Hi Dave, I think you are the one I just bought the 1.5 mac mini from!  It showed up today, very nice packaging.

I have a random Wal-Mart monitor that I will try a dvi-hdmi converter with. Otherwise I guess I'll have to order the Apple Cinema Display?  What's the best solution, right now, for these silent upgrade mac minis?

I have a question about Apple monitors.  I just ordered a 1.5 mac mini, and I was wondering what monitor to pair with it.

So I was wondering about the Apple Cinema Displays.  Do all of them that have the DVI connection run under OS 9?  I'm specifically thinking of the 23 inch 2004 Apple Cinema Display; which allegedly requires Jaguar.  Does it run under OS 9?  I know the 30 inch doesn't run. 

Looking at https://web.archive.org/web/20060427015054/http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=300652 it shows lots of compatible and lots that are not... but do the ones listed as "compatible" also mean they are compatible under System 9?

Thanks!

I don't see why an older Apple Cinema Display with a DVI connector would not be compatible with Mac OS 9. Monitors made in 2025 are compatible with Mac OS 9. Now, there may not be drivers for Mac OS 9 for any special features in a more modern monitor but just for display output? It should be okay bearing in mind that there may be resolution incompatibilities as documented in this thread. Especially on the "silent upgrade" machines like your 1.5.

I have a question about Apple monitors.  I just ordered a 1.5 mac mini, and I was wondering what monitor to pair with it.

So I was wondering about the Apple Cinema Displays.  Do all of them that have the DVI connection run under OS 9?  I'm specifically thinking of the 23 inch 2004 Apple Cinema Display; which allegedly requires Jaguar.  Does it run under OS 9?  I know the 30 inch doesn't run. 

Looking at https://web.archive.org/web/20060427015054/http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=300652 it shows lots of compatible and lots that are not... but do the ones listed as "compatible" also mean they are compatible under System 9?

Thanks!

makes me wanna "hotrod" my 1.5 ghz mac mini g4 with a noctua nh-d15

Well Bolkonskij, your results are very interesting. Have you ever renewed the heatsink paste before OR - know if someone might have done so before you? I ask because I re-ran tests here last night under a  similar ambient room temperature (of 65˚ F) and arrived at very similar readings. Same type of sensor probe as yours, just inserted 1 inch deep into the vent. Check my T1 sensor readings below. Yours are noted in Blue.

                       

The T2 sensor readings above are from an un-sheathed metal temp probe, also ran alongside the T1.





Now, why didn’t mine equal that 84˚ (@10 minutes runtime) which I have been screaming about as… “the sweet spot”? Well, I’m going to lay blame with the ambient air temperature. *Cooler than my original findings (from 2023) when the ambient temperature was 76˚ F. However, now still much closer to 84˚ than to 100˚F.

Seems that ambient room temperature air of 64˚ to 65˚ being drawn in and blown over a G4 mini’s heatsink might just result in lower temperature readings? And maybe your paste is fine? I’d still like to see pics of your heatsink and the paste when you remove the heatsink AND a clear pic of the die itself, once cleaned. Just to see if there is any evidence of it ever being a ho-lotta-hotta.

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Bolkonskij, have you tried resetting the PRAM? Or once you remove the cover, reset the PMU before even removing the heatsink. OR before any of the above, try booting into target disk mode (holding down the “t” key at boot) just to see if you might get that moving firewire icon on your screen. If not, then the PRAM… and afterwards, maybe the PMU?

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Yes indibil, I’d like more results from all G4 Mac mini users… if for nothing more than those individuals getting some sort of bearing on the condition of their heatsink paste. Sounds like another tangential topic that I have been working on that would provide a place for such temps to be posted.

*Also indibil, yes I think your readings were from an “overclocked” G4 mini. AND after our recent discussion concerning your heat-shrink wrapped, metal probe and the possible effects that ambient temperatures can have on more accurate temperature readings, I still have not yet tested insulating the shafts of any long metal probes from ambient temperature interference. Unsheathed shafts do make a difference. [See T2 sensor results above.] Question is, how much of a difference and would foam, partially encased shafts be better than your heat-shrink approach?

As always, more tests!

Best of luck Bski. 

Just mainly out of curiosity and for the on-going record here, Jubadub… what is the exhaust air temperature of your Mac mini, measured under the following conditions?

