[Waragainstsleep]

I'm in the process of building a G3 PowerMac, so far i have the following parts on order (purchased from eBay):
Case, power supply, CD-ROM, Motherboard, Rage128 card.
I have a keyboard already and have also ordered a mouse. I'm not worried about monitors for now either.

I need a CPU.
I gather the options are the stock G3s from the B&W, the stock G4s from the PCI, and a pile of G3 and G4 ZIF upgrades from Powerlogix and XLR8.
I think that makes the range as follows:
300 to 1000MHz G3, or
350 to 550MHz G4.

I also require 802.11B wireless connection (ideally PCI).

The purpose of this machine is ultimately just something to muck around with. It may get used as a webserver somewhere down the line. I would like to test Xgrid using this machine and one or more powerbooks.

So I'm looking for ideas for parts to add, upgrade etc. Things to 'do' to it.
Some extra cooling will doubtless be added, and at least a modest overclock of whatever chip I get will be attempted.

I'm not adverse to some extreme ideas either, so let your imaginations go.
Nothing stupidly expensive though, its never going to be a G5 beater.

How many hard drives can you run with the stock power supply? Will any other power supplies fit if needed?
I am aware of the IDE issue with the rev 1, but I don't know if my mobo is rev 1 until it arrives.

What types/models of HD do people recommend (which can be used for that matter)?

[Langdon]

I hope you are doing this for the experience and not the performance and value. I am not sure but buying the components would probably be more expensive than buying a B/W outright.
Since you don't have the motherboard I would hold off on buying anything else for that machine until you are sure. A RevA already means you need to get a PCI ATA or SCSI card so the HDD shouldn't be bought until you know.
I would be weary of spending too much on a processor. If you can secure a 500Mhz G3 for a fair price I would stick with that. Anything else might be better invested in a low end G4 tower.
With 802.11 you have to figure out what OS you are going to run. As far as I know the PCI wireless cards that work in OS9 do not work in X and vice versa.

In general I would have added up the cost of all of this before you began. In the long run it might have been cheaper to have gone with a complete G4 system.

[Cadaver]

I have a PowerLogix 900MHz G3 in a rev. 1 blue & white, and as a second computer it performs quite decently.

Also has a (fast original model) Radeon PCI video card (w/ QE hack) and an ACard ATA/133 PCI card plus a 7200 rpm 60GB 8MB cache HD. 576MB of RAM, though could use more (I personally feel OS X is most comfortable at 768MB or greater; even the 640MB in my iBook sometimes gets tight, and the 1.5GB in my G5 gets small when there's more than one user logged in).

Runs Panther like a champ. Tons faster than my 600MHz iBook, and there are plenty of those still in use today, and definitely better than an old 1.7GHz Dell P4 floating around my office somewhere.

[Waragainstsleep]

I got the case, power supply, CDROM, mobo and Rage128 for $86.
The case is missing the bottom handles in the pic, but I don't know that for sure till it arrives.
The mobo has a chip on it in the pic too, but again, until it arrives....
So I just need a cpu and a HD, and probably some RAM (I have some in a PC that should work), and maybe that ATA card. And the Wifi.

It may well run OS 9 and OS X. I have a PB with both, but its short on space so it would be better to have 9 on the desktop (I like to keep an operational copy of 9 handy, but I use X for the most part).

Basically, whatever chip goes in, it will be a noticeable improvement for me.
I currently have a PB Lombard 333, (and a Pismo with no CPU which won't read HDs. And a Performa 6200!). So it'll be fastest machine by a bit.

Found a G4/366 for $80 at XLR8.
I was thinking a stock G4/400 or 450 from a PCI G4 PM would be cheaper if I could find one.

[Cadaver]

I suggest a 900MHz or 1GHz G3 instead of a 500MHz G4.

PowerLogix 900MHz G3 (512K L2 cache): $249 retail
PowerLogix 1GHz G3 (1MB L2 cache): $349 retail

[Waragainstsleep]

Bit steep right now ($150 for a G4/500 seems better value for money) , but that may not be the case by the time I get stuck into this project.

What do we think about SATA hard drives?

http://eshop.macsales.com/Item_Speci...tem=FTKFTST1S2

10,000rpm anyone?

I think the 1GHz G3 looked more attractive than the 900 (doesn't it have double the cache?), but then I heard it clocked the system bus back to 66MHz. Don't fancy that.

[Lateralus]

Originally posted by Waragainstsleep:
I think the 1GHz G3 looked more attractive than the 900 (doesn't it have double the cache?), but then I heard it clocked the system bus back to 66MHz. Don't fancy that.

It is the Sonnet G4 1GHz that clocks the bus down to 66MHz. Not the PowerLogix G3 1GHz.

[Waragainstsleep]

Is the Xlr8 G4/600 the fastest G4 available without underclocking the bus?

[Luca Rescigno]

Yes, the only faster ones are the Sonnet 800 MHz and 1 GHz G4s, and they both downclock the bus. If you are doing something like video encoding, you will want/need a G4, but for general use, a G3 should be fine.

[Yose]

Yeah.. I actually have a 350mhz G3 from a B&W machine and if you want to pay for shipping it's yours.

[Waragainstsleep]

Done.
I live in the UK. How much?
Do you take paypal?

While I'm here, the rev1 IDE problem: Does it affect optical drives?