Another Q950 hits the web

[Alan Cottrill]

I spent most of the day getting my new to me Q950 sorted out. Things went pretty smooth once I was told how the lock switch worked. Thanks BigD! I picked it up on ebay last week. The auction listing didn't provide any specs so it was a bit of a gamble.

Here is what I got:

1GB HD

28MB RAM

Audiomedia II card

NUVISION Card

Silicon Express II scsi-2 card

Here is what I did/added:

Format HD

Added scsi cdrom drive

Installed OS 8.1

Attached the AAUI ethernet adapter

So far it runs real well. I'd like to find drivers and software to use the audio/video hardward. But for now it's just a nice addition to the collection.

 

[equill]

Good one. Q 950s may be massive in your lap during a trans-Atlantic flight, but they are damned fine machines on the floor, as long as they are not expected to perform like a G5 on heat. Fussy access doors, but nobody's perfect. Grab yourself some 4 x 30-pin 16MB 60ns RAM sets while they are still obtainable. (Parity cards will allow you to use A/UX when you get around to it.)

de

 

[LCGuy]

Good one. Q 950s may be massive in your lap during a trans-Atlantic flight, but they are damned fine machines on the floor, as long as they are not expected to perform like a G5 on heat.

I'd be surprised if you could even get one onto the plane.

For the record, here's some food for thought: in the second edition of Macs for Dummies, David Pogue states that since the PowerBooks are called "laptops", Quadras should be called "floortops", since "some of them are so huge and powerful looking you're supposed to keep them under your desk".

 

[Alan Cottrill]

I had left it on top of the table where I was working on it but had to move it to the floor because that thing is LOUD! It's like a wind tunnel. And the speaker is LOUD. I fired up Flight Simulator and even with the volume turned down the droning of the plane engine through the internal speaker was just too much to have right next to me.

 

[LCGuy]

I'm sure you found you had a lot more room on your desk (oh, and another desk) once you put it on the floor, too.

 

[beachycove]

I had left it on top of the table where I was working on it but had to move it to the floor because that thing is LOUD! It's like a wind tunnel.

I have replaced the fan in mine with something smaller and quieter. The Q950 now emits a low growl that is much more satisfying to the ear than the original racket, and quite in keeping with the character of the machine. It'd rate it as one of the quieter machine in my collection, in fact. As part of the modification, I removed three spare nubus covers to allow for enhanced air circulation from the nubus slots area at the rear, across the nubus and pds cards and processor, around to the fan at the front, and then out the back via the exhaust system. Works a treat. With this setup, and even with a much smaller fan, I have no resulting heat problems, and no noise to speak of. I have run it this way for weeks at a time.

So I'd highly recommend a transplant — assuming that the cards and so forth that you have installed do not normally run hot. You'd need to monitor it for the first little while to ensure that the machine does not overheat, but all should be well.

I'd bolt a replacement fan to the wire cage over the original fan area, ideally with rubber washers to reduce vibration, and modify the wiring to accommodate the new fan (or connect it to one of the spare drive power plugs). If you plan to use the machine much, you'll not regret the small trouble taken.

 

[TylerEss]

Congrats! With those NuBus cards it sounds like you got a really great deal!

 

[Unknown_K]

Is that Nuvision or Truevision? Are there 2 cards connected with a small cable?

 

[Alan Cottrill]

2 cards connected with one small cable. The only Marking I found was Nuvision. Is that what I have?