[G4] power supply upgrade

[Richard Klein]

Hmm...  Apple's website says that even the PCI Graphics (was that  
Yikes or Sawtooth?) had a 200watt power supply (PS), and that maxed  
out at 400MHz [1].  When Apple finally broke the 1GHz mark with the  
QuickSilver 2002 they were spec'ing a 360watt PS [2].  You're PS  
is...what?...7 years old?

I've had power supplies fail on PCs before.  Sometimes they fail  
completely, and nothing happens when you turn on the power - not a  
fan spins.  Other times, the computer would run, but would act rather  
flaky, with programs crashing randomly, etc.  That behavior, in some  
computers, was cured with a new PS.  I've also torn down a PC that  
was running fine (to make some modifications) and discovered that  
some capacitors in the PS were leaking.  It was obviously failing,  
but the computer had been running fine.  My point is that failing  
power supplies are every bit as hard to diagnose as bad memory.   
Regardless, your 120w PS was certainly never intended to power a  
1.5GHz processor.  It was worth a shot, but I'm not surprised if, in  
fact, the PS is the reason your Mac won't boot with the 1.5GHz CPU in  
it.

Oh, I haven't seen any aftermarket power supplies for the G4  
PowerMacs.  If you find any, be sure to let us know.

-- 
Rich

[1] http://support.apple.com/specs/powermac/Power_Mac_G4_PCI.html
[2] http://support.apple.com/specs/powermac/ 
Power_Mac_G4_Quicksilver_2002.html


On Nov 12, 2006, at 10:24 PM, Charles Robles wrote:

> Thanks for the advice on brands as I am not used to poking around  
> inside my machine other than to install simple upgrades. 350 watts  
> is exactly what I was considering as the power supply inside my  
> machine says 120 w. I need enough to power the processor upgrade  
> and anything else I might install down the line. The tech guy at  
> other world computing where I got the upgrade said he would send me  
> an article on how to proceed with a pc power supply installation  
> but I have not seen it yet. Thanks again.