[rescue] need Mac Upgrade Advice!!!

[Brian Hechinger]

ok, i'm going to get this all into one message, this got out of hand and quick.
you guys kick ass.

On Thu, Aug 02, 2001 at 12:11:42PM -0500, Bill Bradford wrote:
> If it will use a CPU card out of a 7600, I have a 200Mhz 604e here...

don't think so, thanks for the offer though.  unless someone knows better.

> Reagen said:
> What version of MacOS?  I've found that 8.x on anything before a 604e
> isn't as much fun as it should be, and 8.5 is pretty much G3 and up.
> Try 7.6, and I bet you'll be happy.  Definately need RAM for modern
> browsers, though, as they all suck RAM.

well, it's got 7.6.1 now, but i want this machine to be useful for my daughter
to use for cartoonnetwork.com which requires Flash/Shockware which requires
8.1 so i think i'm stuck there.  maybe i'll keep two, the "Cartoon Network Mac"
and "The Useful Mac" :)  (for a bastardization of the term useful *G*)

upped the RAM from 48MB to 64MB and upped the swapfile from 49MB to 128MB and
it already seems to run better.  it's also loading a bunch of drivers i don't
need, so i could probably shave it down a little (NetWare client and other
gunk) but i'm just waiting to get a copy of the OS media, then i'm gonna wipe
the machines clean and start over.

what about those "ram doubling" programs, are they useful or complete shit?

> daniel said:
> 603s are all soldered down... not upgradeable.  what you see is
> likely the cache slot.  You can get a G3 or a G4 for most boards with
> a 603 cache slot... but you should check out the pages before you buy
> to make sure they work.  Also check the ram.  Most of those didn't
> even come with 32 megs so it could definately be a ram issue.

it's a braindamaged motherboard design problem.  what i really need is a 5400
or 550 motherboard to swap in there.

> Joshua D. Boyd said:
> OK, there was also a 120mhz CPU for that machine.  probably won't help you
> much.  One decent way to upgrade is to pull the 5260 mobo and pop in a
> 5400 or 5500.  That will get you up to 250mhz.  Plus, if you do that, you
> will now be able to consider G3 upgrades.

yeah, but where do i find a cheap/free 5400 or 5500 mobo?

> With out doing a mobo swap, that machine is reguarded as a POS.  For one
> thing, it uses a 32bit memory bus.  Blech.
> See http://www.lowendmac.com/ppc/5260.shtml.

yeah, i read that, that's EVIL.

> ./patrick said:
> You might be able to find a CPU upgrade card - check xlr8yourmac.com or
> macintouch.com for links and pricing.

ok, they don't even list the 5200, only the 5400 and 5500, so i'd have to
swap out the mobo before i could consider a serious CPU upgrade.  at that
point i'm probably better off getting a cheap machine that is based on the
G3, not frankensteined into a G3.

> Cheap way might be to see if there is a slot for some L2 cache, but no SIMM
> in that slot.  In such a case, adding L2 cache is your best bet (and
> cheapest).

this is true.  empty L2 cache slot.  i gotta find cache for this thing since
from what i've read about the evil memory access, any time you don't have to
access RAM is a ***HUGE*** win.

i think this is what i'll do, and maybe keep my eyes open for a 5x00 mobo for
it, but i probably won't go much further than that.

thanks for all the help guys!!

-brian