Stupid Fast 1GHz Molar Mac G4

[@ActionRetro]

Head to squarespace.com/ActionRetro to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain using code ActionRetro

[@JeffWaynee]

You mock the production quality of your old videos, but they were honestly amazing compared to most that are just starting out. You should wear those early vids like a badge of honor.

[@DotNetDemon83]

I miss White Board guy!

[@andrive]

He looks so different

[@lillywho]

I was certainly shocked when it turned out he was actually a wildly gesturing person, instead of just a wildly gesturing arm.

[@soli-ethd]

He’s a better showman now than he was at the time, but the quality of his videos has been consistently good from the beginning. You’re doing awesome, Sean!

[@mjlema7578]

Agreed

[@K3NnY_G]

Whenever I see anything from this OS 9 - 10 transition era I can't help but think of how it was the beginning of the end for exactly the type of upgradability this channel gets so much out of.

[@CommodoreFan64]

@@2xtreem4u You forgot overpriced!! When I can buy myself, and 2 other people in my family Nokia T20 tablets with keyboards that act as stands, case covers, and 256GB Micro SD cards with money left over that so the same job vs. one base model 2022 ipad and a magic keyboard that has a worse trying feel, then modern day Apple is overpriced and overrated in my book.

[@donbot5000]

2010 imac ...mine i upgraded the cpu gpu ,sata ssd ..you can even sacrifice target display and put in a more modern gpu and get metal support

[@00Klingon]

I've upgraded just about every Mac I've owned since my first Mac Performa from back in 1992 up until my 2008 Intel mac pro. I then went mackintosh until the T2 and M1 switch has left the writing on the wall for that. Upgraded the CPU in Performa 600 to a 68040, Upgraded my 7200/75 (1995) GPU to an ATI all-in-Wonder Rage II, upgraded my Bondi Blue iMac (1998) with a Voodoo 2 GPU (was great for LAN parties with Unreal 99) and then my SawTooth G4 (1999) to 500Mhz and the GPU to an Nvidia GeForce4 Ti from a MDD machine. Next got an Intel Mac Pro (2008) dual Xeon 8 core that I upgraded from an Nvidia 8800 GT to an ATI 5850 and 16GB of RAM (My most upgraded Mac ever). By the time I was in the market for an upgrade from that, the trashcan Mac Pros were out and couldn't be upgraded very much. I started to realize that Apple didn't have anything I wanted at any price point and so that's when I went Hackintosh which I've given up on a couple of years ago as being too much of a bother. In conclusion, Mac's were quite upgradeable for a lot longer than you may think, and it only got better during the intel era for a while at least.

[@Dreams_Of_Lavender]

​@@donbot5000 I might try and do something similar with the 2011 I have lying around. It's the education model with a small hard drive and the Core i3, and the 256mb video card. So it sorely needs it, lol.

[@robertoXCX]

I was looking at the thumbnail thinking, in what alternate reality did any Mac have dual cassette on the front. Then I was like, oh, those are googly eyes. I should pay better attention.

[@siliconinsect]

Nice! I never did a CPU upgrade on mine. They really are the perfect old world Macs. As for Wolf3D you need to try the Atari Jaguar version. Easily the most polished version of the game as it was the only console port done by ID themselves.

[@aegonthedragon7303]

Jag port is definitely very good. 3DO port is also solid, mainly because you can strafe.

[@R4dm1n]

It's hilarious to watch all these beige machines just get upgraded to hell and back with SATA and G4 processors. It's almost like it's basically the charm of this channel and I love it.

[@jdmcs]

The one bottleneck in these G3 systems is the 66MHz system bus, those G4 towers that scored around 440 with slower G4 processors have a 100MHz and 133MHz system bus. Still, it is cool to see the G3 AIO running with a 1GHz G4 processor. Can't wait to see the graphics card upgrade!

[@ryderrepairs]

Man I'm sure hoping to see more molar mac episodes, i see a whole lotta potential in it!

[@danaeckel]

Beige G3 ahh yes. I got mine in the late 90's and early 2000's I upgraded to a G4, ATA133, and Radeon for Mac. Used that setup as a daily driver for several years. Getting OS 10.2 on there was quite a task. Later years when 10.2 was out of date I used Yellowdog. Just last week I brought it out of the storage and attempting to restore it's glory with a flash IDE module, OS 10.4 and maybe Debian SID if I am lucky. Getting 10.4 installed was qute an undertaking, and when I finally got it the flash drive won't boot anymore, ahh yeah I remember those days but I'll get it!

