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You are here: MacNN Forums > Hardware - Troubleshooting and Discussion > Mac Desktops > Should I keep & upgrade my G3 Blue & White or sell it?

Should I keep & upgrade my G3 Blue & White or sell it?
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MacB
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Jan 11, 2004, 03:48 PM
 
I bought a used (but in excellent condition) Apple G3 B&W. It came with the tower, keyboard and mouse for $150. Here are the specs:

400MHz G3/1MB L2 cache
12GB Ultra ATA drive
CD ROM Drive
Zip drive
RAGE 128 card w/16MB SDRAM
Ultra SCSI PCI card w/adapter
10/100Base T Ethernet
USB Keyboard

I installed panther on it and it really runs great (much to my suprise! You know how if you install WinXP on an old slow computer, it just make things even that much slower....well not with panther....it's like no matter what system you have, Apple's system upgrades seem to make your computer better, no matter what kind you have.)

I allready have a 15"AL powerbook and buying this was just because I could not pass up what seemed like too good of a deal and maybe something I could use.

But after getting it home I was like.....well, when would I really ever use this compared with my powerbook? So now I am thinking maybe I should just sell it on eBay or could I beef it up.....

Does anyone have any suggestions? Is it worth it to add more powerful components (if so what would they be and what kind of cost associated?) Or should I sell it, not throw any more money at it, because it would prob. not be worth it and save up for a G5 one day?

Can this computer be twice as good? 10 times as good? 100% better with some improvements or have we reached its potential?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.
     
pugdog
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Jan 11, 2004, 05:28 PM
 
i've been looking at this site to upgrade my dad's g3 imac.

looks like there are some good deals for your computer G4 500,700, or1Ghz...

http://www.technowarehousellc.com/zifupgrades.html
     
Chris O'Brien
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Jan 11, 2004, 05:48 PM
 
Please tell me you bought the g3 very recently, because I bought virtually the same computer (had an extra hard-drive in it) 3 years ago for 500 quid... that's about US$925

Ah well... To think I could've waited 3 years and got it for about 80 quid. Actually, no. the experience with OSX has been worth it
     
Captain Obvious
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Jan 11, 2004, 05:55 PM
 
It can be a little better but if it runs well enough for you now why upgrade?

I'd get the RAM up to at least 512 and use it as a second machine. If you are a person who really counts on having a computer you should have a backup. For $150 this is a good deal but don't expect it to be a good substitute for your TiBook. It will get the job done and that is all you should really need.

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Lateralus
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Jan 11, 2004, 06:00 PM
 
Originally posted by pugdog:
looks like there are some good deals for your computer G4 500,700, or1Ghz...

http://www.technowarehousellc.com/zifupgrades.html
Only the 500 will work in the B&W. The 7400 and 7410 G4s are the only G4s that work in the B&Ws.

That said, I had a B&W only a month ago. It was my main machine and I had upgraded it with a 900MHz 750FX G3 from Other World Computing. It cost me around $230.

The chip was incredibly fast, it amazed me. The one and only reason I upgraded to the machine linked in my signature was because I got an incredible deal on it. Otherwise, the G3 would have lasted me another year or two.

Regardless of what everybody on the board spouts off, do not doubt the power of the G3. It's an excellent upgrade.
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David Lee
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Jan 11, 2004, 07:01 PM
 
You got a good deal there and as a 2nd machine it should do the job fine, but thee are some issues you should be aware of. Check out xlr8yourmac.com for the details, but first, there are problems with the IDE HDD contoller on the Rev. 1 B&Ws, no slave support and data corruption with fast modern HDDs. The 2nd Rev added slave support and fixed the data issue but it still operates at 33MHz, compared to the 66, 100, & 133 avaiable on a PCI card (get one of these cheap and the machine rocks!). If you can find a 550MHz G4CPU (usually can be run at 600) it will put the machine in a really usuable class, but it will set you back some serious bucks. You may be able to OC it to 450MHz for the cost of some jumper pins! Good Luck
     
bowwowman
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Jan 11, 2004, 09:02 PM
 
Originally posted by MacB:
I bought a used (but in excellent condition) Apple G3 B&W. It came with the tower, keyboard and mouse for $150. Here are the specs:

400MHz G3/1MB L2 cache
12GB Ultra ATA drive
CD ROM Drive
Zip drive
RAGE 128 card w/16MB SDRAM
Ultra SCSI PCI card w/adapter
10/100Base T Ethernet
USB Keyboard

I installed panther on it and it really runs great (much to my suprise! You know how if you install WinXP on an old slow computer, it just make things even that much slower....well not with panther....it's like no matter what system you have, Apple's system upgrades seem to make your computer better, no matter what kind you have.)

I allready have a 15"AL powerbook and buying this was just because I could not pass up what seemed like too good of a deal and maybe something I could use.

But after getting it home I was like.....well, when would I really ever use this compared with my powerbook? So now I am thinking maybe I should just sell it on eBay or could I beef it up.....

