Some people say that the Cube is not upgradable.
This is not true. There are several ways to upgrade
your Cube's processor. The 1 Ghz and 800 Mhz upgrades
are coming. In the meantime, here is a FAQ made by Boris
Jotic. You can find pictures on his website
:
2. Parts and special processor conductive adhesives to be
added/Where to buy them/for how much money
3. Preparation of parts to be added /Disassembly of Cube -
step by step list of which parts come off in exactly
what order and then what parts go on (including Duet
and third party parts)
4. Where do I get the 20mm x 20mm x 2,5 mm aluminum plates
and for how much money?
5. Dual Processor heatsink modification to fit Cube (Cube's
heatsink or Duet's?)
6. Attaching Duet to Cube motherboard
7. Attaching 80 mm variable speed fan to CubeÕs bottom bracket
8. Attaching FanÕs power cord to motherboard (where?)
9. Reassembling the Cube
10. Praying the Cube boots first time and stays up for the
rest of its 1 GHz life.
1.)
Torx Skrewdriver Size #8 and #10, Kitchen knife (the ones used to put jam
on a bread ;), a toothpicker to mix the glue, 2 small
plastic cards (1 for the glue/1 thermal paste)
2.)
You'll need:
Sonnet Encore Dual 500 MHz Card about 599$ http://sonnettech.com, with
it comes a heatsink, not used by me, I modified the
original one
Panaflo Fan:
FAN 12VDC 0.94W 80MM FBA HYDRO (PanaFlo 80mm x 15mm)
Part# P9732-ND $12.50 ea http://www.digikey.com
Connectors for the fan -
about 1$
It's a Molex 1.25mm plug
(CONN 2POS HOUSING 1.25MM Part# WM1720-ND $0.34
ea at http://www.digikey.com)
TERMINALS CRIMP
1.25MM 28-32AWG Part# WM1775-ND $0.59
(10 connector strip) also from http://www.digikey.com
Arctic Silver Thermal Paste about 10$ (I used AS III)
Arctic Silver Thermal Adhesive about 10$
http://www.arcticsilver.com/us_dealers.htm
4 canle ties to fix the fan
- a few cents
The prices may vary, since I had to buy mine in Germany
3.)
Puhh let's remember,
Prepz: get the connector onto the fan wires
- Take the core
out of the enclosure ;)
- Remove the
video card and the RAM (check the TechPDF for
details, if you haven«t got let me know and I«ll
send it to you privately)
- remove the
top plate (make a list which parts you got from
and put the skrews beside e.g top 4xshort 2xlong)
see also the last page of the TechPDF
- unplugg the
cable between top plate/cube
- remove the
4 "sticks"
- Remove Airport
card bay
- unplugg HD
and remove DVD/CDRW plate, then the drive&
cables
- remove the
modem (first unskrew, then just pull firmly)
- remove the
power supply card (see also the TechPDF)
- remove the
two skrews at the bottom, where the holder is
(those two big things holding the latch)
- remove the
main board with ethernet card (lay it on its side
so you can see the mainboard from above, and pull
it incl. The heatsink firmly towards you, now
you can take apart all skrews)
- remove CPU
and clean it
- take apart
small heatsink with jam knife and clean it(go
firmly under a corner and lift it)
- cut off the
heatsink corner Š as decribed in point 5.) try it with
the Sonnet card, before you glue it back!! - see a picture
here : http://www.xlr8yourmac.com/systems/cube/dual_g4_cube/sonnet_duet_cube/CubeHSplateMod.jpg
- put the fan
in place and thight it with the cable tie
- but the HS
back in right order and glue it onto the big one
- use the alu
plates, but don't glue them until you got the
right position
- put thermal
paste onto the alu plates and the CPU die
- put the dual
card firmly onto its place
- put the mainboard
back on the CPU (be sure its proper connected,
since mine wasn't the first time and I had a black
screen)
- skrew it in
firmly with the 3 big skrews
- everything
from step1 backwards
- connect fan
to power supply card
- Re-install
OS X (!!fresh install!!)
Legend: HS = Heatsink
AS = Arctic Silver (either compound or paste
see from context)
4.)
A friend of mine made them, I haven«t paid ;) (some fine mechanic can do
this, it should be max. 5$)
5.)
1) take it off
2) cut out the corner wide enough that the transistors have enough space
3) place the alu plates onto it
4) glue them with Arctic Silver when you're sure you got the right spot
6.)
First put the Duet onto the heatsink ( it snaps in) and then place the
mainboard onto it be firmly with the skews.
7.)
Check http://www.praxxus.com/cubefan is«s
easy to understand !
8.)
Connect the fan direct into he power supply card see http://www.praxxus.com/cubefan
9.)
Just like the disassemble, just backwards!
10.)
It will believe me ;) If you get a black screen first time after the upgrade,
then the CPU isnÕt connected properly, just dissasmble
a bit backwards and push the CPU Dongle firmly until
itÕs completly connected. Something for the 800/1000
MHz Upgrades: This will
be the same steps as in this FAQ described, the only
thing you donÕt have to do is to modify the heatsink!!
BTW this FAQ is neither supported by Apple nor Sonnet Technologies! Doing
this will void your warranty on both: your Cube and
the Sonnet Encore. So be sure to have the skillz to
do this.
