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livingfortoday · Oct 11, 2007, 02:36 PM

Hi everybody, I have a quick question.

I recently bought a Powerbook 1400c/166 on eBay, and while I was looking through System Profiler, saw it said it was a 67Mhz PowerPC G3. Now, I know that's not right. So I popped it open, and took a look at the CPU.

The processor says IBM PPC750L-GB500B3 on it, but has no other markings. Now, I'm going to make a guess and assume this is a G3 upgrade card? I can't find any specific info on this anywhere online, so I turn to you. The only things I can find is desktop CPU cards with the same markings, but they're 500Mhz G3's. Did they even make 500Mhz G3's for the Powerbook?

Anyone have any good guesses?

livingfortoday · Oct 11, 2007, 03:10 PM

Ok. So I turned on the extension for a Sonnet Crescendo (missed that the first time through!) and now it says it has a 233Mhz G3 in it. From what I can tell, Sonnet never made a G3 upgrade that slow for the 1400, and this is most likely a 466Mhz upgrade which shows up as a 233Mhz in the System Profiler. Apparently Sonnet uses some sort of "bus doubler" to get the 466Mhz. I'm not sure.

Anyone know any more than what I've dug up?

P · Oct 11, 2007, 03:40 PM

PowerPC 750 is the official name for the CPU Apple referred to as the G3 (like the first G4 was the 7400), so yes it is a G3. Sonnet never made any upgrade that slow, but others did, so it may not be a Sonnet upgrade.

livingfortoday · Oct 11, 2007, 03:55 PM

Well, I think it may be a Sonnet one since the software was already loaded onto the computer. Is there a possibility that it could be the 466Mhz one?

Captain Obvious · Oct 11, 2007, 04:05 PM

Originally Posted by livingfortoday

Well, I think it may be a Sonnet one since the software was already loaded onto the computer. Is there a possibility that it could be the 466Mhz one?

Well with what the software does it should enable pretty much any G3 of that era. So if its an XLR8 or similar company's chip the sonnet software should work.
And "if" it was a sonnet 466mhz G3 then it would have seen it as such after the software was installed.

livingfortoday · Oct 11, 2007, 04:11 PM

Ok, cool. Is there any way to find what brand of processor this is? Were there 233Mhz G3 aftermarket ones made?

Captain Obvious · Oct 11, 2007, 07:48 PM

No idea

But i was thinking, if there is anything that one software set may do over another for G3 upgrade cards is that one may not handle the use of the processor cache for another manufacturers card. Just a theory but it make make it worth cracking that powerbook open so you can find out who made it.

edit:
PowerBook Central: Vimage Vpower PB 1400 G3 Upgrade

But I never heard of Vimage

livingfortoday · Oct 11, 2007, 08:42 PM

I have opened it up, but it has no manfacturers info on it. It actually looks like the 466Mhz Sonnet card listed on lowendmac.com. They have pics of all the cards available for the 1400, and it's the only one it resembles. I'm gonna try to download the software for it on my MacBook, transfer it via AppleShare to my LC II, and then via floppy to my 1400

. Lets see if that clears things up. Right now it only has the extension installed, so there might be more to it.

livingfortoday · Oct 11, 2007, 09:47 PM

Well, that failed, damn LC II and it's lack of Open Transport.

Anyways! Here's a photo of the CPU:
Photo of the CPU:
Mystery CPU on Flickr - Photo Sharing!

livingfortoday · Oct 12, 2007, 02:14 PM

Got it! Got Gauge Pro working, and it is indeed a 466Mhz upgrade.

Thanks for all the help!

Success! on Flickr - Photo Sharing!

nonhuman · Oct 12, 2007, 03:49 PM

Nice! How much did you pay for it?

livingfortoday · Oct 12, 2007, 04:14 PM

Around $40 or so, shipped.

Captain Obvious · Oct 12, 2007, 06:09 PM

Not a bad price but the biggest drawback of those was always the inability to support USB cards. That would have made it a much more functional machine.