Compatibility among older and newer PCI slots

tikibars · Post by **tikibars** » Sat Aug 26, 2006 9:13 am

Hi

I have an ancient blue/white G3 that has some MOTU PCI cards in it, and also some SCSI cards.

I want to transplant all of this stuff into the newest possible Mac.

According to the specs on the Apple site, I should be able to put all of my PCI cards into any desktop G4.

I also see that among the earliest G5s, the 1.8 gHz machines seem to use the same PCI size/speed, while the faster G5s use the PCI-X cards.

Seems like a dual 1.8 Ghz G5 will be my best bet.

Before I make a purchase, I want to find out if any of you have done this, and what your results are.

If I buy a new computer, I cannot afford to replace all of my peripherals, which include my MOTU cards, and all of the various stuff connected to my SCSI cards.

So I need to make sure that I get the best computer I can that will allow me to use my other stuff with it.

I guess NEXT TIME I get a new computer I will have to bite the bullet and buy all new peripherals too... but that's next time.

Also wondering if I can just transplant my current Hard Drive into the new machine and pick up working where I left off... but faster...

Using OSX 10.3.9, DP 4.5, etc.

thanks

James

giles117 · Post by **giles117** » Sat Aug 26, 2006 11:18 am

Which MOTU PCI card do you have????

If it is the 424 or 324, then the latest compatible computer available for use is a G4 Tower. All of the G5's require you to upgrade your cards.

tikibars · Post by **tikibars** » Sat Aug 26, 2006 2:47 pm

Thanks for the reply.

Will ANY G4 work?

If so I want to get the last, fastest 'best' G4, which I believe is the dual 1.25 gHz.

giles117 · Post by **giles117** » Sat Aug 26, 2006 3:48 pm

Yes any G4 will work. I went through almost every series myself. Graphite, quicksilver and MDD

tikibars · Post by **tikibars** » Sat Aug 26, 2006 9:44 pm

Coolness.

So... er.... anyone wanna sell a dual 1.25 gHz G4?

tikibars · Post by **tikibars** » Sun Aug 27, 2006 9:22 pm

I was told elsewhere that the dual 1.25 G4s are super-noisy (cooling fans).

Any experience with this?

WSVP · Post by **WSVP** » Sun Aug 27, 2006 10:01 pm

I was told elsewhere that the dual 1.25 G4s are super-noisy (cooling fans).

The G4 Mirror Door (MDD) models (also known as the WindTunnels) are perhaps the noisiest computers ever made. I have a Dual 867 it is pretty noisy. I now use a much quieter G5 dual quad, the noise difference is beyond night and day. With the exception of the noise the G4 MDD is an excellent computer. They have great peripheral expansion capability, and they are good workhorses.

There was a retrofit that Apple offered at one point, but I have not heard any feedback as to how much of an improvement it made.

Also keep in mind, the MDD models which have the Firewire 800 port are OSX bootable ONLY. The ones WITHOUT the FW800 port WILL dual boot OS9 and OSX.

giles117 · Post by **giles117** » Sun Aug 27, 2006 10:04 pm

I replaced all my fans in my Dual 867 with silenX fans. the fan on the video card was the hardest to swap. The fans on the PSU were the loudest in the world.

I had the apple retrogit. HAH!!!! My SIlenx REtrofit was much better.

tikibars · Post by **tikibars** » Mon Aug 28, 2006 10:13 am

How much were the Silent EX fans... how dramatic was the noise reduction?

giles117 · Post by **giles117** » Mon Aug 28, 2006 8:46 pm

Fairly Dramatic. w/o fans I couldnt bear to have that thing in my studio. Once replaced I could live with it in the studio. Not as quiet as a G5, but very quiet nonetheless (considering)

www.silenx.com for pricing. Dont get the quietest. They dont move enough air. Get the ones rated at 14dbA. Espicailly the 120mm for the Heat sink, unless you have a copper heatsink....

tikibars · Post by **tikibars** » Wed Aug 30, 2006 2:16 pm

For those tracking prices and systems, today on Ebay I got a dual 1.25 gHz G4, with 2 gigs of RAM (maxed out), and Verax (not Silex) fans pre-installed for $1075 plus $39 shipping.

giles117 · Post by **giles117** » Thu Aug 31, 2006 6:33 am

Good to know. Guess I'll push my G5 for no less than $1500.

cmcenearney · Post by **cmcenearney** » Sun Sep 03, 2006 9:19 am

I just bought a wind tunnel because I'm stupid and I was in a hurry, and there was a lot of ambient noise when I bought it. This thing is a nightmare!!

The web site originally established by irate users is no longer up: g4noise.com

Most people report that the apple-sponsored power supply swap was worthless.

The Verax system for the psu fans only is $129, for psu and cpu is $319.
(Still waiting to hear back from silenx, they don't have prices on their site).
That is ridiculous!!! Do you know how much it would cost to do the same thing to a PC? A lot less!!! http://www.endpcnoise.com This is yet another example how being a mac user is more expensive and of questionable benefit.

giles117 · Post by **giles117** » Sun Sep 03, 2006 3:27 pm

The Silenx Fans you wanna grab are these....

1 - iextrema pro fan size 120x120x25mm - 14dBA - 72CFM Fan Main Heatsink $24.99
2 - iextrema pro fan size 60x60x25mm - 16dBA - 18CFM Fans PSU fans $13.99 each
1 - iextrema pro fan size 80x80x15mm - 14dBA - 24CFM Fan Motherboard/CD drive fan $15.99

SO you'd be looking at $70 + Shipping for all the fans

The last noisy fan is the GPU fan.... Depending on what video card you have, you may or may not have a fan on it.

Be aware of which way your PSU fans are mounted...... you want to push air through the PSU and out the back... if you reverse them you will create an air pressure trap that will cause your system to run hotter than normal.....

And Yes I had the Apple PSU swap. My system was barely quieter... Like maybe 3db total. LOL. HAH!!!! Silenx made my computer useable....