PowerMac G4 PCI Graphics Upgrades
G4 PCI Side View

This page covers all the upgrades we sell for the PowerMac G4 PCI Graphics. Choose the type of upgrade you are looking for from the tabs below.(Not the right Mac? See here for more PowerMac G4s, or here for all Macs.)

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If you want specific upgrades for your exact model, choose it from the Model ID links below, or enter your serial number here:


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G4 PCI Internal View

History

The PowerMac G4 "PCI Graphics" was announced in September 1999, along with the PowerMac G4 "AGP Graphics" - although these PCI Graphics machines started shipping earlier, and would generally be considered the first PowerMac G4s.

These PowerMacs are based on the same Yosemite motherboard as the PowerMac G3 "Blue & White" - the G4 PCI added a Motorola MPC 7400 processor to an already successful machine.

Apple billed the 7400 as a "Super Computer on a chip", due to the fact that it was capable of executing more than a billion instructions per second (a gigaflop). Much of the 7400's speed increase was due to a new set of instructions, which were executed by a new unit on the chip. Motorola refers to this new unit as the "AltiVec" unit, while Apple publicly refers to it as the "Velocity Engine." The Velocity Engine vastly increased the speed of many common processor-intensive tasks.

The PowerMac G4 PCI Graphics is an upgradeable machine, however it does suffer somewhat from its older motherboard architecture when compared to the AGP Graphics PowerMac G4.

Apple's own specifications for the PowerMac G4 PCI Graphics can be found here.

How to Identify these Machines

The G4 PCI Graphite can be easily distinguished from other G4 PowerMacs.

The rear of the G4 has two audio sockets which are aligned horizontally from the bottom of the port panel. The only other Graphite PowerMac with horizontally aligned audio sockets is the PowerMac G4 Digital Audio (the DIgital Audio however has only three 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 PCIs have four memory sockets (black in line sockets - see picture) towards the top of the case.

The PowerMac G4 AGP Graphics, and PowerMac G4 Gigabit Ethernet also have four RAM slots, but the audio ports on the back of these machines are aligned vertically. Graphite coloured PowerMac G4s later than the Gigabit Ethernet range have only three RAM slots.

You will notice four differing expansion sockets. All of these sockets should be cream in colour, but one of them will be segmented into two - this is a faster slot and will probably contain your graphics card. The other 3 sockets are for PCI Expansion cards.

If you have a brown socket instead of a segmented cream one, you may have an AGP Graphics PowerMac G4 instead.

Apple's own specifications for the PowerMac G4 PCI Graphics 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.

Memory Upgrades

The PowerMac G4 PCI Graphics have 4 RAM slots, each of which can take up to a 256MB module, for a maximum of 1GB.

There are none available.

Difficulty 1 / 5 - Very Easy

Open the side of the case, with the machine turned off, and place the RAM into a socket. The RAM is designed so that it cannot go in the wrong way around.

If you are unsure please call or email our team.

CD/DVD/Blu-ray Drive Upgrades

An internal CD/DVD drive would replace your existing optical drive. There are also external FireWire and USB options (FireWire highly recommended for this machine).

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.

There are none available.

Difficulty 2 / 5 - Easy (internal)

Turn off the machine and open the side door.

Remove the front panel of the CD drive, which is secured by two clips.

Remove two small Phillips screws and gently move the CD caddie forward.

Disconnect all cables and replace with the new unit. Then install your software.

If you are unsure please call or email our team for details.

Internal Hard Drive & SSD Upgrades

The PowerMac G4 PCI can can take internal IDE hard drives of sizes up to 120GB. Up to two extra drives can be added alongside your existing hard drive - a straight replacement is obviously possible as well.

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.

Installation Services

Any fitting information below is intended as a guide before purchase ONLY, when fitting these products you should refer to the original manual for your computer, and any instructions that come with the item. Please see this page for more information, or here for information on our fitting service.

Difficulty 2 / 5 - Easy

Turn off the machine and open side door.

If drive is a replacement then simply remove all cables and screws from the existing drive, and replace the unit.

If installing as a second drive then change the jumper setting to slave, and add the drive above the existing hard drive.

