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VCF Swap Meet Quadra 900

RadRacer203

Well-known member
Back from the VCF Swap this past weekend and managed to snag this Quadra 900! Been on my list for a long time, and I'm really excited to mess with it. Definitely is gonna need some upgrades though, it only has 12mb ram currently, and the base model video card. Probably also want to get an accelerator or at the very least fit a faster 040 and oscillator. Never had my hands on a nubus Mac till now so I'm very excited to play with it
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Johnnya101

Well-known member
That looks to be in nice shape. Definitely get a good video card and some ram, as you said. Good find.
 

RadRacer203

Well-known member
That looks to be in nice shape. Definitely get a good video card and some ram, as you said. Good find.
Yeah, I think I'd like to get 16x 4mb sticks of ram for 64mb, but I have to find some of those. Any video card you'd recommend? It has the "Apple High Res Video Card" that can only do 640x480 as far as I can tell
 

cheesestraws

Well-known member
The 900 should have on-board video that will do up to a decent resolution, but what it won't do is PC-style resolutions, so whether it'll work with any given monitor is a bit hit and miss. It's much like the video output on a Q700.

I'd try using onboard video first before buying an extra NuBus card, because those are getting expensive. With stock VRAM it should do 1152x870 at 8-bit colour. Another option would be to look into getting something like an Extron RGB-HDMI 300A—I have one of those and it will talk Mac resolutions fine, and it'll probably be cheaper than a new video card that's as good as the onboard video.

If there's a graphics card in there it will have been for a second display, or perhaps if the previous owner was like me, for storage.
 

reallyrandy

Well-known member
Nice, I was there too. I just bought some small accessories. Glad you found something you were looking for.
 

Johnnya101

Well-known member
For ram, @Siliconinsider will be making some 4mb sticks in the near future. They also make Vram for the 700, no idea if it's the same as the 900. If cost is an issue, I'd do what cheese straws says and stick with onboard. Nubus anything is getting ridiculous in price.
 

RadRacer203

Well-known member
Ok cool, I'll definitely look into that ram, I need 4mb sticks for my SE/30 too. I'll have to see about the vram, I have no idea what it uses. I would like to get an upgraded graphics card at some point though, just curious which ones would be good in this cause I've never messed with any Mac like this before
 

Unknown_K

Well-known member
Well you have the key and a DAT drive which is nice. Built in video is decent on the 9x0 series.
 

Siliconinsider

Well-known member
I have ordered the chips, but shipping is usually super slow. Hopefully within 6 weeks I will have them to make 4MB sticks!
 

RadRacer203

Well-known member
Just ordered a Radius graphics card for cheap on ebay for it that can do up to 1152x882 if I remember correctly at 24 bit color. Should be perfect for what I need
 
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