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D'Espice · Apr 20, 2002, 08:20 AM

Hi...

I just purchased for little money a PM7300 with a 166 MHz PPC-CPU.
I'm planning on upgrading it with a Sonnet G3-Card with 450 MHz, which I can purchase for about $250.

My question is: Is it possible to upgrade either of those two computers with a PCI Radeon Card? I need a TV-Out in my computer, that's why I need this card. Also, I want to use my 15" LCD Screen, for which I need a good graphics card. Got the best results so far with my Radeon AGP in my Wintel-Machine here.
Is it possible to do that or not?

And something else: Do I really need 5V 168Pin-DIMMs for this machine? Isn't it possible to use Standard PC133 3.3V DIMMs? I'm asking 'cause I got some of those lying around here...

Thanks in advance

[ 04-20-2002: Message edited by: D'Espice ]

WizOSX · Apr 20, 2002, 01:40 PM

Orginally posted by D'Espice
Do I really need 5V 168Pin-DIMMs for this machine? Isn't it possible to use Standard PC133 3.3V DIMMs? I'm asking 'cause I got some of those lying around here...

YES!! You absolutely must use ONLY 5V 168-pin DIMMS. Don't even think of experimenting with anything else.

WizOSX · Apr 20, 2002, 01:56 PM

Originally posted by D'Espice
I just purchased for little money a PM7300 with a 166 MHz PPC-CPU.
I'm planning on upgrading it with a Sonnet G3-Card with 450 MHz, which I can purchase for about $250.
My question is: Is it possible to upgrade either of those two computers with a PCI Radeon Card?

PCI Radeon cards work really well in this machine as long as they are MAC EDITION (not the PC version which WON'T work). You basically have two choices: the PCI Radeon MAC EDITION, the more expensive card, or the PCI Radeon 7000 MAC EDITION (newer and cheaper by about $80). Both include video out to TV and both have 32mb RAM. The newer 7000 has two disadvantages: it is slower that the original, more expensive, version and it will not work under OS X in "older" MACS like the 7300. It is possible that changes to OS X may eventually allow the 7000 to work in OS X but right now it only works in OS8/OS9. So, if you think you may want to try to run OS X after you put in the G3 card, better to buy to older version.

D'Espice · Apr 20, 2002, 04:43 PM

Thank you very much, that's very valuable information. I assume the first answer just saved the life of one of my 3.3V SD-RAM Modules

And the second one convinced me to buy an older Radeon. I honestly even thought of getting the G4-Upgrade Card which is available for this computer (400 MHz for about $300) and max out the RAM. Will OS X run faster with a 400 MHz G4 and 256MB of RAM or a 500 MHz G3 and 512MB of RAM? Because those two possibilities are equally expensive.

[ 04-20-2002: Message edited by: D'Espice ]

WizOSX · Apr 20, 2002, 05:56 PM

Orginally posted by D'Espice
I assume the first answer just saved the life of one of my 3.3V SD-RAM Modules

Maybe. But also, I think you want to be a little careful about too much experimetation. I have a 7600 and I've got all RAM slots full giving 432mb. I run mainly OS X on the machine. I've done a lot of pull-insert-pull operations lately and I've noticed that a lot of the little plastic parts are getting brittle with age. You also run the risk that eventually you push just a little to hard and the motherboard goes.

D'Espice · Apr 21, 2002, 05:31 AM

Oh great, you run OS X on a comparable machine. Is the installation really easy? I've heard that OS X doesn't support those older machines, and you'll have to make your own boot-disk or something. Is it true?