I,ve just been given an 8500 for free, As i already have a G3 and PIII, Its a real bummer with its speed. I,m only planning on using it has a server but would like some better performance, its got 96MB but wot options do i have as regarding processor upgrage.

[BobW]

Both Newer Technologies; http://www.newertech.com/
and
Sonnet Technologies; http://www.sonnettech.com/product/default.html

have G3 and G4 upgrades for the 8500.

[fnevitt]

HI, I have an 8500/150 and upgraded the processor to a G3 233. I was so excited, now it was going to be lightening fast. To my disappointment I have only notices nomonal speed improvements. I am not sure if it is because the process is only a 233 or because the Mac is so old (only 3 years). I tried to uping the speed to 300 or so using the jumpers but 8500/150 became unstable. Good luck!

[parisblue]

I have an 8500/132 which I upgraded with a Sonnet Crescendo G3 300/150/1MB backside cache. I did this back in March and I don't think Sonnet sells that card any more. I am more than happy with the upgrade. I think the big difference is the 1MB backside cache as opposed to the 512K which a lot of the upgrade cards come with.

The upgrade will definitely see me through for another year at least (I do mostly DTP work using Quark and moving files from Excel and Word) by which time the G4s will have come down in price by more than what I paid for the upgrade.

I would definitely recommend the upgrade.

[bluedog]

I have a 400mHz upgrade, Powerlogix G3 upgrade and the machine is GREAT.

I tried a 300mHz G3 upgrade before the 400 and it ran fine, but became unstable when I clocked the processor higher than that.

You can and will enjoy a MUCH faster computer with the upgrade card installed. Sounds like you have a great server on your hands!

I put my 300mHz upgrade into a 7300 and it is running as my server without a problem. I believe the issues that can solve some stability in using processor upgrades is to make sure your RAM is faster than the spec. for the ordinary 8500.

I believe it is specified as requiring 70nanosecond 168 pin DIMMs, and will be more reliable if you have the 60ns DIMMs. At least that's the unscientific explanations I have read online and seems to fit with my experience.

They run a mean LINUX server that's the kind of server you are looking to use!

bluedog

[zac4mac]

I have an 8500/120 with an XLR8 carrier and an OEM pull ZIF from Other World Computing(very cheap..400.00 for carrier and ZIF a year ago). The ZIF is a Motorola aluminum 400 clocked to 454MHz... it screams.