1. Cold booted with OS 9, with the mini @ room temp. (And what temp is that?)

2. NO applications running and with only your desktop displayed on your monitor. VGA or DVI.

3. THE exhaust air temperature measured at / after 10 minutes of runtime? Idle, under no-load.

All assuming that your mini has had its’ heatsink re-pasted within the last 2-3 years and that you are likely booting from an mSATA or SSD? AND that you are not running some HDMI routine as a monitor.

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And for those reading along here that don’t know if their G4 Mac mini has EVER had its’ paste renewed… perform the same temperature test as described above AND I’ll begin yet another topic for those temperature test results to be shared. And I’ll update this post later with a link to that new topic.

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Recently, Wozniattack (and others) have suggested the need to also replace the mini’s GPU thermal pad - and this might be even more important to consider, especially concerning your statement that “The SIMS” is one of the heaviest (i.e. “most intensive” CPU & GPU stressful?) games that will run under Mac OS 9.

AND while Bolkonskij’s 1.42 GHz Mac mini came equipped with 32 MB of DDR SDRAM, your 1.5 GHz mini has 64. Perhaps also of some relevance in this situation?

I’ve asked Bolkonskij to provide same exhaust air temperature reading before he attempts a re-paste, and even if he has no video display except for a grey screen. Because how “no-load” can you get? Of course if his fan is now (soon after boot) running at full speed - I’d skip his ten minute test and re-paste pronto.

And then there’s always a monitor failure to consider too, I suppose.

Hate to see any G4 Mac mini falter and fail.

aBc, as Bolkonskij suggests, it would be good to publish more results. Do you still have the photos I sent you months ago? You can post them if you'd like; I can't find them. I did a quick test.

Maybe my test was in a 2GHz Mini G4.

Not the first port of Minesweeper to Mac OS - but a nice one and hey, it's a new 2025 game for our Mac OS! It's reminiscent of the legendary Windows Minesweeper, comes as a Desk Accessory (hence the "DA" in the name) but runs fine on OS 9 as well. Minesweeper DA and its source code can be obtained from the respective Mac Garden page.

Always great to see new software that works on Mac OS 9 and this makes for a nice little diversion. Hopefully the author will continue to write more software after this first.

Special thanks to Jatoba for creating the Mac Garden page for it! :-)

Jatoba, I was running the basic Sims version (1.1.6) as from the Mac Garden. I agree about it being one of the heavier games, but then my iMac G3 handled it back in the early 2000s. I'd say some of the fast 3D shooters are probably the heaviest stuff to unleash on a Mini. Something like Max Payne, maybe.

I have to add that I've added a good bunch of modded items which might take more RAM and require a few more cpu cycles. I don't know.


aBc, thanks for your suggestions! Having a retired satellite engineer as a neighbour is a pure blessing, for he has all the tools lying around one could ever imagine ... so I did get something to measure the temperature. I placed the sensor at the fan exhaust and - to follow your example - took some photos. Here's it (blue) sitting:

http://revontulet.org/2025/04/01/20aea55e4fa74308bacd2c68eca8e6e8.jpg

The Mini did *not* have its CPU repasted yet, which is my plan for the weekend. I nonetheless decided to take the temps to have some "before - after" numbers.

The Mini uses a DVI connection and has a SSD. A set of USB speakers is connected and naturally keyboard and mouse. I cold booted it and let it idle for 10 mins at the desktop. The fans ran at minimum speed and never ramped up during the process. Room temp was about 18 C, cold day here.

After 10 minutes, it showed 25.7 Celsius or 78.3 Fahrenheit:

http://revontulet.org/2025/04/01/2423f9ff7a7d467dad5337ec69b41c54.jpg

While taking the photo I noticed that it kept moving up rather quick, so I decided to take the temp for a few more minutes. After 15 minutes of idling away it was at 28.1 C or 82.4 F.

http://revontulet.org/2025/04/01/1d973e1693cb4ccbaab0d9525b77457d.jpg

It'll be interesting to compare these numbers after repasting the CPU.
Would be cool to get more results from others too!

is there a german version available of that 2.0 XT? (weren´t there free third party language kits? it is based on the diphon lib isnt it?

Here is a video at Mac, plus it is especially about the "enhanced edition"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4pfcMRkXYKA