'correct' thermal paste application is infinitely contentious and that if he actually shows exactly how it is applied he'll get nothing but thousands of comments telling him that he did it wrong and arguing with each other about how to do it better.... If that was actually true it might be worth showing just to get KZbin 'engagement' up for more visibility but it's much more entertaining that he censors it, anyways.

[@Lampe2020]

@@mrf160 Ah, okay.

[@Jasperthefloof.-kh1rd]

@@mrf160 He applies it in an X shape, you're welcome.

[@KrooTon]

"What do we have to lose? Just irreplaceable hardware..." *hesitates* 🤣 Love it! And all the vids.

[@UpLateGeek]

Wow, you literally upgraded it to death. That's a pretty good achievement! Here's hoping you can work a small miracle and bring it back to life so it can minecraft once more.

[@beardedgaming3741]

i put a dual 1ghz into a quick silver. i bought a couple 7455A cpu's off ebay from china. they were like 6.00 each. the A variant has better voltage stability and easier to OC. i built a small external VRM off the 3.3v rail of a custom PSU for the system. balled the new cpu's onto the factory daughter card and got them to 1.63Ghz using a 155Mhz FSB overclock. i used a small CNC to mill a copper heatsink (cost me 30 bucks at my local steel yard for the scrap copper). i flashed a X800vivo into a X850XTPE for the system as well. it runs doom 3 at 50fps. i spent about 200.00 total including the factory dual 1.0 card i had to buy. minimal extra parts needed. took about 4 months to build

[@BK2Modder]

sounds sick! do you have any photos or videos from the upgrade process or of the final product? Would love to see that G4 in action

[@beardedgaming3741]

@@BK2Modder yeah, I've got some write-ups on 68K MLA, Reddit, maybe a video on here? And some TikToks. I intend to stream from it at some point but other projects are in the way

[@ozzyp97]

That's pretty cool! I've been wanting to overclock my lowly 2x450 to 500 for starters, but I really don't want to shorten it's life. Believe it or not I actually have a practical use case for it, I need it to use an old synthesizer card. Have to get my oc fix from old Phenoms and Athlons for now.

[@SonicBoone56]

​@@beardedgaming3741 hope you put some stuff up here on KZbin. The world needs to see it.

[@rajvinder89]

Awesome!

[@shawnstillman736]

The finger placement over the "Fuckers Mint" sticker had me rolling!

[@ActionRetro]

😂🫧

[@TommyCrosby]

You grew so much since last time you worked on that cube, from floating hands to full body!

[@RohanSpartin]

The fact that all this tinkering got this old Mac to run Minecraft at higher FPS than consoles over half a decade newer than it is wild.

[@rlima81]

You reminded me of Han Solo trying to open the door in Return of of the Jedi with the dip switches

[@minty_Joe]

They weren't switches, he tried to hot-wire the doors.

[@RudyValenciaDotCom]

I love how Action Retro blurs the application of thermal compound to the CPUs!

[@themantimeforgotx]

Nowadays you pretty much have to. People lose their $@!t if you don't do it exactly the way they expect.

[@rmcdudmk212]

More compound = More better 😂

[@AndrewBeals]

​@@rmcdudmk212 the bigger the glob, the better the job!

[@RudyValenciaDotCom]

@@themantimeforgotx still funny though, lol

[@rlima81]

Instead of 29 comments there would be 100 complaining about the thermal paste :D

[@danielfisher1515]

Thank you for protecting my virgin eyes by blurring the thermal paste application! 😂❤

[@craftsman123456]

I'm hoping the component failure is just due to age not due to the processor speed

[@Francois_L_7933]

Somehow this reminded me of the old "Home Improvement" TV show when Tim offered Randy to add "More Power" to his old laptop with the 030 chip...😁

[@a4e69636b]

I thought his laptop was PowerPC.

[@minty_Joe]

That laptop didn't have enough power...SO I REWIRED IT! Dropped down to Sears, picked up a roll of coax cable, an air compressor and duct tape. That machine now runs Crysis better than any other. Oh, what is that, Randy? It's too fast? I'll dial that down a bit after I fix grandpa's hearing aid. I've got a pre-amp on that sonofab*tch. He can pick up Neptune on that thing. 😂😂😂

[@SonicBoone56]

This is such a badass build dude. Love the G4 cube. Never knew they had dual CPU upgrades ever. I always thought that only existed on the PowerMac G5 and one of the high end Mac clones.

