[sproutsie]

I just bought a 7500 with an upgraded processor (604) for an incredibly low price (self-satisfied snicker). anyway, i need it to run on my desk next to my lovely and talented tibook, which unfortunately cannot run my qualitative data program (which I am using for my dissertation research) in OSX, even in Classic mode. I have the dissertation all formatted and set up in Word X, which *never* crashes on me, unlike earlier Words, so if I want to look at my formatted data in my other program, I have to reboot in OS9 on the tibook and then reboot in X to get back to the diss....blah....this is how I have justified buying myself a "new" desktop, but whatever.

So, given that I only need my new 7500 to run a few programs in 9 or lower, can I run 9 on this machine? I like it better than 8, which is what I think the thing is loaded with- it hasn't been shipped to me yet, so I really have no idea, although my stupid, yet necessary data program can apparently be run in 7 (!!!).

um..additional info...well, it has only 32 mgs ram, so if I can run 9.2.2 on it, which would be nice, should I get more ram for the 7500? How much ram can it take? I know I can look this up at Apple Specs, but I also know that often one can get much more ram in than the original specs say you can (my old Wallstreet had twice as much as the specs allowed for).

Any suggestions would be appreciated- my last desktop was an LCIII, after which I became a slave to a series of powerbooks, so I am pretty uninformed about the power macs.

thanks!

[himself]

It should be able to run 9 (up to 9.1) fine, but you should make sure that your programs don't break in it (many apps were "broken" when 9 was introed, and more still at 9.1, but most were updated to work... you should check to see if your apps have updates for 9 compatibility). You won't be able to run 9.2 at all, however (you won't be missing too much, really).

I'm not sure, but I believe that the 7500's can take (at least) 1GB if ram... if you go to
Other World Computing, you can get 128MB modules for about 30 bucks, and 64MB for 16 or so. I'd probably bump that bad boy up to at least 128MB of ram (256 is good), call it a day. You can use it as a file server, for mp3 storage, or whatever.

[hempcamp]

Originally posted by sproutsie:
<STRONG>...i need it to run on my desk next to my lovely and talented tibook, which unfortunately cannot run my qualitative data program....well, it has only 32 mgs ram, so if I can run 9.2.2 on it, which would be nice, should I get more ram for the 7500? How much ram can it take? </STRONG>

OS 8.6 or OS 9.1 will run great on your 7500, but you should definitely get more RAM, especially if you are going to be dealing with data. I reccomend 8.6 over 9.1 on the 604, since 9.1 would steal a lot of the processor resources your qualitative program might need. 9.2 works, but only with a hack, and really has no edge over 9.1 on your current processor.

You will get better performance out of your system if you add matching pairs of memory sticks in matching banks (A4-B4, A3-B3, etc) because the memory will interleave to form a 128-bit data path. Two 64MB sticks would give you more than enough RAM, but you might as well buy two 128MB sticks because there is really not much price differential between the two.

Best of luck with your _new_ old Mac, and with your dissertation!

--Chris

PM 7500/604e 200Mhz
4 gig/16MB
OS 7.6.1

[Walter J. Ferstl]

sproutsie,

GURU 2.9 by www.newerram.com says that the 7500 can take up to 1024 MB RAM.
It has 8 RAM sockets.

If you get 2 additional DIMMs at 128 MB each, it will be very comfortable working and you can leave the existing 32 MB of RAM as well.

If the existing 32 MB are a pair of 16 MB modules, don't forget to include them into the interleaving (pairing) scheme as hempcamp described.

But you should not mix EDO and FPM RAM on your motherboard. If you are not sure which type the old RAM DIMMs are, leave them out.

A total of 256 (or even 288) MB will get you a very good workhorse.

Regards,

Walter.

[sproutsie]

Thanks to everyone for all of the info, which (conveniently) seems to give me the same advice (versus when one asks a questions and gets eighteen dissimilar views).

I have been upgrading my systems for so long that this regression is exciting!

Thanks again,
Susan