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Tenacious Dyl · Jun 7, 2004, 04:46 PM

Hey Everyone,
I was offered a crazy good deal on the Old Apple Blue and White G3 Tower.

Right now, I have a 1ghz, 12" aluminum powerbook. I could use a desktop, just for the upgradability and being able to swap things in and out.

From a financial standpoint... do you think that it is wise to get the bw mac? I figure I could get a OWC upgrade card for it, and a nice superdrive and harddrive, and a good video card.. but is it worth the money and time.. and is it upgradable enough? Please give me your input, and any examples of upgrading bw's!

Thanks and take care,
Dylan

Taipan · Jun 7, 2004, 07:16 PM

Hi!

In my opinion the weakest spot is the video card. The B/W doesn't have an AGP slot, so you will be limited to PCI video cards. I think the only one available now on the Mac market is the Radeon 7000, at least if you want 3D acceleration (which you should, if you're using OS X). You might get your hands on a used ATI Radeon (without any number), which has more 3D power, but still not much compared to available AGP cards. If you only need 2D functions it's OK, I think.

Lateralus · Jun 7, 2004, 07:56 PM

Yeah, it does depend on what you intend to do with it.

B&Ws can be turned into champs with enough upgrades. My B&W was upgraded to 768MBs of RAM, a 900MHz PowerPC 750FX G3 upgrade, dual 120GB/8MB/7200 RPM Seagate Barracudas, a Sonnet Tempo ATA-100 PCI controller card and a genuine Radeon Mac Edition. Using the 'PCI Extreme!' hack to enable Quartz Extreme to function works very well on the B&W since the PCI slot that is designated for video runs at 66MHz. So B&Ws handle Quartz Extreme via PCI Extreme more smoothly than any other PCI based Mac.

Now, PowerLogix has released the 1GHz 750GX G3 upgrade card with a full 1MB of L2 cache for the B&W. Sounds to be quite a screamer, but I have not yet read any reviews.

The B&Ws are still great machines, but don't pour any more money into one than you have to.

reader50 · Jun 7, 2004, 11:15 PM

ATi showed a prototype Mac Radeon 9000 in PCI at MWSF in January. They were hazy about when it would come out, and I have not heard anything since. Still, if it does come out, it will have far more 3D power than the 7000.

angelmb · Jun 8, 2004, 05:42 AM

an Alchemy TV pci card is a really nice add for your B&W G3

The Placid Casual · Jun 8, 2004, 06:12 AM

Problem could be resale value.

You would get much more selling an Alubook in future than an upgraded B&W.

Also, warranty wise, for me it is always better to have a new(er) Mac.

The Placid Casual · Jun 8, 2004, 06:14 AM

Thinking about it some more, it all depends I guess on how much of a 'crazy' deal it is...

If it, well, free or something it is worth thinking about... However Early G4s, even duals, are *very* cheap these days and will offer much better upgrade paths in the future.

Dr.Michael · Jun 8, 2004, 06:40 AM

Originally posted by Tenacious Dyl:
Hey Everyone,
I was offered a crazy good deal on the Old Apple Blue and White G3 Tower.

Right now, I have a 1ghz, 12" aluminum powerbook. I could use a desktop, just for the upgradability and being able to swap things in and out.

From a financial standpoint... do you think that it is wise to get the bw mac? I figure I could get a OWC upgrade card for it, and a nice superdrive and harddrive, and a good video card.. but is it worth the money and time.. and is it upgradable enough? Please give me your input, and any examples of upgrading bw's!

Thanks and take care,
Dylan

One more weak spot is the hd controller. No big drives with some of the older BWs except you buy a pci controller (acard) for the same amount that you pay for a 160 GB drive.

Tenacious Dyl · Jun 8, 2004, 06:31 PM

Hrmm Thanks everyone who helped.

I'm beginning to lean towards just saying my money. I get the bw for almost free, its just the upgrading that im wondering about wasting the money / time for. I'm thinking ill just wait for a refurb g5 in the future! Thanks all!

Cadaver · Jun 9, 2004, 01:16 AM

Originally posted by The Placid Casual:
Thinking about it some more, it all depends I guess on how much of a 'crazy' deal it is...

If it, well, free or something it is worth thinking about... However Early G4s, even duals, are *very* cheap these days and will offer much better upgrade paths in the future.

I had a pretty decked out B&W G3 (incl. PCI Radeon, 900MHz PPC750fx, 7200rpm/8MB cache HD, PCI ATA/133 controller), and it was a fine machine. But it had hit its wall. No where left to go; essentially no other upgrades are available to make it run significantly faster.

So, replaced it with a gigabit Dual 500MHz G4 from eBay and tossed in a Radeon 8500 (kept same HD & fast ATA controller, and same amount of RAM). Even though the (per) processor speed is 400MHz less than the G3, it multitasks so much better that I barely notice the difference MHz-wise. And upgrade-wise, I've got lots of room. I can put up to 1.5GB in it (half a gig more than the B&W), a faster video card (though the machine isn't used for games at all, so this isn't really an issue) and processors up to 1.5GHz x 2 if I so choose (at less than half the price of a new low-end G5).

The B&W is a nice machine, but if you can find a good gigabit- or higher- based G4 on eBay or somewhere, I think you'll have more room to grow. Do be aware that some early Sawtooth-based G4's are not dual-processor friendly, so verify first, or just stick with post-Sawtooth machines.