[@InfernosReaper]

There were dual CPU G4s, so it wasn't to crazy that some 3rd party made some

[@amdintelxsniperx]

a recap will bring it back the cool thing i love about power pc is that how well it scales with clock speed unlike x86

[@juanmacias5922]

Man, how does dosdude1 know so much!? HAHA

[@coccoborg]

16:28 I think that's either a multilayer ceramic capacitor that shorted, or even more likely a ferrite inductor that saturated and overheated (L6 next to it should indicate an inductor!) You're trying to push more power through a PCB that wasn't designed for it and may need to find proper replacement components! If you can find a boardview fioe, it should be pretty trivial to figure out what component that was. If it's an inductor, I suggest upgrading it to one with a higher saturation current and seeing if it improves things. For projects like these, an IR camera to monitor component temperature during stress testing is a good investment ;)

[@JamesTK]

It’s an inductor, video caption said dosdude1 mentioned to him as much. Maybe dosdude1 could make it better…

[@ilcool90]

I finally got a cube about a year ego. Upgraded it in a safe way should we say to avoid blowing up the VRM module. CPU speed remains stock at 450Mhz. I will maybe get a safe 500 something mhz card soon. Maxed out the RAM, fixed the belt on the DVD drive, put in a 7200RPM drive in it and upgraded the GPU for a Radeon 7500 32mb so that it will work with aluminium cinema displays. So pretty happy with it's performance now.

[@redroC171]

wow that sure was one explosive finale

[@rickhendricks6458]

uh oh... magic smoke time!

[@Emp3440]

LOVE the BUBBLES sticker IT IS FRENKING DESCENT

[@BigBadBench]

Inductor turned into a fuse!

[@ActionRetro]

😂😬

[@user-cr1vd8ig8r]

Why Steve Jobs hated only fans?

[@fwingebritson]

He was jealous that it did not exist when he was 20.

[@clazypantsjr]

Nah 💀

[@xbrun3356]

He goes for only fruit 😏

[@d_sanu]

Only apples

[@TheDiveO]

Jobs hated Apple fans? Makes sense.

[@IpfxTwin]

You pulled an Icarus ( many of us have including me ), but at least it's fixable! I can't believe you were able squeeze over 1300 on the bench with dual G4. Fantastic work!

[@westtell4]

that component got scared and inked its self

[@CasualSpud]

My Boy Bubbles... F'n Mint indeed. NS Proud

[@minty_Joe]

Feed ma kitties...😂 Gotta love Trailer Park Boys.

[@ViewpointUnique]

Look forward to seeing this brought back to life!

[@evilman667]

This is exactly why I watch ActionRetro: ACTION! 🎉

[@puwazatza]

it was like watching a deadlifter breaking the world record several times in one contest.

[@cannabiscomet4410]

Love the Bubbles decal. It’s DECENT!

[@Bleats_Sinodai]

That inductor likely overheated. If replacing it, might be a good idea to try a higher power rated one in it's place.

[@blubaustin1]

Looked like a SMD capacitor or resistor.

[@SuperDavidEF]

@@blubaustin1 Yeah, it looked like that to me, but what do I know compared to dosdude1? He's the one who identified it as an inductor.

[@BrianMaddox]

I miss the days of thicker laptops and what not. These days it’s like “Oh look at my powerful Core i7 but there’s no way this paper thin laptop can cool it so it’ll thermal throttle the instant I turn it on”

[@SuperDavidEF]

Worse than that, they make sissy versions of the current CPU models, just for thermally insufficient laptops. So, they can claim "current model" specs, while knowingly giving us intentionally hobbled hardware!

[@andreabc1469]

You are very detailed and I am sometimes bored by the variety of details. I like the format and the knowledge of the subject matter, overall I really liked the episode.😍

[@helldog3105]

I just got my hands on a G4 cube for 100 dollars from a local mac user. I have zero experience with Mac anything so I have been having fun fiddling around and playing with programs. I am on the lookout for an XFX 6200 card that I can mod to replace the Geforce 2 mx card in it. I don't think I will ever be able to upgrade the CPU though so it's really impressive to watch you do it. Love these videos. I can't wait to see what you do next.

[@mar4kl]

Cool video! My dad had a Mac G4 Cube back when they were current. It seems to me that he only had it for a relatively short time; maybe the VRM issue you mentioned was the reason why. I always thought it was the coolest computer he ever owned.

[@Loki-]

Looking forward to the next part 👍

[@waydegutman7339]

That was an interesting episode, hope you can bring it back to life, quite a rig there. No more jinxing.

[@LotoTheHero]

That thing was running minecraft pretty well for a moment. Cool stuff! I wonder if the component failing was just due to age? Hope you can get it up and running smoothly and enjoy some more shenanigans with it OCed. Also nice to see a sponsor that's more relevant to the channel again. 👍

[@schonja9]

That case it has been in before looks very cool!

[@ryanzmuda3167]

Like to see a modern Mac mini board go in there.