Does anyone have any suggestions? Is it worth it to add more powerful components (if so what would they be and what kind of cost associated?) Or should I sell it, not throw any more money at it, because it would prob. not be worth it and save up for a G5 one day?

Can this computer be twice as good? 10 times as good? 100% better with some improvements or have we reached its potential?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Unless you have a specific need for it, sell the SCSI card and use the money to bump up the ram as much as you can. The B&W's run X really sweet w/ 1GB.

Without going into a lot of $$, about the only other thing you could do is get a Radeon 7000 video card for it. That & the ram will help tremendously with the eye candy in X, as well as overall system & app performance.

Of course if you have the moolah, get a cpu upgrade and make it really fly.....but those will cost you more than the machine itself did ($ 200+)
Personally I find it hilarious that you have the hots for my gramma. Especially seeins how she is 3x your age, and makes your Brittney-Spears-wannabe 30-something wife look like a rag doll who went thru WWIII with a burning stick of dynamite up her a** :)
     
Walker
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Jan 12, 2004, 09:16 AM
 
Very soon Sonnet will be releasing a 1 gh G4 upgrade card for this machine.

lw
     
sniffer
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Jan 12, 2004, 12:31 PM
 
It's nothing like multitask with two machines. Very practical for background tasks not that suitable on a portable, like p2p, mp3 jukebox, fileserver/backup, etc. The maintence is very low, as it will mainly run in the background as a second machine. Works great for me anyhow, just wish my desktop was a mac.

Sniffer gone old-school sig
     
drHo
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Jan 12, 2004, 08:36 PM
 
Originally posted by bowwowman:
Unless you have a specific need for it, sell the SCSI card and use the money to bump up the ram as much as you can. The B&W's run X really sweet w/ 1GB.

Without going into a lot of $$, about the only other thing you could do is get a Radeon 7000 video card for it. That & the ram will help tremendously with the eye candy in X, as well as overall system & app performance.

Of course if you have the moolah, get a cpu upgrade and make it really fly.....but those will cost you more than the machine itself did ($ 200+)
if you can find it and are willing to spend the extra $$, get yourself a ORIGINAL Radeon Mac Edition not the (junk) 7000. I have a Radeon Mac Edition on my B&W G3 450 w/1g of ram and i can play pretty much any game pre-Medal of Honor, i can even run RTCW! i test my machines prowness by running games-sorry. But 1bg of ram helps a lot in 10.3. i'm thinking about a cpu upgrade..but damn school tuition has gone up here in california!! thanks a lot Arnold!!
" pc's feel cheap like a dirty whore..."
     
Cadaver
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Jan 12, 2004, 08:55 PM
 
I've got a blue & white G3 as well, and while the machine was free to me (sister's discarded Mac), I spent about $450 upgrading the machine - now it runs really nicely.

-900MHz PowerLogix G3 ZIF module
-576MB RAM
-60GB (8MB cache) HD with A-Card PCI UltraATA controller
-Sony 40x24x10x CDRW (pulled orig DVD-ROM)
-Radeon PCI Mac Edition (not yucky Radeon 7000)

Runs Panther very nicely, including with the PCI/Quartz Extreme hack. I'd rather use this old machine than the 2.0GHz P4 at work!
     
macintologist
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Jan 15, 2004, 06:58 PM
 
It's a fantasic machine and IMO the best PowerMac Apple ever made. In your situation with the PB, I would use it as an iTunes server/web server/router, run Kazaa in Virtual PC or BitTorrent and stuff like that. It's great having an older desktop to run these things so that your PB is 100% concentrated on what you want to do in the foreground. The Powerbook shouldn't have to do those other things.
     
David Thompson
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Jan 15, 2004, 08:18 PM
 
Originally posted by Cadaver:
I've got a blue & white G3 as well, [...] now it runs really nicely.

-900MHz PowerLogix G3 ZIF module
-576MB RAM
-60GB (8MB cache) HD with A-Card PCI UltraATA controller
-Sony 40x24x10x CDRW (pulled orig DVD-ROM)
-Radeon PCI Mac Edition
I just put in the G3/900 into a very similarly configured machine (different disk/ram). Works great!!

...although, it no longer chimes on startup. Does yours?
     
Cadaver
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Jan 15, 2004, 08:48 PM
 
Originally posted by David Thompson:
I just put in the G3/900 into a very similarly configured machine (different disk/ram). Works great!!

...although, it no longer chimes on startup. Does yours?
Yep. Still chimes.
     
sfederman
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Jan 15, 2004, 08:55 PM
 
As some have mentioned, it will make a nifty server. I think it's definitely worth the $150 you spent on it...
     
sfederman
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Jan 15, 2004, 08:55 PM
 
whoops-double post...
     
Lateralus
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Jan 15, 2004, 09:17 PM
 
Also, one thing to consider:

When I upgraded my B&W to the 900MHz G3, I sold the stock 450MHz chip for $60. The upgrade cost me $240 at the time, and the sale of the original 450 chip brought my cost down to about $180. Quite nice.
I like chicken
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Meow Mix, Meow Mix
Please de-liv-er
     
   
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