Power Mac G3 AIO (Molar Mac) upgrades

[ried]

While we're all eagerly awaiting the sequel to Action Retro's first Molar Mac video, I've started putting a couple of upgrades in the AIO that I received from @macinbot:

• 768MB RAM
• ATI Rage 128 PCI video card to drive the Apple Studio Display (VGA + ADB)
• Sonnet Tempo RAID 66 with two 64GB disk on modules in a striped array (because why not? )
• Sonnet Tango 2.0 FireWire + USB combo card

Coming soon:

• 4MB VRAM module to support the built-in Rage Pro and its paltry 2MB

What else should go in there? I'd love to find a Sonnet G4 ZIF upgrade, but those seem pretty hard to find. In the meantime, I may pull a G4 ZIF CPU from a Yikes! G4, and hopefully cooling under the stock heatsink isn't too big of an issue. Thinking about putting a DVD/Combo/SuperDrive in there to replace the stock CD-ROM, but the original drive is working well at this point. Hmmm...

 

[macinbot]

AAAAAAAAAH HECK! Already pimping it out!

Even being sold for the education market, it’s obviously upgradable as any Beige G3, so in a way maxing it out makes it a bit of a sleeper.

LOL-ing a little bit thinking about the screaming performance of Putt-Putt and Fredi Fish titles running under maxed out ram and a striped RAID.

 

[Phipli]

If you're scratching about for an upgrade, there are often zif cards on eBay of various speeds. There are a 350 and a 333MHz G3 here, you'd likely get 366MHz out of either of them with an overclock. Not sure what the postage is like on them to where you are, and I suggest making an offer if possible as they're not really worth anything.

(Edit - first one says pins cut :/ cursed scrappers. Weirdly doesn't look like they are, but never mind)

1X IBM PPC750L CPU VINTAGE CERAMIC CPU FOR GOLD SCRAP RECOVERY FHG | eBay

CPU FOR GOLD SCRAP RECOVERY. the processor don't work, the pins are cut. You will receive this, what you see on the photos.

www.ebay.com

VINTAGE IBM Apple PowerPC G3 333MHz CPU Processor IBM PPC750L 750L2DM1A333W FS | eBay

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for VINTAGE IBM Apple PowerPC G3 333MHz CPU Processor IBM PPC750L 750L2DM1A333W FS at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!

www.ebay.com

Based on experience, its worth cleaning the pins with contact cleaner if they've been out of a computer for a while. It doesn't take much dirt for a G3 to refuse to boot.

 

[ried]

I knew that 1GHz Sonnet G4 ZIF upgrade was going in there

 

[Phipli]

I knew that 1GHz Sonnet G4 ZIF upgrade was going in there

Clearly needs to find himself a 1.1GHz G3 PowerLogix Zif upgrade for it. Seems a shame to rob Peter to pay Paul.

 

[ried]

Clearly needs to find himself a 1.1GHz G3 PowerLogix Zif upgrade for it. Seems a shame to rob Peter to pay Paul.

I'd certainly take one!

 

[Phipli]

I'd certainly take one!

Sadly I don't have one, but would gladly have one over the 1GHz Sonnet.

An excellent feature of the PowerLogix is that it supports frequency scaling! When idle, your beige G3 can save power by dropping the clock speed, even in OS9.

 

[CC_333]

@ried for that video's title frame, did someone really put eyes in the upper drive slots of that bezel-less AIO like I think they did?

c

 

[ried]

Here's round 3! Now complete with video card upgrade

 

[macinbot]

Original Voodoo vibes on that graphic card setup.

 

[ried]

Okay, friends! Which PCI card do you think delivers faster disk performance in a Molar Mac?

• Sonnet Tempo SATA card with SSD
  • or
• Sonnet Tempo Trio (ATA 133) card with SSD
  • or
• Sonnet Tempo RAID 66 card with two (relatively slow) Disk on Modules in a striped array

Place your bets!

 

[ried]

Drum roll, please...



Tempo Trio (ATA 133) takes home the crown! Even with an IDE-to-SATA adapter in the middle, this is consistent with the regular (non-Trio) Sonnet Tempo ATA 133 cards that I'm using. I have found them to be consistently faster than the Sonnet SATA card when connected to the same SATA SSD by >10%. So, if you're looking for the best performance option among these, ATA 133 has it.

P.S. Surprisingly strong showing by the mighty little disk on modules!

 

[ried]

Regarding the Yikes! G4 CPU... the G3 AIO does not like it. They're both ZIF CPUs and I was hoping to simply drop the 400MHz G4 into the spot originally occupied by the 266MHz G3. The machine boots with the G4 installed, but L2 cache is not recognized and performance is abysmal.

On the upside, a B&W G3's 350MHz CPU went into the AIO nicely and is perfectly stable at 366MHz. The B&W G3 die size is much smaller than the AIO's original PPC 750, so it must have been made on a smaller node.

I am not sure why the G3 AIO is happy with the CPU from a B&W G3 machine but unhappy with the CPU from a Yikes! G4. I had guessed they would be drop-in replacements for one another, but that is not so.

 

[jeremywork]

I think the B&W needed a firmware upgrade when running a Yikes G4 CPU, and I know the Beige models required a firmware upgrade for some of the Sonnet upgrades, so I'd guess it'd work with an update.

Though, this old thread suggests XPostFacto will allow you to turn the cache on:

Yikes G4 400mhz cpu in a Beige G3 AIO L2 … - Apple Community

discussions.apple.com

 

[Phipli]

I think the B&W needed a firmware upgrade when running a Yikes G4 CPU, and I know the Beige models required a firmware upgrade for some of the Sonnet upgrades, so I'd guess it'd work with an update.

Though, this old thread suggests XPostFacto will allow you to turn the cache on:

Yikes G4 400mhz cpu in a Beige G3 AIO L2 … - Apple Community

discussions.apple.com

The B&W needed a firmware update because apple blocked the use of G4s in them. The Beige should just happily accept one.

Regarding the Yikes! G4 CPU... the G3 AIO does not like it. They're both ZIF CPUs and I was hoping to simply drop the 400MHz G4 into the spot originally occupied by the 266MHz G3. The machine boots with the G4 installed, but L2 cache is not recognized and performance is abysmal.

On the upside, a B&W G3's 350MHz CPU went into the AIO nicely and is perfectly stable at 366MHz. The B&W G3 die size is much smaller than the AIO's original PPC 750, so it must have been made on a smaller node.

I am not sure why the G3 AIO is happy with the CPU from a B&W G3 machine but unhappy with the CPU from a Yikes! G4. I had guessed they would be drop-in replacements for one another, but that is not so.

It probably wont help, but I'd try reseating the processor in case it isn't getting good continuity on a pin. I've had difficulty getting good contact in a beige G3 before.

What clock speed were you running the G4 at?

 

[ried]

What clock speed were you running the G4 at?

366Mhz (same as the G3 from the B&W). That G4 was a 400MHz CPU in the Yikes! machine, so underclocked just a little bit.

I'll try reseating it and also see if XPostFacto helps. That CPU is now back in the Yikes! machine running perfectly well at its original 400MHz, so at least I didn't break it.

 

[joevt]

Did you try PowerLogix CPU Director 2.1b1 for checking the status of the cache and to enable the cache?