Want to upgrade my LC475 to the MAX!

[philallin]

Hello 68k'ers

I have a new (old) plaything in the form of a LC475.

I have decided to upgrade this venerable old lady as far as she will go......problem is I don't actually know how far that is!!!!

As of today I have got this far with the upgrade:

Remove LC040 CPU and fit full 040 with FPU

Alter resistors on M/B to overclock from 25Mhz to 33Mhz

Add 32Mb RAM to the 4Mb onboard = 36Mb

Swap internal 160Mb HDD for 4.3Gb Hdd

Add 10Mbit ethernet card and get iCab 2.9.9 browser working for WWW access

Add external CD drive

Swap 100Mb external HDD for 4.3Gb HDD

Upgrade OS from 7.1 to 7.6

I would like to upgrade the VRAM from 512k to 1Mb if anybody has the VRAM chips to do this please drop me a line.

I would welcome any suggestions as to how i could further upgrade this machine. As I mentioned it's just a play thing with no critical use required of it at all.....I could do almost anything to make it go faster/bigger/wider/taller etc....etc...etc... I'm sure you all get the picture.....what should I do next????

thanks

Phil

 

[Mike Richardson]

You can go up to a 128 MB SIMM, though those are pretty rare. 64 MB are a bit more common. I have several available.

 

[philallin]

You can go up to a 128 MB SIMM, though those are pretty rare. 64 MB are a bit more common. I have several available.

Hi Mike,

I've read about the 128Mb RAM upgrade but it seems that the 'right' type of RAM is required...ie it has to be single sided RAM (or something like that).

If you have 128Mb RAM that will work with my LC475 I'd be really interested in obtaining some from you.

Cheers

Phil

 

[Mike Richardson]

You can go up to a 128 MB SIMM, though those are pretty rare. 64 MB are a bit more common. I have several available.

Hi Mike,

I've read about the 128Mb RAM upgrade but it seems that the 'right' type of RAM is required...ie it has to be single sided RAM (or something like that).

If you have 128Mb RAM that will work with my LC475 I'd be really interested in obtaining some from you.

Cheers

Phil

I have the 64 MB RAM, sorry if I was not clear.

 

[Bunsen]

I have two words for you: Quadra. Overdrive. Dunno where this guy gets his stock from, but he certainly seems to be the only one that has any.

Note the LC475 and the Quadra 605 are exactly the same machine, only the external case shape is different. Not to be confused with the Quadra 650 however.

 

[Byrd]

How have you found these chip accelerators B? Worth spending coin on?

JB

 

[register]

I have two words for you: Quadra. Overdrive.

Hi! The Quadra Overdrive to be found in the above mentioned ebay shop seems to be designed for the 650. Will the accelerator board fit into the pizzabox? Might it interfere with a RAM stick or a pds card in that same enclosure? If anyone could share some experience in using the Quadra Overdrive card in a LC 475: does this upgrade affect the operation of any ports, like disabling the serial connection in a LC475 overclocked to 40 MHz bus speed by "conventional" resistor setting? And, would this thing probably work well inside a 575 / mystic CC ?

 

[Bunsen]

I do apologise: I thought he still had one for the 605/475, but it appears not.

If the Overdrive is made to go in a machine of the same original CPU speed as your target (which is it - both the Centris 650 and the 475 run at 25MHz), it should work, but as you point out, clearance around other components and the case could be a problem.

It doesn't overclock the motherboard - the new CPU sits on a separate, upclocked bus by the look of it.

As far as the 575 goes, the same comments about speed matching and clearance issues apply.

On the other hand, if you were overclocking the 475 to 33MHz, then - barring space issues - one made for a 33MHz machine should work.

I think these cards base their timing on the host machine's bus, so that one designed to run at 50MHz in a 25MHz machine would be overclocked to 66MHz in a 33MHz machine. You might get away with that with supplemental cooling, but I wouldn't want to try it, especially as the 50MHz modules use overclocked 40MHz '040s to start with.

 

[register]

Bunsen, thank you for the detailed information!

 

[philallin]

Thanks for all the detailed info from all you guys.

I've looked on Ebay for Quadra Overdrive but come up with nothing!

What is the Ebay shop name that I need.......I could probably do business with this guy if only I could find him!

 

[MacNoob]

I had one just like that... sent it off to a 68KMLAer who can chime in if they like.

I did this with it:

 

[conceitedjerk]

I had one just like that... sent it off to a 68KMLAer who can chime in if they like.

I remember you showing me that machine when I picked up that SE/30 from you!

I'm going to be resurrecting my own LC475 as the first of my Retrochallenge projects. Hopefully I can find a 128Mb SIMM before January is out.

 

[philallin]

I had one just like that... sent it off to a 68KMLAer who can chime in if they like.
I did this with it:

Hey Noob, nice pic......I'll have the lid back on mine one day.....currently running it open as there is still work to do, however I seem to have been a little distracted over this past few days. I bagged a copy of a game called Escape Velocity....i think it's great and cant stop playing it. It reminds me a lot of a game called Elite that I played endlessly on my old Acorn BBC model B from the mid 80s.......aahhhhh happy days!

 

[Bunsen]

I've looked on Ebay for Quadra Overdrive but come up with nothing!What is the Ebay shop name that I need

I linked directly to his store above.

/eidt/ also note that he says he's not doing international shipping any more :-/

It occurred to me since I last posted, that if Sonnet could have made one Overdrive that physically fitted both the 650 and the 475/605, they surely would have - much cheaper than having two separate production lines, packaging, marketing etc. So I wouldn't recommend gambling on that one fitting a 475/605, unless you're willing to take the chance it'll involve major hardware hackery.

How have you found these chip accelerators B? Worth spending coin on?

To my shame, I have not yet installed either of the two I bought from him :-/ I'll be sure to post a report when I do.

 

[philallin]

"I linked directly to his store above."

OMG! I am just so dumb sometimes!!!

Thanks Bunson, I've checked out your link and see the 650 accelerate card and the 'I'm not shipping internationally anymore' note.

Interesting info to know that this guy exists, and if he ever has an item that i need i'll certainly try to twist his arm into shipping stuff to me in the UK. If that does not work he may be more willing to ship to my relatives in Canada and I can get them to forward it onto me!.