Connect power and data cables, and initialise the disk.

If you are unsure call or email our team.

Graphics Cards and Displays

Your PowerMac G4 AGP Graphics has one available 66MHz PCI socket for upgrading your video capabilities. You also have three 33MHz PCI slots, which can take a second graphics card - however the 66MHz PCI 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.

There are none available.

Difficulty 1 / 5 - Very Easy

Install any supplied software and turn off the machine.

Open side door and locate the (cream coloured, segmented into two) 66MHz PCI socket. Remove holding screw and remove the original card.

Insert the new card, and secure with the screw.

If you are unsure please call or email our team.

Expansion Card Upgrades

Your PowerMac G4 has to three 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.

INSTALL SERVICE - Expansion Card in a Desktop MacStock: Available£15.00 + vat (£18.00)

Any fitting information below is intended as a guide before purchase ONLY, when fitting these products you should refer to the original manual for your computer, and any instructions that come with the item. Please see this page for more information, or here for information on our fitting service.

Difficulty 1 / 5 - Very Easy

Install any supplied software and turn off the machine.

Open the side door and locate one of the three free cream coloured 33MHz PCI sockets. There will be three identical slots and one different slot (which probably contains your graphics card). You want to install your card into one of the three identical slots.

Remove the holding screw and remove the blanking plate. Fit the new card and secure with the screw.

If you are unsure please call or email our team.

Keyboards & Mice

The following keyboards and mice are compatible with this Mac.

Trust 3 button USB Optical MouseStock: Available£6.75 + vat (£8.10)
Cherry Strait 3.0 USB Keyboard - UK Mac LayoutStock: Available£32.00 + vat (£38.40)

Power Supplies & Batteries

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

3.6V (half AA type) Lithium PRAM/Clock Battery for MacStock: Available£9.00 + vat (£10.80)

Any fitting information below is intended as a guide before purchase ONLY, when fitting these products you should refer to the original manual for your computer, and any instructions that come with the item. Please see this page for more information, or here for information on our fitting service.

Cables & Tools

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

Cables & Adaptors

FireWire 400 - 800 Adaptor Cable M/M (6pin - 9pin) 6 ftStock: Available£11.00 + vat (£13.20)
Sonnet Tempo eSATA Cable Set - 1m (2 x eSATA Connectors)Stock: Out of Stock£16.00 + vat (£19.20)1

Tools

Precision Screwdriver Set, 31 Piece - Phillips/Torx/TR6Stock: Available£12.50 + vat (£15.00)
Hard Drive Screws - Pack of 4Stock: Available£1.25 + vat (£1.50)
Anti Static Wrist StrapStock: Available£8.50 + vat (£10.20)
1For use with an eSATA PCI card, e.g. Sonnet Tempo X4P eSATA PCI/PCIX Card, to connect to an eSATA external device.

External Drives & Enclosures

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

3.5in USB Enclosures

2.5in USB Enclosures

Any fitting information below is intended as a guide before purchase ONLY, when fitting these products you should refer to the original manual for your computer, and any instructions that come with the item. Please see this page for more information, or here for information on our fitting service.

Complete Machines - Refurbished

Any complete machines of this type or similar that we have for sale are listed here. Please note that these are refurbished models with a 3 month warranty, and that delivery is likely to take 3 - 5 working days. These can be purchased online with the standard website courier delivery charge for the mainland UK only. Please contact us for a quote on shipping to other areas.

Repair Services for this Mac

Here are the various repair services we offer for this Mac. You can have us take the machine in for evaluation, or book a fixed-price repair if you already know what the fault is and the service is listed below (for services without parts, please see the relevant tab on this page for compatible parts that we sell). If you know what the fault is, but we don't have a fixed-price repair listed below, please contact us for a quote.

Evaluation Services

Mac Repair - Evaluation ServiceStock: Available£39.00 + vat (£46.80)

Installation Services (parts not included)

Collection ServiceStock: Available£24.68 + vat (£29.62)
INSTALL SERVICE - Expansion Card in a Desktop MacStock: Available£15.00 + vat (£18.00)