PowerMac G4 Digital Audio Upgrades

The G4 Digital Audio can be easily distinguished from other G4 towers. It is the last of the graphite coloured PowerMac G4s, the next range - the G4 Quicksilver - came in a silver case.

The Digital Audio came with the following processor clock speeds: 466MHz, 533MHz, 667MHz, 733MHz, there were also a few dual 533MHz machines. All these speeds are unique to the Digital Audio range, with the exception of 733MHz, which was also an option on the first range of Quicksilvers.

The rear of the G4 has two audio sockets which are aligned horizontally from the top of the port panel. The only other graphite PowerMac G4 that has horizontally aligned ports is the PowerMac G4 PCI Graphics - the PCI Graphics however has the audio ports near the bottom of the port panel. The PCI Graphics also has four RAM slots, see below.

You can also check the components inside the case:

Turn the machine off and open the side of the case. Internally all G4 Digital Audios have three memory sockets (black in line sockets - see picture) towards the top of the case. It is the only graphite G4 PowerMac to have three memory slots.

You will also notice five differing expansion sockets. The first of these is a brown socket which is called AGP, and is used exclusively for graphics cards. The other four sockets are for PCI expansion cards.

There is space for a number of internal hard drives to the rear of the machine.

Apple's own specifications for the PowerMac G4 Digital Audio can be found here.

If you are still unsure you can contact us on 01223 833 412 or by email for confirmation. If you want to upgrade but aren't happy to install your upgrades then we can help. Simply ask our engineers for further details.

The PowerMac G4 Digital Audio has three memory sockets. The machines can accept up to 1.5GB in RAM, in 3 x 512MB modules. These machines need PC133 SDRAM DIMMs.

NB: System Profiler will sometimes mis-report the number of RAM slots in the Digital Audio, and will show 4 slots. However all PowerMac G4 Digital Audios have only 3 slots.

Any replacement internal 5.25" IDE CD unit will install into this PowerMac, and should work to read data. However, unless there is an Apple ROM on-board the CD unit, the computer cannot be booted from the CD, and the unit will not integrate with Finder burning and Apple software like iDVD. Burning can still be accomplished by third party software such as Roxio's Toast.

Look for the footnotes on any internal drive listed below, to see if there are any issues as described above.

If you want to use a larger hard drive you will need to use a SATA drive and install a SATA controller into a PCI socket. See the expansion cards section at the end of this page for details on available cards.

If you don't want to fit a new hard drive yourself, you can take advantage of the MacUpgrades Installation Service. Add the installation service from the list below to your cart along with your chosen hard drive. We can also clone your existing hard drive onto the new one, simply add the Clone Original Hard Drive service below to your cart.

Once you have booked the service, send your machine to us, we will carry out the work and return it to you. Alternatively, we do offer a Collection Service with our courier, please see here for details.

This Mac can have an eSATA controller card added into an expansion socket - allowing it to control an array of eSATA drives.

For an explanation of what eSATA is, please see our eSATA FAQ. To see our full listing of eSATA products, please see the eSATA category.

eSATA products compatible with this Mac can be found on this page - eSATA controllers can be found on in the expansion cards section, eSATA enclosures are with the external hard drives, and SATA hard drives are listed with the internal hard drives.

Your PowerMac G4 Digital Audio has one available AGP socket for upgrading your video capabilities. You also have three 33MHz PCI slots, which can take a second graphics card - however the AGP socket is superior and should be used for the primary graphics card.

High-end graphics cards are useful for 3D applications and games - also a lot of the effects within OSX use the graphics card, so upgrading the card will make your OSX desktop smoother and nicer to look at.

Your PowerMac G4 has four PCI sockets for connectivity expansion. Since the machine was released FireWire 800, USB 2.0, faster internal IDE controllers, faster wireless and wired connectivity, and much more, has become available.

With the use of PCI expansion cards, you can update your machine to use current spec connectivity types. Please note that some cards have an operating system version requirement - see the notes in the table below for any that apply to this machine.

The following keyboards and mice are compatible with this Mac.

Listed below are power supplies, batteries and related products we supply for this Mac.

Listed below are power cables, tools and related products we supply for this Mac.

This Mac can use any of the following external hard drives.