[@rmcdudmk212]

Yes, over clock and over power! Im here for it. 🥳

[@VioletKitty]

Looking forward to the repair video :3!

[@jay1185]

I was worried you weren't gonna *THONK* the computer, but you delivered at 1:17. Thank you.

[@miguimau]

Insane upgrade!!!!

[@Mohandas.Gandhi]

Another great video, thanks dude

[@DarthEd77]

The light that burns twice as bright burns half as long, and you have burned so very, very brightly, Action Retro.

[@ceruleanserpent387]

Yesss dual cpu g4 cube!

[@azmedz]

Great video!❤

[@YawningAngelRetro]

Hi there. I just wanted to say how much I enjoy your videos. I love what you do to these old machines and your enthusiasm. Back in the day when Steve Jobs was sorting Apple out and they were producing (in my opinion) some of their best hardware, I was a massive Apple fan boy! 😅 Today I’m still loyal to Apple but the love for their products has died slightly as they become more mainstream. But I still own my iMac G3 SE from way back, and it still runs, but due to space constraints it lives in the loft as there is no room for it in my retro room. However your videos make me want to get it down and play around with it again, maybe even explore some upgrades. For the record my daily driver machine at home is my 27” iMac, while unsupported now with latest revisions of macOS, still serves me well. To be honest I do most of my computing on my iPad (like editing my KZbin videos using DaVinci Resolve) and iPhones (filming said videos). Technology has moved on so much. Right, I’ll end here. Thanks for reading (if you made it this far) and keep up the good work. 😎👍

[@FlintG]

Always love learning about new stuff lol I always wanted that cube mac but was too expensive for me in that time when I was in high school.

[@wiresmith2398]

@5:53 - lovely accidental convenient thumb placement, very artistic, very accidental.

[@toddholcomb1]

Love it - no guts, no glory! 🤩

[@jacobscheit4128]

Don’t worry, that’s just what happens if you push hardware from that time period a bit, just replace the part and take something with a little more quality as replacement and you’re good to go again.

[@Otakunopodcast]

Looks like you blew an inductor (aka coil, choke, etc.) A pretty common failure point, even when eXtreme upgrades aren't involved. Should be easy enough to replace, though I don't know what the value of the original part is, and I'm pretty sure they aren't labeled on the part itself. Afaik there are no schematics for the Cube out in the wild, so you might have to take an educated guess. If you have a donor board you can just yoink it off of there. Although, given the increased power demands of the upgrades you have in that thing, you might not want to go for a like-for-like replacement, but rather install a higher valued part to allow for more headroom.

[@westbrookmahurin6499]

"Rock solid!".... SAME, tbh.

[@Geek-a-Zoid]

Keep up the great videos!!

[@zaprodk]

Put on an inductor with a higher power rating/lower impedance, or jump it alltogether. It might work just fine without the filtering.

[@miguimau]

I like how the Mac Mini is just a compressed Cube.

[@destructodisk9074]

I wish the MacOS on Wii project would make some big leaps. Imagine 100 million new MacOS PowerPCs on the market in a convenient small form factor with internal components from 2006 and newer that won’t die as soon as most of the other PowerPC Max devices.

[@hyperturbotechnomike]

The XB360 used PowerPC architecture too AFAIK and was a bit faster than the wii.

[@nono-oz4gv]

i wonder if you could run one at a lower clock and another at a higher clock? i doubt it would work though.

[@robertchamberlin2362]

This was Awesome!!!

[@JayJay-88]

Recently got hold of a G4 Cube for a very fair price. Including a studio display. I have to say it's really the most awesome little computer ever. 😍 Would love to make it dual CPU!

[@WilliamLDeRieuxIV]

**Herd** ... Is that Bil Herd, a former Commodore engineer, and a Hackaday editor?

[@JVHShack]

I know you'll get this figured out, Sean. By the way, I have the exact same model of USB speakers hooked up to my 10th gen Intel i7 laptop! I bought them at a local charity shop for the princely sum of $5. They aren't loud enough, though...

[@PhonePhreak3z]

Beautiful , just beautiful.. keep building your dreams. No... Our dreams my brother!

[@williamsquires3070]

I’d want mine painted like a Borg tactical cube! If I had one, that is. 😊

[@rurichan6009]

i love the overkill upgrades on this channel imagine if it had quad cpus at 1.8ghz wonder what would happen

[@supergrafxengine4620]

Thank you for your sacrifice!

[@joysticksnjukeboxes]

As soon as I heard "overclock" I knew what was ahead. If I gave you a '74 Ford Pinto, you'd try to put a turbocharger and NOS on it, wouldn't you? You just can't help yourself.

