[tomppu]

Hi guys! My first post in modding forum, so be prepared for some possibly stupid questions...
I might be able to buy Blue&White G3 400MHz tower with 512MB RAM + 9GB Ultra2 SCSI HD for about $160-200. I was thinking of getting PowerLogix PowerForce G3/1.1GHz $349 (from OWC) and maybe later when it becomes available and price drops a bit, Radeon 9200 128MB MacEdition PCI $129 (OWC). Bigger HD of course, but I'd probably rip that of from my Maxtor 80GB which seems to have slowly (but surely) dying power. And of course some RAM.

Questions:
- Not knowing if this is rev. A or B model, is there point of purchasing at all with some IDE-problems I've read (but not fully understood).
- Is that Radeon huge overkill? Would it choke itself on that machine (if upped with 1.1GHz)? I like to play some games every now and then (AvP2 would be nice) but certainly nothing too demanding. PCI-cards can be patched to use Quartz Extreme right? Should I just buy some 64MB card instead of this monster?
- Ultra2 SCSI? Sure there are IDE-slots too for HD's, but is this something worth taking look at while thinking of bigger HD?
- RAM should be pretty cheap for this model, how much it'll take with currently available chips without paying too much extra for features (faster memory than machine can use).
- I have some old 17" monitor lying around somewhere, that I used with PB Duo's Dock, can I use that with B&W for starters? There was need for some adapter for Dock-Display combination, but I can't remember if the display had VGA-connector or what?

With all the upgrades in mind and in time, would this B&W be good enough for the money? I currently have 266MHz iMac and 466MHz iBook (both running Panther) so speed increase should be pretty obvious. It might even make to my main mac.
So why am I planning this instead of new eMac? Well, I guess I'm just cheap and poor

Thanks in advance,
tomppu

[iREZ]

look on ebay for a 700mhz emac, some sell for as low as $500, which is alot less then what you plan on spending for a G3. Although if your doing it to start your tinkering career in Mac's then by all means go for it dude.

[Lateralus]

Originally posted by iREZ:
look on ebay for a 700mhz emac, some sell for as low as $500, which is alot less then what you plan on spending for a G3. Although if your doing it to start your tinkering career in Mac's then by all means go for it dude.

Yes, but a 700MHz eMac would be substantially slower than a 1.1GHz 750GX upgraded B&W.

[DrBoar]

Questions:
- Not knowing if this is rev. A or B model, is there point of purchasing at all with some IDE-problems I've read (but not fully understood).
A has one IDE connector and the B has two, generaly xlr8yourmac.com has descripions of this in detail.

- Is that Radeon huge overkill? Would it choke itself on that machine (if upped with 1.1GHz)? I like to play some games every now and then (AvP2 would be nice) but certainly nothing too demanding. PCI-cards can be patched to use Quartz Extreme right? Should I just buy some 64MB card instead of this monster?
Buying a graphical card that cost as much as the computer is a bit odd I would say. How good the 9200 will be we will find out when it comes to the market, the 7000 was one lame duck.

Note that Sonnets G3 upgrades choke the bus speed to 66 MHz. I doubt that you can tell the difference between the 1.0 and 1.1 GHz CPUs in anything but the price.

- Ultra2 SCSI? Sure there are IDE-slots too for HD's, but is this something worth taking look at while thinking of bigger HD?
Compared to the price the SCSI really do not offer anything mcuh compared to fast IDE drives, at least in cheap computers. With a 100 000 dollar SUN server the SCSI cost is marginal

- RAM should be pretty cheap for this model, how much it'll take with currently available chips without paying too much extra for features (faster memory than machine can use).
1GB in 4 PC100 3.3V 168pin SDRAM DIMMS

- I have some old 17" monitor lying around somewhere, that I used with PB Duo's Dock, can I use that with B&W for starters? There was need for some adapter for Dock-Display combination, but I can't remember if the display had VGA-connector or what?
The B&W has VGA


If the B&W is to slow for you why buy it? B&W 200 dollar 1GHz PL upgrade 280 dollar and ATI card 130 dollar that is 600 dollar. That is very close to en eMac or why not a second hand G4 tower. I assume that you get a 733-800 MHz G4 for that then you also get AGP grapics as well as a CD burner.

[tomppu]

Thanks for the replies guys, but this item seems to be slipping away from my hands... eg. bidding is putting the price too high for me. Now going at 300€ = $370 and there's still some time for upping the price. Well, no B&W for me. It was rev.1 machine by the way.
Just for clarification, I wanted this machine for it's expandability, HD being the most important since I don't like external drives too much (lost my data too many times with power malfunctioning). Also being able to change monitor would have been cool. And the fact that I wasn't going to do all (if any) upgrades right away, just one at a time when feel like it and have the money.
Also, isn't it the G4 upgrade that decreases bus speed to 66MHz instead of G3 upg. I was talking about?

Thanks anyway,
tomppu

ps. the cheapest eMac is 849€ ($1047) here in Finland, so...

[dreilly1]

Originally posted by DrBoar:
- RAM should be pretty cheap for this model, how much it'll take with currently available chips without paying too much extra for features (faster memory than machine can use).
1GB in 4 PC100 3.3V 168pin SDRAM DIMMS

The Yosemite (which I affectionately call the Smurfy Mac) can only take 256 MB RAM chips in certain configurations. I've put 256 MB in s SmurfyMac before, only to have them show up as 128 MB.

FWIW, I was an original SmurfyMac owner -- paid $3k (US) for it in 1999 - but recently I wanted to turn it into a fileserver with some large hard drives in my possession. The single IDE channel was a real limitation for me, as well as the fact that I think the firewire ports on my model were a bit dodgy, so an external firewire case was not a good idea.

I ended up selling the SmurfyMac (stripped back to the base memory) for $160 and found a G4 Digital Audio on eBay for ~$400. I then traded the extra PC100 RAM what I stripped from the SmurfyMac for some PC133 memory. So for less than $200 total outlay, I was able to upgrade to a much more stable system that took my extra drives and ran OS 10.3 much better.

I didn't place a priority on getting a CPU or video card upgrade, but I think that the faster memory bus would only help if you did want to upgrade it at some point... You might be better off looking at those early G4 models ,ike the DA or the Sawtooth...

[tomppu]

Just an update:
The B&W was sold for 400$ = $493, a bit steep don't you think?
Wish I'd have one of those so I could sell it for the highest bidder

tomppu

[BetaMac]

FWIW,

I purchased a Rev 2 Blue and White G3 300 with 256MB Ram for 168 bux on ebay. That seems to be the right price for a 300. No point in buying a faster one if you're going to be upgrading the CPU!

Now, if you look around (OWC G4), you can find a G4-500 CPU upgrade for about 140 bux.

Memory can be pricey - depending on if the B+W will take newer cheaper 256MB modules or the more expensive ones. $37.50 for the cheap ones at OWC, or $62 for modules guaranteed to work from MacGurus.

If you're like me and want to piece together a box bit by bit, look for a cheap Rev 2 B+W on ebay.

If you want a faster box right away, the G4 466/533 Digital Audio models go for around $400-500. Those have the nice 4x AGP video, 133Mhz bus and more.

Have fun shopping!