Anybody OCd a MAC?

addragyn

Golden Member
Sep 21, 2000
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Oh yeah they do. They are pretty hardcore too. The Mac overclocking scene has lots of balls and brains. They need it.

These guys overclock laptops and desktops. They figure out what is controlling system speeds on a component level and frequently take soldering iron to circuit board to make adjustments. Somebody figured out how to use the power saving on certain G3s in reverse and use that to overclock. The closest thing for a PC would be hacking Speed Step for more hertz. I've even heard of people rebaking boards. Imagine removing your chipset and placing a new one onto the motherboard. Lots of information seems to originate from Japan.


iBook overclock

G4 Cube modded to duals

TiBook overclock

Japanese site with lots of info (click on "Macintosh TuneUp")

G4 Cube overclock

Build your own G4
 

addragyn

Golden Member
Sep 21, 2000
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The big Mac hardware site is: xlr8yourmac.com. There is lots of hardware tweaking stuff in the forum.

MacNN has a busier forum. It's not as hardware focused as xlr8.

MacBidouille is a French site that has done some very cool stuff. Click here for English translation. (Remember when links mostly read "click here".) They released the very useful MacBidouille Tool Kit for free.

There are smaller sites that also cover hardware hacking. The tend to be personal instead of full time efforts.
 

squidman

Senior member
May 2, 2003
643
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WHOA! I dint know! These guys are pretty hardcore! Hail PC for its 5-seconds-to-overclock BIOS!
;-)
 

Viper96720

Diamond Member
Jul 15, 2002
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Now if one of them could use their smarts and find out how to unlock a P4 multiplier. If at all possible that would be the greatest.
 

addragyn

Golden Member
Sep 21, 2000
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You have to give them credit especially when you consider how hard/expensive it is to get replacements for any parts you might break.

-You either go with Apple and pay OEM prices. Just like buying OEM parts for a car or any PC it's not cheap.

-You shop for replacements from Mac shops. Also pricey.

-You can buy CPU upgrade cards made by; PowerLogix, Sonnet and Giga. There were other companies in the past that have since folded. As you can see here G4 cards are not cheap.

-You can look for used parts on eBay or on the Mac boards. I picked up a few things from the xlr8 forum and the prices were way below market(eBay) value the seller was very helpful in answering what I know now were some basic questions and he even offered to send me some other parts he had for free if I could use them. IMO it's a good community over there.

---

Now if one of them could use their smarts and find out how to unlock a P4 multiplier. If at all possible that would be the greatest.

That would be an Intel Confidential chip, aka an engineering sample. Beware that Intel corporate security does not look kindly on anybody attemting to sell/buy one of these chips. Even if you pay somebody for it it legally belongs to Intel. Technically it is Intel property that is on loan to whomever initially received it.
 

BD231

Lifer
Feb 26, 2001
10,568
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You don't drop money into a 4 banger if you want a fast car, the potential just aint there man.
 
Jan 31, 2002
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Originally posted by: squidman
What about cooling? Do they use automotive water pump + radiator?

If you're trying to troll, that's a very bad attempt, considering watercooling is very popular among PC enthusiasts.

- M4H
 

addragyn

Golden Member
Sep 21, 2000
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Dual 800s fanless! I wouldn't risk mine like that. The Cube cult has done lots of stuff to keep their little lucite boxes up to speed. Nibbling circuit boards, fabbing brackets, and relocating the VRM all so they can fit taller video cards in. Last I heard a dual 1.2Ghz had been announced and people were eagerly awaiting it. Cool little machine.
 

addragyn

Golden Member
Sep 21, 2000
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Squidman if you're asking about the Cube the answer is that cooling varies. There is a bracket inside that fits a fan and people have added one with their upgrades. I think the CPU upgrade kits also come with one. It's a very tight fit inside a Cube. You could definitely run a waterblock in there but the rest of the setup would have to be externally placed. There is a watercooled G4 here. I don't know why I think this but I'm oretty sure that guy is an Anandtech-er.

Stock the Cube has no fans. All components are vertically aligned and cooled by convection. The actual computer is in a metal casing which is suspended inside the lucite block. Air flows in through the holes in the bottom and out via a slot(above the video card) and the grille which is above the CPU and HD hsf. When it's running you can feel the slight air movement or warm air out of the top. If you see a picture you'll notice two slots on top and the oval grille. The small slot is for the slot load drive. You can't see the pwr/rst button because it's hidden under the plastic. That works because it's not a mechanical push button, it's tough activted. When sleeping it pulses from dark to lit. I've heard of people with cats having their machine turned on by the animal because it's swiping those paws over the pulsing sleep light. Ars had a great Cube review if you want to read more.

Alright that's enough for me.

 

Ilmater

Diamond Member
Jun 13, 2002
7,516
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Originally posted by: MercenaryForHire
Originally posted by: squidman
What about cooling? Do they use automotive water pump + radiator?

If you're trying to troll, that's a very bad attempt, considering watercooling is very popular among PC enthusiasts.

- M4H
JESUS you Mac fans are defensive. He wasn't trolling, he was making fun. Calm down; your precious Mac isn't going anywhere.

I must say I'm impressed. Those people are freaking nuts.
 

pukemon

Senior member
Jun 16, 2000
850
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heh they used to call it "clock chipping" back in the day. took a Powermac 6100/66 all the way up to a whopping 80MHz back in 1994/95 or so...
 
Jan 31, 2002
40,819
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Originally posted by: Ilmater
Originally posted by: MercenaryForHire
Originally posted by: squidman
What about cooling? Do they use automotive water pump + radiator?

If you're trying to troll, that's a very bad attempt, considering watercooling is very popular among PC enthusiasts.

- M4H
JESUS you Mac fans are defensive. He wasn't trolling, he was making fun. Calm down; your precious Mac isn't going anywhere.

I must say I'm impressed. Those people are freaking nuts.

bwahahahaha ... he thinks I'm a Mac user!

... hey, wait a minute. You callin me gh3y? :|

:D

- M4H