Power Mac

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Tech Specs

Quicksilver Power Mac G4

LEM Staff - 2001.07.18

Code named Quicksilver, this was the fiftth computer to share the name Power Mac G4, but the first to be housed in an obviously different case. With processor speeds ranging from 733 to 867 MHz, the G4 had the power to outperform any Pentium 4 machine made at the time. The top of the line was a dual 800 MHz machine that first shipped in August 2001.

Quicksilver Power Mac G4There is conflicting information about “big drive” support for the 2001 Quicksilver. Apple does not list it as one of the Macs that supports large volumes (over 128 GB) on the internal hard drive bus, but quite a few readers have reported successfully using 160 GB and larger hard drives on that bus. According to the Mac OS 9 Lives website, it’s a matter of logic boards. If your Quicksilver has logic board 820-1276-A, it tops out at 128 GB drive capacity. If your Quicksilver has logic board 820-1342-B, it will support “big drives”. You’ll need to look inside your Quicksilver to see whether it supports big drives or not.

As with the Digital Audio Power Mac G4, Quicksilver only supports up to 1.5 GB of RAM.

These were replaced by faster Quicksilver 2002 models on 2002.01.28.

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Details

  • introduced 2001.07.18 with 733 MHz at $1,699, 867 MHz at $2,499, 800 MHz dual at $3,499; first shipped 2001.08.20; replaced by Quicksilver 2002 on 2002.01.28
  • shipped with Mac OS 9.2 and OS X 10.0.4; requires Mac OS 9.2 through OS X 10.4 Tiger; 10.5 Leopard not officially supported on 733 MHz model but will run
  • CPU: 733/867/dual 800 MHz PowerPC 7450
  • Bus: 133 MHz
  • Performance:
    • Geekbench 2 (Leopard): 667 (800 dual), 479 (867 single), 374 (733 single)
    • Geekbench 2 (Tiger): 651 (800 dual), 414 (867 single), 387 (733 single)
  • RAM: 128 MB standard (256 MB dual processor model), expandable to 1.5 GB using PC133 SDRAM (3.3V, unbuffered, 64-bit, 168-pin, 133 MHz) in 3 DIMM slots
  • VRAM: 32 MB
  • Video: AGP 4x Nvidia GeForce2 MX, dual processor model has VGA and ADC video outputs and can support a VGA monitor (no DVI)
  • L2 cache: 256 KB on-chip L2 cache
  • L3 cache: 2 MB per processor on 800 dual and 867 MHz models, runs at 1/4 CPU speed
  • Hard drive: 40 GB 5400 rpm/60 GB 7200 rpm/80 GB 7200 rpm Ultra ATA/66.
  • CD-RW (32x CD, 12x CD-R, 10x CD-RW) on base model; SuperDrive CD-RW/DVD-R drive (2x DVD-R, 4x DVD, 8x CD-R, 4x CD-RW, 24x CD) on faster models
  • internal Zip 250 drive (optional)
  • 4 64-bit PCI slots
  • internal 56k modem
  • Microphone: no input jack, requires use of USB device
  • FireWire 400: 2 ports
  • USB: 2 USB 1.1 ports
  • Ethernet: 10/100/gigabit
  • antenna and connector for AirPort card
  • size (HxWxD): 17.0″ x 8.9″ x 18.4″
  • Weight: 30.0 lb.
  • Gestalt ID: n/a
  • model no.: M8359 (733 MHz), M8360 (867 MHz), M8361 (800 MHz dual)
  • PRAM battery: 3.6V half-AA
  • upgrade path: none yet, although CPU upgrades are likely

Accelerators & Upgrades

Online Resources

Cautions

  • Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard boot times for Power Mac with GeForce 6200 fall into the 4-5 minute range, and it was initially suggested that you install Leopard with the Mac’s original video card to avoid slowing down the process. “gotoh” has posted the fix in The Mac Elite Forum. The delay is due to Leopard not supporting temperature sensors in G4 Macs. Simply remove AppleHWSensor.kext from /System/Library/Extensions and the delay goes away.
  • Some Quicksilver models do not have built-in support for IDE hard drives with capacities over 128 GB, some do have a compatible logic board. For those with the other logic board, larger drives can only be formatted to 128 GB in these models unless you use a third-party solution. There are three options:

Short link: http://goo.gl/oKtYGg

searchword: quicksilver2001