[@ChairmanMeow1]

I actually owned one of these when they were current, one of the stupidest purchases I've ever made lol. But I did love the little thing, and I used it as long as I could. I waited until the bell curve went back up and then sold it for almost what I bought for it over a decade previously as it had turned into a collectors item.

[@fredericksonRules]

Right around 14:37 you can hear a high pitch whine start to happen when dragging windows and moving mouse around and stuff. Wonder if the VRM board still isn't enough to supply two cpu's? Or just a mainboard fault from age or something...

[@user-jh2ok2yx3f]

Sad we cannot get these cards at a reasonable price that is awesome what you did

[@thavith]

Amazing. I always wanted a cube. I know its been done, but would be great to put my M1 mini's mother board into a cube, be such a nicer case...

[@TouhouGaijin]

Love the Bubbles sticker lol

[@CharlesBluTheXPicturesInc]

Dual 1.8GHz PPC G4 Killed G4 Cube!

[@stevef6392]

No no - KZbin did. :)

[@SuperDavidEF]

@@stevef6392 Well, TBH, KZbin is good at killing all the fun stuff, so...

[@DonVintaggio]

5:45 beautiful case screw refactoring; in your face jobs, a couple of screws strategically placed go a long way towards extreme modding

[@knarlydark5960]

Got a quick question I have a iBook g3 that running tiger but the Wi-Fi module is not working. Is there a Wi-Fi adaptor that I can use that is supported for Mac OS Tiger?

[@magmaxt]

I wish that one day someone makes a H264ify port to PPC macs. I think it would help for these veteran machines can play YT videos.

[@mi16t]

I had the newertech dual 7448 card. It was a beast but so not stable. 1.8ghz. Had to run a pc psu with an adapter (g4 tower) and have the door cracked open with a paperclip otherwise it would overheat and lock up 😂 I shoved a 7800gs in there too, bluetooth, usb 2.0, etc etc etc Totally normal computing. Edit: it started as a gigabit ethernet dual 450, but I decided to go with a digital audio later on. The gigabit ethernet had two gigs of ram, but it's bus speed was 33 MHz slower. Ultimately, I think the trade-off of 512 MB of ram for 33 more megahertz on the bus was a good one.

[@Auugh69]

lets hope you can shove more powerful stuff in there

[@TheJuggtron]

I have a cube but the optical drive failed. What should I do with it?

[@genethebean7597]

Now you finally can make the fabled G4 Fishtank

[@MSThalamus-gj9oi]

I feel bad for you! If it really is just a single capacitor, or resistor it should be fixable, though!

[@Chriva]

You can definitely replace that tho given the melty outcome of the current one you may want to figure out its specs and find a much beefier one :P

[@chironpictures]

Thanks for all the great videos! Also... I love watching you trying not to clearly show the "Fuckers Mint" sticker.

[@Valthonis]

You should pick up another cube, assuming you dont already have one, and use that 2ghz single core chip to make the world's fastest OS9 machine.

[@johncate9541]

I know you're trying to max it out on PPC, but I think I'd just try to adapt a modern M-series board in there for the "ultimate Cube."

[@DavidStahlOLDHAPPyMACs]

WoW Sean that is a Epic score that Dual CPU

[@atptourfan]

Awesome!!

[@that_smitty_dude]

Where did you find that awesome unix shirt?

[@ChllBlck]

Have you ever wondered that almost all of your iMac/PowerMac collection listed on the MorphOS compatibility list?

[@michaelwright2986]

About the dipswitches: it occurred to me that the inversion that makes 0 into 1 might also make right into left? Or not--I have no topological imagination whatever, and get into trouble orienting maps.

[@klaspeppar5619]

Have you thought about putting an Apple Silicon Mac Mini in one of those cubes?

[@PhilLowran]

MotownBatman has a Family Friendly Account.... Do we Think A.R.'s "SHENANIGANS" are Family Friendly... 🤣🤣🤣

[@MrMegaManFan]

BIG, BIG, G4, BIG G4, BIG G4!

[@jimseibyl5140]

I just picked up a MDD and to my surprise it has the 2GHz card!!! I have a cube with a sonnett 1.2 and the good VRM so I think I’m goona swap it! I finally found the holy grail cpu card! (Not dual) and the entire machine was 100 bucks.

[@silviuxp3507]

Hello! I have a question not related to the video : When will the Frogfind search engine not cut off portions off the site?

[@RandomTechWZ]

2 CPUs 1 Cube sounds awfully familiar....

[@DurkKush420]

I can go to my grave a happy man now. Thank you sir.

[@RamLaska]

I miss Mac OS X Leopard so much.

[@jamesburke2759]

felt like you needed bad attraction by brad sucks playing while you upgraded that system.