Twentieth Anniversary Macintosh G4 (!)

[ried]

I'm pretty sure I know what comes next

 

[omgmonsters]

I'm pretty sure I know what comes next

 

[ried]

Hah.

 

[Tam 400]

I haven’t bin here for a while,it sure is nice to be back
an read all about the Macs we use to use,an still do.
I have those up grads for my Tam,it’s loaded with every
up grade you could get, I’m sure it runs @400Mhz.
Havnt booted it in 3 years,just sits in the display case.

 

[nottomhanks]

Hey there!! That is absolutely crazy!!!! I have read that you can also install MacOS X with the G3 upgrade using XpostFacto. Wondering if you could also install Leopard or even Sorbet Leopard possibly. It would be amazing to see BeOS running on there as well.
Could you provide the link to the person who did the BGA G3-G4 upgrade please? Keep up the great work, these videos are some of the best vintage Mac videos I've seen!

 

[3lectr1cPPC]

@herd is behind this. @dosdude1 could probably do the swap too.

 

[dosdude1]

@herd is behind this. @dosdude1 could probably do the swap too.

You bet. I actually just recently upgraded the onboard CPU on my PowerMac 6500 (same architecture and basic board as the TAM) from the original 275 MHz PowerPC 603ev to a 300 MHz PPC740L G3 CPU. Since OS X doesn't work with the cache card CPU upgrades (from what I've heard, at least), this onboard CPU swap will allow you to run Tiger on the machine. Not to mention it doesn't require the hard-to-find cache card CPU upgrades. Unfortunately the onboard CPU foorprint is not shared with any G4, but I have some ideas for an interposer PCB I'm planning to work on soon, to allow the addition of real backside cache and onboard G4 CPU upgrade capability.

With that said, most, if not all the G3 cache card upgrades can be swapped to a G4. I can certainly do this if you'd like to send one in.

 

[avadondragon]

Hey there!! That is absolutely crazy!!!! I have read that you can also install MacOS X with the G3 upgrade using XpostFacto. Wondering if you could also install Leopard or even Sorbet Leopard possibly. It would be amazing to see BeOS running on there as well.
Could you provide the link to the person who did the BGA G3-G4 upgrade please? Keep up the great work, these videos are some of the best vintage Mac videos I've seen!

The 128MB RAM ceiling on the TAM would make later versions of X pretty much unusable. That is the bare minimum for 10.3

 

[macuserman]

You bet. I actually just recently upgraded the onboard CPU on my PowerMac 6500 (same architecture and basic board as the TAM) from the original 275 MHz PowerPC 603ev to a 300 MHz PPC740L G3 CPU. Since OS X doesn't work with the cache card CPU upgrades (from what I've heard, at least), this onboard CPU swap will allow you to run Tiger on the machine. Not to mention it doesn't require the hard-to-find cache card CPU upgrades. Unfortunately the onboard CPU foorprint is not shared with any G4, but I have some ideas for an interposer PCB I'm planning to work on soon, to allow the addition of real backside cache and onboard G4 CPU upgrade capability.

With that said, most, if not all the G3 cache card upgrades can be swapped to a G4. I can certainly do this if you'd like to send one in.

View attachment 53171View attachment 53172View attachment 53173

What happens if you add a cache card upgrade at the same time? Can you have a dual G3 or G4 setup? Preposterous I'm sure but I couldn't help my mind going there.

 

[Phipli]

What happens if you add a cache card upgrade at the same time? Can you have a dual G3 or G4 setup? Preposterous I'm sure but I couldn't help my mind going there.

It would run from the logic board G3 until the Sonnet Extension loaded, then it would switch to the L2 upgrade. You'd only get one at a time

 

[macuserman]

It would run from the logic board G3 until the Sonnet Extension loaded, then it would switch to the L2 upgrade. You'd only get one at a time

Booh well that's no fun, I figured as much, but that would be a neat trick if you could do it.

 

[Phipli]

I 'd love for someone to make an interposer to fit a G3 with built in cache onto the 601 footprint, I wouldn't mind if it was just clocked at the original speed, but a clock doubling would be nice too

The thought of a IIci fitted with a Daystar Turbo 750FX really appeals to me, even though it is stupid and would be a terrible computer

 

[3lectr1cPPC]

I'd say the same for the 5300 series (5300/G3 anyone?) but the 603 in those is QFP so there isn't much that can be done. 601 is QFP too.

 

[Phipli]

I'd say the same for the 5300 series (5300/G3 anyone?) but the 603 in those is QFP so there isn't much that can be done. 601 is QFP too.

QFP just means the 740 isn't a direct physical swap. They all use similar busses.

 

[3lectr1cPPC]

Yes, of course. I'd imagine a quadflatpack > BGA interposer would be quite the feat to make.

 

[Phipli]

Yes, of course. I'd imagine a quadflatpack > BGA interposer would be quite the feat to make.

Better than the other way around probably

 

[3lectr1cPPC]

*shiver*