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630 motherboard in a 5500

Durosity

Well-known member
I’m curious as to if the Performa 630 logic board will work in the 5500 case? I think the connector is the same but I seem to recall the 5500 had a 3.3v rail and I’m not sure if that will cause any problems with the older 630 board.
 

Phipli

Well-known member
I’m curious as to if the Performa 630 logic board will work in the 5500 case? I think the connector is the same but I seem to recall the 5500 had a 3.3v rail and I’m not sure if that will cause any problems with the older 630 board.
I think you'd have to re-wire. The 3.3V isn't just extra, I think I remember it is instead of GND. It shouldn't be too difficult though?
 

jessenator

Well-known member
I would look here and work backwards to see what the pin modifications are.

Were the 63x/64x boards' the same as the 575 board's edge connector? If so it will be easy to work backwards from that mod procedure to make sure no pins are crossing.

Dimensions might be a problem to solve as well (smaller than 575 iirc)
 

chelseayr

Well-known member
@Durosity just for future reference: it may or may not be 100% correct but one thing to remember is that if the model number is x3x0 or lower (applies to anything 3-digits respectively tho) its nubus-based but if its x4xx or higher its pci-based, and thereforeso the basic psu diagram differs between them two groups due to the extra voltage utilized for the pci bus itself
 

François

Well-known member
I would look here and work backwards to see what the pin modifications are.

Were the 63x/64x boards' the same as the 575 board's edge connector? If so it will be easy to work backwards from that mod procedure to make sure no pins are crossing.

But, the people behind the takky mod should have had access to the wiring diagram of the edge connector of the 5xxx/6xxx line in order to adapt it to the Color Classic? So this wiring diagram should exist somewhere! And if they reverse engineered it from an actual 5xxx/6xxx machine, it’s unfortunate that they didn’t publish it. We shouldn’t have to reverse engineer the reverse engineering.
 

Chopsticks

Well-known member
if you remove the 3.3v wire from the harness then the 630 board electrically will work, the only difference in the connector pinouts are that single wire. the only thing on not sure about as Its been awhile is just the sense wiring config. I can't remember what the 5500 is setup for video wise.
long story short, after removing that 3.3v connection if you get a long and not video out then you'll need to rewire that 3 sense line wire on S19-21 fro the right config.

But, the people behind the takky mod should have had access to the wiring diagram of the edge connector of the 5xxx/6xxx line in order to adapt it to the Color Classic? So this wiring diagram should exist somewhere! And if they reverse engineered it from an actual 5xxx/6xxx machine, it’s unfortunate that they didn’t publish it. We shouldn’t have to reverse engineer the reverse engineering.
my understanding is that the people behind the takky mods in Japan back in the early 2000's was that they reverse engineered the wiring harness, time consuming but not as hard and it would have been to figure out the VGA and hi-res mods....
 

croissantking

Well-known member
@Durosity just for future reference: it may or may not be 100% correct but one thing to remember is that if the model number is x3x0 or lower (applies to anything 3-digits respectively tho) its nubus-based but if its x4xx or higher its pci-based, and thereforeso the basic psu diagram differs between them two groups due to the extra voltage utilized for the pci bus itself
The Performa 6360 is the one exception to this rule, being PCI-based.

I used to have a 6320 which is Nubus-based and I remember that the PSU had the 3.3v line. I could have put a 6360/x400/x500 board in it and it would have worked. I remember this was documented somewhere like LEM, that some 6200 and 6300 series machines had a PSU with 3.3v while others didn’t.
 

croissantking

Well-known member
Excuse my ignorance but why would someone want to do this? The 5500 is a better board?
I feel like I read that the OP had a dead logic board and a spare 630 board? I guess it could be an/unusual fun combination if they wanted better compatibility with older 68k software too.
 

3lectr1cPPC

Well-known member
A reverse-mod, making a 68k 5000 series Mac. Never was there a 68k in that case. Would technically make a better AIO than an LC 575 in some ways right? I'm not too too familiar with the 5000 series AIOs, but there were design improvements I believe?
 

SophieRose

Well-known member
I've always thought this would make a great machine.. I might give this a go too if I can find a 630 board.
 

3lectr1cPPC

Well-known member
Following the 3 digit for 68k numbering scheme, the 630ified 5500 would have to be called the 550, right? Oh wait...
 

macuserman

Well-known member
Haha ok ya'll have your fun, the 5500 is massive though, def not a "compact" AIO, the 575 looks tiny by comparison.
 

3lectr1cPPC

Well-known member
Oh yeah, definitely not. And both are brittle as can be. That won't ever stop me from wanting one anyway though.
 

Durosity

Well-known member
So the reason I wanted to do this was to have an AIO that could host my 630 + DOS card in an AIO case. I did also consider getting a Performa 580 for this, but getting one over here in the UK is near impossible.

I’ve actually ended up with a bit of a hybrid system.. I call it my Frankenforma. I have a Performa 5360 chassis with TV/FM card, with a lot of partitions for booting different macOS versions on. I then have 3 different logic boards I can use with it… the 630/DOS board, a 6200 board, and a 5500 board with a G3 400 upgrade card in it. Easy swaparoos with support for most old classic Mac stuff!
 

pizzigri

Well-known member
well, it's very easy actually. Just need a bit of Kapton tape. See this:
just cover both sides of the third contact from the left corner (that is a GND in 630 up to 6300, and a 3.3 rail in 6400 and 6500) and you can run a 630 in any 5x00 or 6x00
that is how I tested the boards I was selling, I used a 6500 harness with original psu
 

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pizzigri

Well-known member
Take care, the 3.3v isn't just an extra pin, if you put a 630 into a 5500 harness without precautions it will be shorting the 3.3v.
That is exactly right. In the 630 it's a pair of GND pins, you will be shorting the 3.3 rail of the PSU.
 
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