Now entering the PPC ecosystem with a Power Macintosh G3!

[1200XL M.U.L.E.]

After getting a taste of a 68k system through my Cenrtis 650, I decided to pick up a beige G3 desktop. Here is the eBay listing I purchased the machine from.

Vintage Apple Power Macintosh G3 M3979 Desktop Computer | eBay

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for Vintage Apple Power Macintosh G3 M3979 Desktop Computer at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!

www.ebay.com

I purchased this machine because the seller offered to pay for return shipping.

The machine arrived in the middle of last week, but I was down with COVID and didn't have much energy to get too deep into it. Now that I am feeling better, I am starting to dig into it a bit more.

The system came with two hard drives, which together run really loud! Wow! I wanted to ask, would be better to use a SSD replacement for the IDE drive or the SCSI drive? Where will I get better performance? I want to run OS 9 on this machine. My Centris 650 will be my dedicated OS 8 machine. I'd like to ditch the SCSI drive because it doesn't have a drive caddy. A previous owner secured it inside the case with duct tape. Seriously!

The inside is little dusty but not too bad. I don't see any melted and dried goo on the board. After blowing out the dust, I was thinking of using a cleaning gel like this.

https://www.amazon.com/Cleaning-Universal-Detailing-Automotive-Interior/dp/B081T7N948/ref=sr_1_4?crid=8SWSB4RMCN94&keywords=dust+putty&qid=1677462070&refinements=p_85%3A2470955011%2Cp_72%3A1248861011&rnid=1248859011&rps=1&s=automotive&sprefix=dust+putty+%2Caps%2C158&sr=1-4

Would something like this work well to pick up the dust from the motherboard?

@Phipli mentioned using low profile memory modules. If the modules are too tall, then they may hit the bottom of the power supply/drive level. Any recommendations here on some good modules for max'ing out this machine?

Oh, and the heat sink is ever so slightly loose. I can rotate it a degree or so in each direction. It doesn't seem to be coming off but it's not solidly planted either. Is that normal?

Happy to be here, as always!

 

[avadondragon]

IDE will be faster. I'm pretty sure it's 16MB/s for IDE and the beige G3 only has slow 5MB/s SCSI.

 

[joshc]

Look into getting a faster IDE/UltraATA controller that fits in one of the PCI slots. That will allow you to take advantage of faster drives as the onboard IDE will be a bottleneck.

These models use the 'Outrigger' style case borrowed from the earlier 7200/7300 series machines, which is not an awful case, but the plastics are brittle so caution should be used when working on the machine.

These make good bridge machines because of the support for SCSI, IDE, Ethernet, ADB, Serial, Zip, Floppy drive, CD (or DVD) all in the same box - so have fun!

Would something like this work well to pick up the dust from the motherboard?

Just a brush should do the trick. Ideally use an anti-static brush.

I wouldn't use any kind of putty or gel on electronics for dust.

Oh, and the heat sink is ever so slightly loose. I can rotate it a degree or so in each direction. It doesn't seem to be coming off but it's not solidly planted either. Is that normal?

I think there's a metal clip on these - is it on properly? If the machine runs OK, it is probably fine.

 

[avadondragon]

Flashing an Sil3112 based SATA card is also an option if you want to go the add on card route. There are a few threads talking about it on here. They've recently made it a lot simpler process from what I've been reading.

 

[Phipli]

but I was down with COVID and didn't have much energy

Hope you're feeling better.

the IDE drive or the SCSI drive? Where will I get better performance?

Depending on your ROM version, getting a SIL3112 based PCI SATA card and using a brand new SSD is my preference for PCI machines. Must be a SIL3112 based 2 port card : https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/325144557352

Oh, and the heat sink is ever so slightly loose. I can rotate it a degree or so in each direction. It doesn't seem to be coming off but it's not solidly planted either. Is that normal?

Does it have its spring/clip thing? They use thermal pads, so a little movement is normal. As long as it is in contact.

 

[Phipli]

What OS is installed? If 8.5 or newer, could you go to "System Profiler" in the Apple Menu and photograph the first tab? It has information on the ROM version.

 

[1200XL M.U.L.E.]

Sorry for my delayed response here ...

The machine has OS 9.2.1 installed on it. I didn't dig too deep into that system because the only thing it has is porn. I didn't want to mention it because it sounds kind of stupid. The only application is Netscape Navigator with literally 100s of links to videos, chat rooms, and picture sites. That's it. This machine was someone's dedicated porn box from 2007, according to the history.

So, I disconnected the drives and connected my ZuluSCSI from my Centris and installed OS 9.2.1.

@joshc Can you recommend a particular make and model of an IDE/UltraATA PCI card that would work here?

@Phipli Does the card you linked require reflashing the firmware as mentioned by @avadondragon? Or is that a plug and play solution requiring only a mini-SAS to SATA cable?

 

[joshc]

@joshc Can you recommend a particular make and model of an IDE/UltraATA PCI card that would work here?

As others have said, SATA is an option too. But if you want to go down the IDE route, look for Mac-compatible IDE cards from Adaptec or the Sonnet Tempo. That said, you may have to search for a while or see if someone on the forum has a cheaper one for you as they don't come up super often and they can be expensive. Unfortunately the more common/standard PC cards don't 'just work' in Macs unless they are flashed with compatible Mac firmware, something I've never done.

 

[Phipli]

Does the card you linked require reflashing the firmware

It requires reflashing, which may only be a case of running an application, depending on the chip (the flasher doesn't seem to like all chips).

Otherwise, it's, flashing from freedos/ linux/ windows or swapping a PLCC chip.

How's your soldering?

 

[1200XL M.U.L.E.]

I'm back at it again!

I did a quick eBay search for "mac pci sata" and found two promising results.

This is a four port SATA card.

4 Port SATA PCI Controller Card For Apple Macintosh PowerMac G3/G4/G5 *SSD *OS X | eBay

Compatible & Work with All PowerMac G4 . RAID Support at OS X Disk utility.

www.ebay.com

This is a two port SATA card.

2 Port SATA PCI Controller Card Apple Macintosh PowerMac G3/G4/G5 *SSD *OSX OS 9 | eBay

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for 2 Port SATA PCI Controller Card Apple Macintosh PowerMac G3/G4/G5 *SSD *OSX OS 9 at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!

www.ebay.com

The four port model is cheaper. Maybe I could get that plus one SSD drive and I would be good to go?

 

[Phipli]

The four port model is cheaper. Maybe I could get that plus one SSD drive and I would be good to go?

Don't get the 4 port, it doesn't work in OS9. There isn't a rom available.

Interesting there are flashed cards available again.

It is a lot cheaper to flash your own from a windows card. It can sometimes be done with just software, other times it needs some PLCC soldering, depending on what chip the card has.

 

[Daniël]

The four port model is cheaper. Maybe I could get that plus one SSD drive and I would be good to go?

Like Phipli mentioned, the SiI3114 based four port cards don't have a ROM available with a Classic Mac OS driver in it. The SiI3112 SeriTek ROM, which dosdude1 recently modified to be able to fit on the EEPROMs already on these cards, includes one that allows you to use SATA drives all the way down to System 7. It presents itself as a SCSI device to Classic Mac OS, as those operating systems have no concept of SATA of course.

 

[avadondragon]

The 4-port listing only specifies it works in X. The other one lists both 9 & X. If you're willing to pay that much maybe you should ask @aperezbios if the new SATA card is available to buy yet. No idea how much it will be but they're very nice. Can even use an m.2 SATA drive on it!