Proprietary parts? No problem.

👕 Support the channel by buying one of my T-shirts, designed by me and made by American Apparel right here in the USA (ships worldwide)
http://www.BorderlineOCD.com

"The Power Mac G4 was heralded as the world's first personal supercomputer. It was so powerful it was even classified as a weapon by the U.S. government."

Turns out this claim was both a little bit of clever (and exaggerated) marketing by Apple back in 2000, as well as being technically accurate at the time. The Power Mac G4 was the first personal computer to exceed 10,000 MTOPS (millions of theoretical operations per second) and fell into a category of high performance computers that were banned from export to certain countries due to their potential for use in military applications. The laws were soon changed to increase this threshold as technology was accelerating at an incredibly rapid rate.

This lovely example of a Power Mac G4 is untested and missing a couple of parts. Nothing too difficult to source, but Apple never makes it easy with proprietary parts, pinouts and wiring. Challenge accepted!

🌍 A very special thanks to the folks keeping ATXG4.com and the valuable information hosted there alive
http://atxg4.com/

Specialty products used in this restoration
ATX 24-pin extension cable: https://amzn.to/3YH1fG0
A cheap 400W power supply that fits this Power Mac G4: https://amzn.to/3HRkUw6
Harness wiring tape: https://amzn.to/40HLwsa
3A Diodes: https://www.allelectronics.com/item/1...

My philosophy on buying tools is to start small and to "outgrow" your gear over time. Expensive gear won't improve your repair and fault finding skills, only practice will do that. With that in mind below is what's in my current toolkit.

🔧 Toolkit
Screwdriver Set: https://amzn.to/2X7s0Gj
Automatic Wire Stripper: https://amzn.to/30F5TJm
Pocket Multimeter: https://amzn.to/3IdvzQz
Component Tester: https://amzn.to/3l5rHG8

🖌 Soldering Essentials
TS100 Soldering Iron: https://amzn.to/2YIJZUR
No Clean Flux Syringe: https://amzn.to/2NFUZvQ
No Clean Solder: https://amzn.to/2NHEAqQ
Desoldering Braid: https://amzn.to/312Grws
Tip Tinner: https://amzn.to/31w2EF4
Contact Cleaner: https://amzn.to/3dI93ly

🔍 Soldering Add-ons
Fume Extractor with Hose: https://amzn.to/3hspLZi
Desoldering Vacuum Pump: https://amzn.to/3Qe9ipl
Hot Air Rework Station: https://amzn.to/3w023bF
Circuit Board Holder: https://amzn.to/3k35Pzm
Helping Hands Soldering Aid: https://amzn.to/3ihgksP

🔥 Thermal Compounds & Tape
Kapton Tape https://amzn.to/3DEu0dd
Arctic MX-4 Thermal Paste: https://amzn.to/2Ak2y8w
1.5MM Arctic Thermal Pads: https://amzn.to/2Vv1RQU

🧴 Lubes and Epoxies
White Lithium Grease: https://amzn.to/2UApx5M
Plastic Epoxy: https://amzn.to/3up0LIm

Timestamps:
0:00 A quirky yet powerful Mac
2:10 No power, no problem
4:54 I like to doodle
7:18 A free tool is the best tool
9:28 Diodes are cool
11:49 ATX in, G4 out
14:08 Hustling off camera
15:52 Damn… I’m looking good!
17:31 Quake III Arena benchmark
19:17 Bye for now