Best Nubus cards for Q950

[BadGoldEagle]

Hi there,

I might be able to get my hands on a boxed Quadra 950. I like the fact that it's got a full 040 (It would be a first for me. My fastest 'classic' Mac is a 50MHz SE/30 but an 030 cannot run everything). I also love the fact that you need a key to start it up as well as the form factor itself (I think it will look good alongside the Mac Pro and my broken G5)

My plans are to upgrade the RAM and the VRAM to the maximum amount, and install OS8.1. Apparently the graphics card on this thing surpasses anything available on the market, so I probably won't need one of those except if I want to run a dual monitor setup later in the future... 

I would like to get an OrangePC card for any DOS stuff I might want to try. I don't want to get an IBM compatible as it's not my thing. 

I don't want to get a PPC card either as I've already got a G3 and a turbocharged G4 that should be more than enough for early PPC stuff. The Quad G5 (once fixed) should take care of anything post 2000 with ease.

That leaves me with 4 unoccupied slots. So my question is, what would you put in there? 

SCSI2 + SSD? Is there any real advantage to get a Rocket if you don't do virtualization?

Thanks!

 

[Unknown_K]

I guess it depends on what you want to do.

Built in video is decent but the 2MB VRAM limits you in color depth and high resolution (the chipset does 8 bit or 24 bit but not 16 bit color) so I usually stick in a Thunder/24 card with DSP add-on or separate DSP card.

Orange PC made 286/386/486 Nubus cards so you pick one from whatever is available.

I recommend a Jackhammer SCSI card if you want to use 68 pin drives.

I mostly use my system for video capture cards so that takes up a slot or two there or you could go with a decent sound card.

Ethernet 10/100 cards exists but the built in networking (with dongle) works fine.

 

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

My plans are to upgrade the RAM and the VRAM to the maximum amount, and install OS8.1. Apparently the graphics card on this thing surpasses anything available on the market, so I probably won't need one of those except if I want to run a dual monitor setup later in the future.

Built-in video is faster and for some things better, but living within a resolution limited to only 832x624 @24bit on a 950 may not be good enough. The built-in video of the 840AV is much more flexible with the same 2MB VRAM limit, doing 16bit at 1152x870 where the 950 is stuck there at a less than satisfactory 8bit.

The application you need to run efficiently defines the resolution and color depth required to do so. That requirement lets you know if built-in video is going to be for tool palettes or enough for use as a main display for gaming/whatever.

Definitely put a 3MB VRAM card at the very least in there or go for a heavy hitter like the Thunder IV GX series to get past 1152x870 to 1600x1200 at up to 24bit depending on VRAM implemented on the three versions and they have DSPs galore if Retro-PhotoShop playtime is your thing.

IIRC the 950 has a fast and a slow dual SCSI bus setup or was that only the 8100? If it has fast SCSI II on one bus, that's all you'd need for the 10MBps(+-) high end SCSI2SD.

Like the wise man said "I guess it depends on what you want to do."