[@GeeFunk84]

0:11 *thonk*

[@mattpierce5009]

This series has been nostalgic for me - I had a molar PMG3 like 15 years ago, with a 700mhz Sonnet G4 with modded GPU cable and a 9200... good ol' days. A lot cheaper back then too, back before "e-waste" legally changed its name to "retro hardware" :)

[@aetheralmeowstic2392]

0:37 "This thing is either gonna be blazing fast...or LITERALLY ON FIRE" 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@VicTheVicar]

I think that the bottle neck here is the bus speed. You can change it with the resistor pack under the Warranty sticker.

[@owenh933]

While that helped.. it was still under powered when new, compared to the pentiums it was up against. I loved mine though

[@Serafino97]

When you added the eyes back all I could think was face/off with Nick cage lol

[@crashmatrix]

The screaming molar mac caught me off guard enough to comment about it.

[@douglasmannor6510]

I love these old macs! Btw where the heck do I get that awesome shirt?

[@organiccold]

Im loving this Molar series more and more every day

[@kiaas]

Re: last video talking about the case, I wonder if part of the reason for the top translucent plastic was.. Apple wanted to get manufacturing experience with it before using it in the new colourful macs right after.

[@X150t]

Since I grew up using this Mac in elementary school, I have a soft spot in my heart for it.

[@SenileOtaku]

The thing I've noticed is everyone wants to install MacOS X on their G3 & G4 systems. I'm trying to find what would be the newest iBook models that could run System 7.5/7.6 as well as Mac OS 8 (probably two different machines). I wanted to do reviews on the software I worked on at a multimedia software company, so I'd need 7.x/8 to look at the Macintosh versions.

[@BringMayFlowers]

- None of them. Get a PowerBook _400c or similar. Nothing New World supports System 7 because System 7 depends on a Mac ROM that isn't there anymore. - Maybe the G3 900 MHz with some hacks? i was going to look into that but never got around to it, sidetracked by trying to hack Leopard 9A303 to work like a Tiger followup with virtual desktops. Otherwise, maybe the 600MHz iBooks with the Mobility Rage 128? Also with hacks as they shipped with 9.2.1. Really, just get a PowerBook 14/24/3400c, they can all run Sys7 and OS 8 natively.

[@rmcdudmk212]

G3 Mac: He's not ugly ... He's my brother 😢

[@tschak909]

"On the next episode, we take a 128K Mac, and add a 68040 accelerator via the CPU socket! WILL IT WORK?!"

[@mibnsharpals]

only with 256k cache :-) but a nice idea

[@Diegotheartist1]

it's Molar G3 Time!

[@ww21943]

I have a Rev A Power Mac G3 tower. I installed the same SATA card and I can get os 9 to boot from there. I can’t get OS X to boot though. If I have a Rage 128 card installed I don’t get video output when the SATA is card is also installed.

[@angieandretti]

I think you should put the upgrades back into the G3 desktop when you're done playing 🙂Those early videos on that machine were what got me subscribed to your channel despite the fact that I'm very much PC and wouldn't be caught dead using a new Mac computer! I thought it was an awesome, tasteful, and very impressive set of upgrades to one of the last Mac's that I actually wouldn't have objected to! In fact it reminded me a lot of my own retro adventure in upgrading a 440BX Pentium II board with a pair of super-rare 1GHz Slot-1 Pentium III CPU's and a lot of really special hardware! That's still my main retro PC to this day and somehow it would be comforting to know that the 1GHz G4 Mac desktop exists out there somewhere too... although I would have stuck to OS9 for the look of the GUI but that's just personal choice.

[@XeonProductions]

I always wanted one of those molar macs... I just have no room for anymore tech. If you had to tear out all the insides, does that mean you performed a root canal?

[@pdahandyman]

It needs a shell replacement to make it look like a SuperSized SE30 :)

[@bluephreakr]

Anything you nip, _remember_ that you can just use crimp connectors and headers. Whatever you use is entirely up to you, just roll your own standard as you go along and match wires.

[@rickkarrer8370]

Which SATA card do you have that works in Mac OS 8-9? How did you flash it? PS: I need to send you some Zip drives.

[@Squonk06]

I was worried we might have a shenanigans-free video this time, but Sean pulled it out right near the end in the outro.

[@27PSB72]

Those were the good ol' days when Apple wouldn't do all they could from stopping their clients from taking a peak inside their products. I swear, you'd have a better chance at cracking a lock with a bob pin then taking the backside off an iphone (presuming you're like me and don't have the know-how for neither of them.

[@theposguy1435]

Wow, you move so fast when you hook stuff up!

[@mme725]

0:26 that little scream-cut was 👨‍🍳😙🤏

[@Ralph-yn3gr]

You should try putting a Voodoo 2 in one of those. There's a couple extensions that let you use regular PC cards in a Mac. LGR has an ancient video where he did that to play Quake.

