Power Mac G4

M5183 · PowerMac3,1 · PowerMac3,3 · PowerMac3,4 · PowerMac3,5 · PowerMac3,6 · 1999–2004 · tower

Specifications

Cpu: PowerPC G4 350-450 MHz at launch (AGP Graphics); up to dual 1.42 GHz in the final Mirrored Drive Doors revision
Gpu: ATI Rage 128 Pro AGP at launch; up to Radeon 9000 Pro / GeForce4 Ti on later revisions
Ram: max: 2 GB (4x512 MB PC100 on AGP/Gigabit/Digital Audio; 1.5 GB on Quicksilver; 2 GB DDR on MDD) · base: 64 MB
Ports: USB 1.1 x2 · FireWire 400 x2 (FireWire 800 on final MDD revision) · 10/100 Ethernet (Gigabit from mid-2000) · 56k modem · Audio in/out · AirPort card slot · 4 PCI slots + AGP graphics slot
Storage: base: 10 GB ATA HDD · options: 20-120 GB ATA HDD depending on revision · Multiple internal drive bays
Os Support: latest: Mac OS X 10.5.8 Leopard (867 MHz and faster); 10.4.11 Tiger on earlier revisions · shipped: Mac OS 8.6
Release Price: $1,599

Variants

Revisions

Yikes! (PCI Graphics)PowerMac3,11999, PCI graphics, reused G3 B&W case

Sawtooth (AGP Graphics)PowerMac3,11999, AGP graphics, new case design

Gigabit EthernetPowerMac3,32000, added Gigabit Ethernet

Digital AudioPowerMac3,42001, optical audio in/out

QuickSilverPowerMac3,52001, silver/graphite case refresh

QuickSilver 20022002 speed bump of QuickSilver design

Mirrored Drive Doors (FW400)2002, dual-door case, dual CPU options

Mirrored Drive Doors (FW800)2003, final G4 revision, FireWire 800

Upgrade paths

RAM

Up to 2 GB depending on revision · Fold-down side door; standard PC100/PC133 SDRAM or DDR on MDD.

EASY

CPU

Daughtercard upgrades to dual G4 1.8 GHz class (Sonnet, PowerLogix, Giga Designs) · Thriving upgrade-card market across every revision.

MODERATE

storage

Multiple ATA bays; SATA PCI cards extend capacity well beyond stock limits · Pre-MDD onboard ATA caps at 128 GB per drive without a PCI controller.

EASY

GPU

AGP cards up to Radeon 9800 Pro Mac Edition (flashed PC cards common) · AGP 2x/4x depending on revision; the flashed-card scene around these towers is legendary.

MODERATE