Forums | MacLife

Hello all, im_electronic back at it again, if you all remember my various Mac mods and upgrades, here's my latest project for you. for those of you that don't, search, the truth is out there.

The project is mostly a simple one this time, upgrade a cube for use, my starting specs were:
G4 500Mhz
Mac Radeon OEM
1024Mbs RAM
80 Gb HDD
CD-RW
all stock apple except RAM and HDD.

End specs:
G4 1.5Ghz
1.5Gbs RAM
Upgraded cooling
room to overclock

Parts used:
1.5Ghz Module $235 OWC
2x512Mbs RAM $FREE (from some computers I got for free)
Heatsinks leftover from other projects
-Zalman GPU sinks
-thermalake RAM sinks

you can follow along with the pics for the most part

Following the powelogix instructions and video as a guide I updated the firmware, then took apart the cube and removed components, going beyond what they tell you to do to install he fan, and installing heatsinks, I removed the Radeon from the graphics riser, and took apart the handle mechanism.

From there I cleaned the heatsinks and chips that were going to have a heatsink applied to them, 90% isopropyl alcohol and cotton swabs. Then I staged the heatsink to make sure I had proper clearances. From there the copper RAMsinks had thermal tape on them, so I removed the backing and applied to the main heat sources on the VRM module, using the others I leveled the board and applied some pressure to help seat the chips.
Next up was the Arctic Alumina ceramic thermal epoxy, once mixed (1:1) I had 3 minutes to apply. so I did, applied to the Zalman GPU RAMSinks, then applied to he chip, 4 chips later I used the other two unused ZAlman sinks, and a dead stick of RAM to level the sinks higher than the GPU heatsink, and put both bottles of iso alc on top to keep it all in place (tried rubber bands, but they almost screwed it all up)
Back to the CPU of the cube, allowing time for the epoxy to set, and adhesive to bond.

break here to put in the included fan, put screws in opposite corners, as apposed to same side, reduce more possible vibration. back to the CPU.

removed all appropriate screws to be able to separate the apple stock CPU heat plate from the heatsink, TIP: look in photo, I used the post as leverage to "pop" it apart. removed the old module and OMG WTF apple used the old-school-crappiest-ever thermal tape. so I spent the next 30 minutes cleaning the CPU heatsink off, then prepped the new CPU, applying thermaltake thermal paste using a fake credit card (those mailer ones) applying over the CPU core and surrounding areas.
putting the Mac together I had to route the cables different than instructed, and did so looking nicer than the instructions, the VRM bypass came over the board where the RJ-11(phone) jack, plugged into the power, routed under the modem, and into the graphics riser, assembly from there went as usual.

re-assembled, booted up and it works great.

boots faster, rips faster, yadda yadda, I was going to do some benchmarking, but barefeats and others have plenty.

taking advantage of my upgraded cooling some overclocking is in the future, there are DIP switches on the CPU daughtercard that allow change of the multiplier, and ATIcelleratorII for the graphics.

a quick thing I had already done to the cube was the stock radeon coolers fan had gone bad, so I popped it off and thermal taped on a heatsink of a dead 9700, its fan was bad so I used one of a dead 9800, so the core is cooled pretty good.

Tips to others:
-at the least heatsink the VRM, next up relocate it, best is to replace it with the C-VRM. this will lengthen its life, and save your cube, if the VRM goes, it will take other parts with it.
-remove the apple thermal stuff from between the plate and the heatsink and replace with computer store bought thermal paste, I suggest Arctic Silver or one of its carnations, or a clone of it. this will help, even in stock configurations
-use arctic silver on the CPU die to heat plate, again help lengthen life and dissipate heat.
-read up on what others have done.


my more mentionable Mac mods and hacks:
Powerbook G4 1.33-upgrade hard drive, remove debris from fan, change color of apple logo, power on with top off.
powerbook G4 500-upgrade HDD, RAM, airport extreme, entire rebuild
AGP G4-single 400 to dual 500, internal Bluetooth, airport extreme, 250gig+HDD, superdrive, FW800 USB 2.0
Blue and white G3- G4 400, gig RAM, airport extreme, USB 2.0, PCI QE
Twentieth Anniversary Mac prototype- G3 233, 768 RAM, OS 9.2.2, Airport

Last edited by im_electronic (2006-09-23 6:55 pm)