[@JohnSmith-xq1pz]

Might just be this video but seems like the Molar mac would be a good retro mac gaming machine lol

[@stephanemignot100]

@@JohnSmith-xq1pz My eMac 1.25ghz is the perfect machine! :) OS X, OS9, DOSBox, ScummVM, Mame, Amiga, C64, PSX, SNES etc... add a real MT32 to the mix et voilà!

[@stephanemignot100]

You can find SoundBlaster Live OS9 drivers too

[@JohnSmith-xq1pz]

@@stephanemignot100 Dang that sounds a cool as my "all in one Retro gaming pc". Ryzen 3 1300x, Windows 7 with Virtual machines for XP, 98SE, and DosBox for dos and Windows 3x games. It also has emulators that would annoy Nintendo'nt among others lol

[@stephanemignot100]

@@JohnSmith-xq1pz Great machine! You could install Basilisk and SheepShaver to play Mac games too, Dark Forces, PoP and a few others looked better on Mac... :)

[@lewhughes3079]

Googly eyes on vintage macs are funny as heck. :D

[@michaelmullett7327]

Action I already did this to mine and it’s scary fast!

[@reedreinfeld3737]

Production quality is *THONK* SOMETHING

[@TimWochomurka]

I LIKE IT. I THINK THEY'RE BEAUTIFUL IN THEIR OWN WAY.

[@reecebower9934]

" It was a Mac... It was a molar Mac!!!" To the beat of monster mash.

[@RetroReviewYT]

Nice to see my port of ClassiCube get recognition.

[@MrTLsnow]

Try to run Leopard or Snow Leopard Beta (PPC) on it!

[@icanrunat3200mhz]

3:32 reee REEEEE tHe FoOt! YoU fOrGoT tHe FoOt!!!

[@orionfl79]

Gods, the front of that thing looks even more nightmarish with the cover off. ... Geeze Apple! LOL

[@JasonPleet]

I attempted, and failed, to add a Voodoo 2 to my first G3 AIO 20 years ago. It seems like it should be possible with the right adaptation though. The Voodoo 2 and its twin now live in my G4 Dual 400 for UT99 fun times.

[@dionelr]

Remember when CPUs didn't need giant fans or AIO water blocks to cool them?

[@Mainyehc]

By the way, wouldn’t it be awesome to produce a new set of external casing plates for this thing to emulate an angular, classic Mac? 🤔

[@sjgrall]

We had 3 G3 AIO’s at my first job (used for old AAA Driver’s Ed software). A shame they were bought out. I’m guessing the new company didn’t keep any of the old tech. But I’ll never know; they cornered the market and didn’t carry over staff

[@joshuasundheimer4218]

This is the one system that I want more than anything I'd rather have one of these even more than a TAM!!!

[@edhalferty]

I love hack videos like this. It's like watching someone play 5 dimensional Tetris...

[@michaelmullett7327]

By the way action please let me know how your putting in that graphics card I would love to do this to mine!

[@iiiiiifggffggffgfgfg]

Could you stick in a 2010s macbook board into this thing and have it run as something that's basically modern?

[@MichaelSidneyTimpson]

when are you going to try OSX on the TAM?

[@ljonesj]

ive got a rev2 power mac g3 blue and white what is the best ssd that is ide to use on it

[@Uno943]

It looks shocked and amazed at your comments about it’s beautiful exterior.

[@benotsilent6703]

I've watched you play Wolfenstein 3D on several computers now, several, and I have to agree that this one, stock, looks quite decent.

[@Bushidounohana]

Brilliance, as always.

[@kolkoreh]

I genuinely can't imagine thinking of this Mac as hideous! I remember at the time, I kept thinking how nice the shape of this thing was.

[@MSmith-Photography]

I'm surprised that you haven't had any dental-based tomfoolery with the Molar Mac yet. 🤣

[@johntheexplainer]

What makes a CD-ROM drive pull over five amps and return to normal working afterwards?

[@samuelcolvin4994]

If I had to guess, someone accidentally shorted 12v to ground, probably when plugging something in. That shouldn't kill the drives and the fuse did it's job to save the power supply.

[@caseycu]

It’s amazing this machine scored 440 with a ~68 mhz bus

[@julithething2154]

Instead of looking depressed it now looks angry

[@jasm817]

Fun as always 😁👍

[@owenh933]

Okay so. I had one of these, and over a while I got it to 384mb ram, an ide 20gb hdd rhen current 10.3. I painted it black, and overlooked it to around 300ish I think. It was so terrible, but it had its beauty, and I agree.. it was a powerhouse for a retro Mac. Hit me up if you'd like to discuss

[@jameschamplin1742]

TOOTH TECH FOREVER!! :D :D :D I remember the late 90s in high school (c/o 2000) and how amazing and fast the molar G3s were compared to the 6500/250 I had at home. I know, yes. I had my own 250MHz Power Mac 6500. I shouldn't be allowed to feel envious but I was. Mostly because well, the G3 was actually noticeably faster, and I had a gawd-awful 14" screen with terrible dot-pitch that needed an adaptor and could only run at 640x480. Uuuuuuuuugggggghhhh...

