got myself a G4 Quicksilver...advice on mods?

[ime_NY]

Hi all,

So I got a PowerMac G4 Quicksilver 867. For the next year, I plan to use it as my house desktop, but perhaps next year I'll use it for research if I start grad school.

The first thing I noticed when I powered up this baby is the volume. Am I correct in assuming that the source is the fan/cooling system and/or G4 processor? I'm thinking that I'll upgrade the processor (at the least 1.2ghz; if I see myself using this for reasearch, then 2.0 ghz), perhaps from OWC. Will this cut down on the noise, or will I have to replace the cooling system itself?

Second, I'm thinking about replacing one of the HDs (it came with two 60 gigs) with at least a 250 gb HD. Any recommendations? What kind should I go for (ATA, STA...not really sure about these terms)?


I know that I'll have to max out the ram if I use it for research. So my last question is: how easy would it be for a beginner to install all of these components (processor, HD, ram)? Would you recommend doing it at one time, or spacing the upgrading apart? I'm sure I'll find some handy guides online.

But I know that the first upgrade will be kicking out Jaguar and installing Tiger ( I can't wait until spring '07.... some of the software I plan to install needs Os X 10.3 at least)

thanks in advance!

[ThunderPoit]

i have managed to squeeze 3 harddrives in mine by taking a tin snip to the zip drive bay and making one fit there. the fan is a bit noisy, but i have gotten used to it over the years. not much point in tossing in a Serial ATA card for SATA drives, unless you want to try to rig a hardware raid.

been a happy owner of my 867 since the day it was introduced. only caution i can give you is to find out if the optical drive is the original CDRW/DVD rom combo drive that apple included with the unit. I had 3 of them die slow deaths due to defective parts. My suggestion would be to just hop on newegg and grab an NEC dvd burner. they are only ~$30 and will work natively with the ilife apps.