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Best SE/30 revision Logic Board?

j2theLj

Active member
Does anyone know of if one of these two SE/30 logic board revisions is better than the other? I’m trying to decide which one to keep.

I do like the early one better with the light green PCB and the purple and gold socketed processor, it has what seems to be a factory bodge wire though, anyone know why it was needed?

Here are the revision numbers and year’s as seen in the pictures:
820-0260-A from 1989
820-0260-10 from 1988
 

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bibilit

Well-known member
I don’t think one is better than the other.
The first version with the socketed cpu was sought after at some point.
The socket can be used for an accelerator, but this is pretty rare to find anyway.
So it’s up to you, the second one is commonly found.
 

j2theLj

Active member
I don’t think one is better than the other.
The first version with the socketed cpu was sought after at some point.
The socket can be used for an accelerator, but this is pretty rare to find anyway.
So it’s up to you, the second one is commonly found.
Thanks, yes I think I prefer the older golden one, chips in sockets is a plus
 

cheesestraws

Well-known member
The most important thing is: pick the one that works best.

If they're both good, keep the one with the socketed CPU: there are accelerators and expansions that plug into the CPU socket, and you might as well keep the option open to use one if you find one.
 

Byrd

Well-known member
The most important thing is: pick the one that works best.

I'll add; pick the one that is physically in best condition, socketed or not. The board with the crusty solder, corroded chips, broken RAM slots, broken ROM slots will just get more unreliable over time.
 

3lectr1cPPC

Well-known member
don't some of them have metal RAM clips while others have plastic? or am I thinking of a different model?
 

joshc

Well-known member
I'll add; pick the one that is physically in best condition, socketed or not. The board with the crusty solder, corroded chips, broken RAM slots, broken ROM slots will just get more unreliable over time.
This. Most accelerators you can use with an SE/30 are best done via PDS with an adapter that accepts IIci accelerators. There’s only one accelerator I can think of - the Daystar PowerCache socketed version - that uses the CPU socket. The biggest cause of problems with these boards is weak ROM and RAM slots, so go with the board that has slots in the best shape.

Also, just consider keeping both boards - a spare is handy if one board develops a fault - these boards are not easy or cheap to find these days.
 

ScutBoy

Well-known member
There’s only one accelerator I can think of - the Daystar PowerCache socketed version - that uses the CPU socket.

FWIW, I have a Dove Marathon(?) accelerator in an SE/30 that uses the CPU socket.

I agree - use the board that's in the best overall condition, but keep them both.
 

Phipli

Well-known member
FWIW, I have a Dove Marathon(?) accelerator in an SE/30 that uses the CPU socket.

I agree - use the board that's in the best overall condition, but keep them both.
Do you have the driver ScutBoy? I have the same board, but no driver.
 

unity

Well-known member
Neither of those. I prefer a -08 or a -06 if one can even find it. They have caps that dont leak! But since you have those two, I agree that either is whatever functionally but the -10 is indeed more sought after, or was, for having the socketed CPU as mentioned.
 

j2theLj

Active member
I’ll consider keeping them both - the last SE/30 was only $50 so I guess no major budget fail.
 

Berenod

Well-known member
I’ll consider keeping them both - the last SE/30 was only $50 so I guess no major budget fail.
At that cost, hang on to it.
It actually is worth more (by a lot) already, Manny people happy to pay a fair bit more then the price you state for a working SE/30 board.
Due to the battery bombs and leaking capacitors, working SE/30 main boards wil become rarer and rarer, where at one point only the recapped boards will be the survivors.
Don't forget, the SE/30 was pretty much the most powerful monochrome compact Mac ever made (out of the box), a model which in today's world would be called a powerful professional workstation!
 
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