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Powerbases, L2 caches, and some chips.

Powerbase

Well-known member
I finally managed to snag a 604e zif from one of those IBM servers.  The chips were usually just included with their motherboards (which I didn't need or want), but one finally came out as a lone chip.  It fits in well, dropped straight it.  Although, as the picture shows one corned is slightly raised, not by much and I'm sure the pins are still making contact.

I haven't actually ran the Powerbase with it yet as I'm having trouble finding a heatsink/clip to fit.  I might end up fabricating up something crude but functional.

What I'm wanting to know is how interchangeable are the L2-cache DIMMs between the Powermacs.  I can grab the 256K one out of my 8500 or the 256K one I believe came out of my nonfunctional 6500 (caps gone).  Does anyone know of somewhere to get a 1MB cache that might work in this Powerbase.  Its going to need a cache on this motherboard with slow ram and a slow bus.  Mind you, that's if it works.

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Compgeke

Well-known member
Beware, good chance of magic smoke if you try this. It's very unlikely the pinout is the same between an IBM and a Mac.

 

Powerbase

Well-known member
Oh, its been done in a Beige G3 by a braver soul many moons ago.  It performed poorly due to the fact that there isn't a way to add the L2 cache it needs on a beige's motherboard, I believe.  I don't believe he took it any further.  Its an interesting project but doesn't really have any actual benefits.

 

Compgeke

Well-known member
In that case, the cache dimms are compatible between all the PCI macs to the best of my knowledge. Trying to find a 1MB one is a bit difficult though, all the ones I've had were 256K or 512K. 

 
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