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Dan Szwarc · Jan 5, 2002, 10:55 AM

I just acquired a brand spanking new old 7300-180. Is there any way I can overclock it to 200MHz? I might pop a G3/4 upgrade into it and I would like to get the full 50MHz bus speed.

I've searched http://www.xlr8yourmac.com but the site is not well laid out for this. No luck.

Any suggestions? even if the processor can't handle 200MHz, I'm sure the bus can handle 50.

Chris_G · Jan 5, 2002, 03:55 PM

Here is some info from XLR8 on overclocking a 604e processor from a PowerTower Pro... hope this helps

http://www.xlr8yourmac.com/feedback/PTP200OC.html

Cheers
Chris

Dan Szwarc · Jan 5, 2002, 05:11 PM

Hmmm. That doesn't seem to be it.

I have found some other XLR8 pages that seem to indicate that the bus speed is selectable on the CPU upgrade (should I go to a G3/G4). If this is so, then I will worry about it if/when I upgrade.

Any other suggestions?

jeromep · Jan 5, 2002, 08:32 PM

First rule of Mac computing, especially with known good and solid systems; never ever overclock the processor. It usually leads down a road of pain and suffering for those that choose to do that. Say what you will about processors being processors and that they are all the same and the company just sets the speeds at the factory, but more often than not, serious problems will pop up when a Mac is overclocked.

For the 7300, I think there are a number of G3/G4 upgrades out there.

I would stick with G3 upgrades. The bus speed on an older piece of hardware is going to be the greatest limiting factor in overall performance. A G3 on an older system spins its wheels quite a bit waiting for I/O and other communications to the motherboard, but a G4 will be spinning significantly more often. Thus leading to a case of diminishing returns. The money on a G4 upgrade will not really give you a significant performance improvement over a G3 upgrade. Go G3.

jeromep · Jan 5, 2002, 08:33 PM

One other thing, check with Sonnett Systems (sp?) for upgrades to your system.

Westbo · Jan 6, 2002, 11:41 AM

Originally posted by Dan Szwarc:
<STRONG>I just acquired a brand spanking new old 7300-180. Is there any way I can overclock it to 200MHz? I might pop a G3/4 upgrade into it and I would like to get the full 50MHz bus speed.

I've searched http://www.xlr8yourmac.com but the site is not well laid out for this. No luck.

Any suggestions? even if the processor can't handle 200MHz, I'm sure the bus can handle 50.</STRONG>

Hey Dan,

Check the following thread: Upping 7600 to 200mhz??
posted earlier on this forum. It has a similar dialog that may be of help.

Dan Szwarc · Jan 6, 2002, 12:50 PM

From everything I've read, it seems that the bus speed, etc. is controlled by the CPU card. Since I have no intentions of wasting money on a 200MHz 604 card, I will be going directly to a G3/G4.

It seems these systems are actually still worth some money. Let's see someone get $300 for a 4 year old PC on ebay!

Thanks for your help.

qnxde · Jan 8, 2002, 10:50 AM

I have the exact same machine but with a Powerlogix G3 upgrade card. Overclocks with a series of well documented dip switches and runs like a champ.

Ra · Jan 9, 2002, 12:15 AM

I have a Mac 7300 with a Sonnet 400MHz/1MB backside cache. It runs great, specially after buying some RAM from "datamem.com." They were asking about $17.00 per 64MB modules, so I got a few.

The only thing I haven't been able to run with this computer is a PCI USB card. I tried Belkin and Macally cards without success. However, I have an OrangeLink FireWire PCI card, and a LaCie 20x10x40 CDRW connected to it. Both work great!

zac4mac · Jan 9, 2002, 09:58 PM

I have an 8500 and a 7500, pretty much same thing as a 7300 but with A/V.
7500 has an OEM pull 604e-233 from a 9500 and 100 or so MB of "pieces parts" RAM. SETI units in 32-35 hrs
8500 has an XLR8 Carrier with an OEM G3-400 running at 454(since Dec99) with the bus at 56.8MHz. It also has 704MB 60ns EDO, interleaved. SETI units in 15-16hrs
PCI slots are full, QPS USB, FW and an iX Micro 8MB vid card
Not as fast and stable(restarts required every 2-3 weeks) as my duallie, but it is 5 or 6 years old. Still beats using a new PC.

Bottom line here is, Apple guarantees 50 MHz on the bus, but most will go higher.

Walter J. Ferstl · Jan 24, 2002, 09:28 PM

Originally posted by Dan Szwarc:
<STRONG>I just acquired a brand spanking new old 7300-180. Is there any way I can overclock it to 200MHz? I might pop a G3/4 upgrade into it and I would like to get the full 50MHz bus speed.

I've searched http://www.xlr8yourmac.com but the site is not well laid out for this. No luck.

Any suggestions? even if the processor can't handle 200MHz, I'm sure the bus can handle 50.</STRONG>

Dan,

yes, I am pretty sure that the bus in the 7300 will take up to 50 MHz. A customer's 7500 (originally 100 MHz 601), a very similar concept to the 7300, runs with a PowerLogix G3 switchable upgrade card at 400 MHz, the motherboard can be adjusted to run at between 40 and 50 MHz.

However, I would not risk to go beyond 50 MHz for the board and the docs of the PowerLogix do not recommend (maybe not even mention) any technique of going beyond the 50 MHz limit.

Given the overall performance of the other parts in the 7500, I would not buy more than a 300 MHz upgrade for a 7500, and, likewise, maybe a 350 MHz upgrade for a 7300.

Regards,

Walter.