[@aswxwing]

So hyped to see you hack video output into this thing.

[@golfguy25]

When you do get that video card up and running, you should try to install leopard, or even sorbet leopard! It would be ridiculous seeing leopard on this beige CRT Mac

[@DatBlueHusky]

i cant wait for the next vid!

[@KennethPlaysOfficial]

I remember watching that beige beast series.

[@Potassium64]

Where do you get all your cool Macintosh shirts?

[@ZeroHourProductions407]

Is it just me or does that brown slot on the personality card look an awful lot like an AGP slot? Maybe with a riser cable, it can behave like a passthrough to a better video chip?

[@ActionRetro]

Unfortunately it's a stripped down PCI slot that only works with a modem

[@SegaBoy8]

Where can I get that shirt?

[@johnnylochs6704]

It’s the googly eyes that let us know it’s ok lol

[@MatthewCobalt]

One day, these videos will becoe the Cursed Mac Chronicles.

[@cheater00]

I think this would be a great computer for a dentist's office

[@Shape84]

Great!

[@The1stImpish]

Would be really cool to see if Halo would play on this or any of your other G4 upgrades.

[@curvingfyre6810]

I wonder what the fastest "upgradeable" mac would be? What base, what upgrades?

[@djmidnightwolf]

@ActionRetro you say the DVD drive is overkill but I put a Blu-Ray writer in one of my Athlon XP machines that had sata1. Can't watch any movies but reads data disks bigger than the hard drive.

[@TuxPeng]

I don't think the molar Mac is ugly. Then again, I value function over form

[@atomicamc5216]

I should have expected this.

[@HikikomoriDev]

Would be nice to mount an ATX board and then just make it a Hackintosh. Daily use.

[@dennisud]

Honestly, that HUGE CRT was the worse part simply in how heavy it was. I would get a G3 tower or desktop and plop an LED flat screen on it. Then I could play those old Mac Classic Ganes on it (Doom, Quake & Duke Nukem!).

[@vaderexmachina]

CMON ACTION RETRO NOW WE NEED MAC OS X ON THE TAM!!!!

[@howdoesgame8879]

Bro should’ve put a blu ray optical drive in it lmao, way overkill

[@BollingHolt]

Everyone clowns on the poor Molar Mac, but I actually think it's a good looking machine! I'd love to have one in my collection :)

[@TheJoMan2]

That mac looks angry at the start

[@connarcomstock161]

Interesting how according to the benchmarks the G3 has better IPC than the G4.

[@MikeFromDownUnder]

Love this❗❤

[@charlesswansonii9319]

Playing Wolf3D when you could be playing Marathon on this piece of glory. I used one of these in high school for M1 and M2 and had great times…

[@knightsun2920]

Skip the snips and get a 9250 low profile card that has the pinouts for a removable VGA connector.

[@systemchris]

It a great bridge mac

[@Mainyehc]

Omfg you ripped its face off 😂

[@kingtom]

lol congratulations you basically made a 2003 eMac without the VRAM and the good looks

[@CRYPTiCEXiLE]

Really like this computer the display is very nice i dont care how it looks man this machine is retro madness G4 1ghz very cool stuff, i wouldn't even use mac os 9 on that just strictly OS X cause thats a BSD system and i just think unix is better to have even though its older darwin system still darwin and i find its a nice system.

[@baliebox4916]

i have a challenge for you guys to do if you guys can upgrade both a molar mac and a tam i want to see you guys upgrade an imac g3 to a g4, g5 or if possible arm cpu next thats if like i said if its possible us y2k aesthetic supporters will appreciate you for that effort

[@EmyrDerfel]

Modern ARM is all System on a chip, and surface mounted directly to a motherboard. You'd need to work out how to get the interfaces (IDE bus etc) into a format an ARM SoC could understand then fab a board to carry whatever translation chips you'd need. Then write device drivers for all of it. Tldr: never gonna happen.

[@alexthemorgan]

Can we get back to this type of content?

[@VK2FVAX]

I like the AiO. Wish you didn't rag-out on em so much. :( I even like the look.

[@kokodin5895]

mac with blown fuse? that a first rossman repairs

[@MichaelAStanhope]

I wonder what Sean thinks about the way the molar mac looks? 😂

[@superviewer]

I think he bashes it a bit too much 😁 It was nice compared to other stuff at the time.

[@sluxi]

@@superviewer I love that it has a mouth and eyes, maybe not going to win any beauty pageants but it has personality

[@cwaldrip]

You need to find a 17” 2005 eMac…