Advice on a Quadra 650 gaming machine

[Crickster]

Hello all, I'm getting back into retro Macs after close to a two decade hiatus.

I used to play a lot of games on my LCII and later Performa 6400 but not everything worked out going from System 7 to 9 / 68k to PPC.  Most everything I played back then was 68k to begin with so I figure I should make the best rig possible out of a cheap 650 I acquired.  Right now it has 24MB of ram and 512k VRAM.

Right now it run jitter-free at 640x480 on my modern LCD display (sorry no space for a tube), is it possible to get a higher res jitter-free output?  Were there any NuBus graphics cards that would help gaming at the time that would be worth hunting down today?

Any other general advice would be appreciated.  Thanks!

 

[Macdrone]

Almost all 68k games are 640x480.  Not sure you need anything else.  Maybe a bigger monitor that supports 640x480?  In fact on my performa most games would switch the resolution to thousands of colors and 640x480 before starting the game, and not switch it back screwing up the desktop at a higher resolution.

 

[Crickster]

Almost all 68k games are 640x480.  Not sure you need anything else.  Maybe a bigger monitor that supports 640x480?  In fact on my performa most games would switch the resolution to thousands of colors and 640x480 before starting the game, and not switch it back screwing up the desktop at a higher resolution.

Hah, I remember the resolution jumping.  The Sim games are all scalable to the resolution on screen though, so having more resolution on my 24 inch monitor would definitely be a plus.

 

[ArmorAlley]

Hi Crickster,

I'm going to assume that you bought an old Q650 and have done nothing to it. The machine is 24 years' old.

First and foremost, you need to either remove (or better still) replace the PRAM battey. It is a 3.6V 1/2AA battery. They can be gotten online for USD10. These have been known to rupture and corrode the motherboard.

Secondly, be aware that your motherboard (and possibly power supply) will need to have its capacitors replaced at some point. As with the PRAM battery, these things were not designed to be working after 24 years. That they still are is a testament to Apple's build quality. The general advice is to wait until something stops working or if your capacitors start bulging. There are are many members here who can help you with this.

From this point on, it is all entirely optional. You have a fine 68K gaming machine. Only the Q840AV is a better 68K machine. The specs that you have are sufficient for a good experience.

1. There is a lot of software available online. There are many ways to get it onto your Q650. My favourite methods are the burning of images on to CD and using Zip disks. You'll need a CD-burner or a USB Zip dive on your Internet computer and a SCSI zip drive for your Q950 as well as the appropriate SCSI cable . A SCSI CD burner is also nice to have for your Q650.

2. 1MB gives you more screen space. If you can get yourself another 512K VRAM SIMM then you'll be able up to get 256 colours at 1024x768, which is good for games like Civilization.

3. Unless you want to run a RAM disk, you don't need more 24MB is more than sufficient. Of course, if 32MB SIMMs come your way cheaply, then take them. Your boot time may be longer though.

4. You don't really need any NuBus cards. If you feel the need to improve the performance of your machine, then a FWB JackHammer or an ATTO SiliconExpress IV will give you 40MB/s LVD SCSI (ooh!). The Thunder series from SuperMac and Radius will allow resolutions greater than 1152x852. If you want 24-bit colour at 1024x768, then high-end NuBus card (like the above mentioned Thunder series) from Radius, SuperMac, RasterOps and so on wil allow this. They won't make game-playing faster but they will allow more colors over more pixels.

5. If you a faster hard-drive, then a U320 SCSI hard drive (say a 9GB or 18GB) with a 80-pin SCA to 50-pin adapter will help you. The drive will be faster, quieter and much, much larger than what you have at the moment. The big advantage to a massive drive is that you can save all of your games as image files and simply mount them on the desktop as needs be. The games will play from the HD and not the CD-ROM. Of course, the U320 HD will run hotter than the old HD, so this is to be borne in mind. Max1zzz (of this parish) has/had some of the adapters for sale and he can be contacted by PM. This works well if you have one of the two LVD SCSI cards mentioned above.

6. If you want quiet, then the SCSI2SD from Michael McMaster is a great option. When i bought mine, it cost me the equivalent of USD75 and then shipping from Australia. It is a SCSI to SD card adapter. Follow the instructions on his website and then you have an SD card as your hard disk drive. It is quiet and at least as fast as the HD that came with your Q650.

7. Big Mess O'Wires (BMOW - also of this parish) has a couple of interesting products. The ADB Wombat allows you to attach a USB device (say, a favoured mouse) to your ADB mac or an ADB device to a USB port on a (more) modern machine. He has a device (Floppy EMU) that you to load floppy images on it and load them onto the desktop of your Mac 512K. His shop is well worth checking out.

8. I, personally, love my Kensington Turbo Mouse. It is a massive trackball and it is ADB. There are many ADB joysticks and input devices. These can make your game-playing more enjoyable.

If you are looking for stuff, eBay is not bad. You can always put out a request in the Trading Post and see if that gets you what you want.

 

[Compgeke]

Secondly, be aware that your motherboard (and possibly power supply) will need to have its capacitors replaced at some point. As with the PRAM battery, these things were not designed to be working after 24 years. That they still are is a testament to Apple's build quality. The general advice is to wait until something stops working or if your capacitors start bulging. There are are many members here who can help you with this.

Just note, the caps on the logic board do not need replaced on a Q650. They're entirely solid caps from the factory. The PSU on the other hand will need a recap, everything from the IIcx to the PM7100 use the same general PSU and all of them tend to be prone to bad caps. I've not heard of any with caps damaging the PCB but some caps do fall short circuit and prevent the PSU from turning on.

 

[Crickster]

Thank you for the reaponses. That ADB to USB is exactly what I'm looking for. I was playing Marathon last night and was amazed that I used to play on old ball mice. I'll definitely get the battery and caps replaced as soon as I can as I believe that is what did my LC II in.

 

[ArmorAlley]

I don't have a Quadra 650 myself and I'll trust Compgeke's judgement on them. But certainly do replace the battery.

 

[trag]

Yes, while "replace the caps" is generally good advice, the Q650/Q800 logic board is one of the nice ones that came with tantalum caps instead of SM electrolytic cans.

 

[johnsonfromwisconsin]

I really like my Quadra 650.  Probably my favorite 68k.....

 

[Crickster]

I really like my Quadra 650.  Probably my favorite 68k.....

I'm really digging it too.  I used to play with an 840 AV back in my high school's video production lab, but the form factor of the 650 is really nice.  It's pretty compact so you can tuck it away pretty much anywhere with proper ventilation and it'll be fine.