Power Mac G4 MDD PCI Cards Replacement

Written By: Chris Green
  • Comments: 3
Power Mac G4 MDD PCI Cards Replacement

Difficulty

Moderate

Steps

8

Time Required

15 - 30 minutes

Introduction

The Power Mac G4 MDD has four full-legnth 66Mhz PCI Slots, The MDD Works with Mac cards, and some PC cards as well.

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    • The Power Mac G4 MDD: the last, and the fastest G4-based Mac. This computer boasted up to a Dual 1.42GHz PowerPC G4 CPU (though I have a single 1.25GHz).

    • Two USB 1.1 Ports

    • Assorted Audio

    • Video (ADC & DVI)

    • Networking (RJ-45 Ethernet/56k Modem)

    • Some later model MDD's (such as the dual 1.42GHz) Have a FireWire 800 Port Here:

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    • Unplug the computer.

    • Unplug the power supply and all external connections from the computer.

    • Pull on the side lever and lower the side of the case.

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    • The ram is between the graphics card, and the CPU, and removal is simple. Push the tabs down on both sides, this will free the ram, then lift it out.

    • The MDD uses a maximum of 2GB PC2700 DDR RAM (512MB X4) and has 4 slots.

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    • The Power Mac G4 MDD uses a Mac-Compatible AGP Graphics card with ADC, And DVI or VGA.

    • My mac has a NVIDIA GeForce4 Titanium with 128MB of video ram, this was an excessively large card, for some reason.

    • Start by removing this Phillips screw.

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    • Using a flathead screwdriver, spudger, or your finger pull this tab towards you, and lift the card out.

    • The "excessively large" NVIDIA GeForce4 Titanium 128MB. This was one of the most powerful cards on the market when this computer was released, now, there are flashed cards such as the Radeon 9700 Mac, but this is the most powerful AGP ADC supporting card, great for gaming, Photoshop, and other 3D intensive applications.

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    • The DVI And ADC Ports.

    Can the card be "shortened" aka modded/cut, safely without the card becoming unusable?

    Luke Rademacher -

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    • The Power Mac G4 MDD Supports four PCI Cards, allowing for SCSI, sound, wireless networking (only AirPort compatible clones) USB, FireWire, etc. The PCI slots do not, however support PCI graphics.

    • Remove the screws for any occupied PCI bays.

    I disagree with the info about PCI cards do not support Graphics... when my previous AGP card died (I too had the monster NVIDIA GeForce4 Titanium 128MB), I had an immediate need for any video card i could find, I was able to procure & use without issue an ATI Radeon 9200 Mac Edition 128MB DDR PCI video card. It has VGA, S-Video, & DVI ports. The card wasn't as fast as a dedicated AGP 4x video card but it did the trick as at the time I could not afford another AGP board.

    Luke Rademacher -

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    • Once the screws are removed, pull each card straight up and out of the computer one at a time.

    • The Cards:

    • Adaptec SCSI 50-Pin

    • Adaptec SCSI 68-Pin

    • USB/FireWire Expander

    • M-Audio HD Sound Card

    • NVIDIA GeForce4 Titanium (Mac Edition) DVI & ADC

    in 12/03 my bto PM Dual 1.25 G4 MDD, came with one of those monster Titanium 128MB video cards. One day I smelled something bad and discovered some of the wires on said card had melted! I was forced to swap it out for a ATI Radeon 9000 Mac edition 128MB Video Card. Which seemed to work better. I can't recall though if it was a PCI or AGP card.

    Luke Rademacher -

Conclusion

To reassemble your device, follow these instructions in reverse order.

Author

Chris Green

Member since: 11/10/09

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