[xmishx]

OK, I've found info about some of the drawbacks on the Rev.1 or A, B & W G3's. People are talking about the problems 33 ATA, video card, etc... but are there solutions out there. If anyone can address the various problem/solution of the B & W G3, I would really like to here them. I will be getting a G3, possible Rev.1 and would like to know in advance what to do to make things run smoother from the get go.

Thank you,

X

[Joe Cool]

get a G4... they are cheap too...

[superlarry]

if you choose a G3, you'll need to get a PCI ATA controller if you want any sort of speed from your hard disk (or if you want to use more than one hard drive, since the Rev. 1's typically experience some weird data corruption if you try to attach a slave drive). i recommend an ATA66 controller, since the speed differences above that are minimal. if you want a drive bigger than something around 127 gigs, then you'll need one of the new ATA133 cards, for they overcome that limit in drive size.
if you'll only be using one hard drive and speed isn't an issue, then don't worry about the upgrade. an ATA66 card will probly cost you a minimum of $40, and make sure it's mac compatible!

as for the video card - there are no AGP slots, so you're basically stuck using the Rage 128 that came in there. Not so bad - this just means software rendering for graphics, which isn't so bad as long as you're not used to a much faster mac.

now the processor is very slow, too - one of the highest-rated mac upgrades out there is the powerlogix 550 MHz G4 upgrade for the B&W G3. although, for the price (around $270), i'd just recommend getting a G4 tower if you want speed (plus you'll get an ATA66 hard drive controller with no master/slave problems).

[rambo47]

If you plan to run OS X you might consider one of the original Radeon PCI graphics cards with 32 MB VRAM. I have one in my B&W and it made a huge performance difference. ATi also makes PCI Radeon 7000 cards. If you plan to run only OS 9, consider a VooDoo 5500 PCI. This was the best card for performance in both games and other apps like Entourage/Outlook Express, Internet Explorer, Photoshop. Unfortunately, you simply cannot boot into OS X if you're using the VooDoo card. One of the plus factors for the VooDoo is you can find them for under $80. I have one in the original box just waiting for a good home.

[PowerBub]

I ran a B&W revision 1 for a period of time, and it ran jaguar quite well. I had SIIG ATA 133 card i picked up at OWC for $80, as well as a 100GB hard drive and a Radeon 7000 PCI. Load it with 512 or so Ram, and you should be fine.

Actually, I have that very ATA card for sale if you are interested

If you put anything larger than a 20 or 30gb hard drive on the rev1 motherboard, you'll experience loads of data corruption

[xmishx]

Thanks for all the great advice. Since I am getting this unknown G3 B & W for a barter, which I consider to be FREE, I don't mind putting some money into it. I will see later this week what configuration this computer will be. Hopefully it will be a Rev.2 400 or better yet, 450. If not, I'll drop a little $ into it and it will be a nice addition to my main computer, a Lombard. G4 for me will be in a year or so...

Thanks again,

X

[xmishx]

Thanks for all the offline offers for peripherals, but it turns out my B&W G3 is a REV.2, 400 MHz. It's only drawbacks were a 6 gig drive with only 128 megs of ram. I just bought 2) 256 mb of ram and a friend gave me a scsi card and his old 6 gig that came from a similar machine. 640/12gig to start out. I hope to eventually get at least a 40 gig drive and finish of the ram with another 512. Then maybe a G4 550MHz processor upgrade!

Thanks again for all the help!

X

[superlarry]

your biggest speed barrier will probably be the ATA33 at the moment - that controller can't handle more than one thing happening at once very gracefully at all (i.e. doing two things at once takes significantly more time than it would to do them in succession). at least that's the case with my rev. 2 400 MHz :c)
but that SCSI card should clear things up nicely if/when you get it working right.