Quadra 610 + DayStar PowerPro 601 100Mhz fitment issues

[Byrd]

Hi all,

I recently picked up a Quadra 610, as I didn't have any 6x0x cased Macs - it's a really nice machine, with only a few electrolytic caps and standard 15-pin video output  

I have sitting around a DayStar PowerPro 601 100Mhz PPC upgrade card (the model without RAM slots) which I thought would slide right into the PDS slot being the same layout as the Apple PPC 601 PDS upgrade card.  It looks the same - but the connector is offset 4cm over, making the DayStar card butt up against the 3.5" HD at the front of the case.  I looked at the PowerPro manual and DayStar do indeed sell an adapter board for the Quadra 610, which pushes the connector back allowing the card to align properly in this casing.  

With no DayStar adapter, I'm assuming the existing Apple PDS riser will work fine but I'll need to relocate the 3.5" SCSI HD or look into a smaller option in the same space.  SCSI2SD is a tad expensive, so was thinking a 2.5" SCSI HD with 80pin SCSI adapter.

My SCSI knowledge is poor, does anyone know of a cheap low profile SCSI adapter I could put to use?

Thanks

JB

 

[MrGasS27]

Mh, if you want to put a SCA80 I think you must buy an adapter that terminates high bytes and the drive must have support for 8 Bit Narrow SCSI.

Maybe you can put the 3.5 drive in an external box, SCSI2SD is a very nice and useful device.

 

[Bunsen]

IIRC, the 2.5" SCSI drives (Seagate Savvio and the like) are 68 pin, not 80 pin.

Another option might be to modify the bracket under the drive to drop it down a little, but that's permanent surgery on the case plastics.  That gap under the drive is also the inlet for cooling air for the whole system, which might present problems.

Or, you could move the drive over into the CD-ROM bay, and use an external CD-ROM when necessary.

 

[Byrd]

Some good ideas, thanks.  When finances permit I might try a SCSI2SD, as Bunsen noted it'll get steamy in there with the concerns of an additional spinning disk, 2.5" or otherwise.

 

[omidimo]

I don't know if this is any help, but this is the adapter that shipped with the DayStar 601 card for Centris Macs.

 

[trag]

Wouldn't be hard to produce new copies of that adapter, except the connector is probably unobtainium.

 

[Byrd]

The Apple PDS adapter is much the same but with the black PDS connector positioned approximately 3-4cm more to the left, going off omidimo's image (thanks for posting the pic).  I assume the Daystar 601 works fine in the Apple PDS adapter, but I need to make up a custom bracket and standoff to make it fit securely.

I wouldn't bother normally putting a PPC upgrade card in a 68K, but the temptation of 100Mhz (with associated improvements in disk, video, memory throughput) appeals, running a slimmed down version of OS 8.1/8.6.  The Quadra 610 is a nice machine to use and worthy of such attention!  It's pretty vanilla in specs but has that higher quality feel over LC and Centris Macs of the era - I can see it needing much less maintenance over the years.

JB

 

[trag]

 but the temptation of 100Mhz (with associated improvements in disk, video, memory throughput) appeals,

JB

My experience with the Turbo601 in a IIci was that video and disk didn't really improve with the addition of the PPC processor.   I think those systems were already maxed out and bottlenecked by bandwidth limitations that the upgrade does nothing to improve.  I had a Jackhammer and a Thunder IV card installed already, IIRC.

 

[Byrd]

I always recall the lowly Apple PPC upgrade card in a Quadra 700 boosted everything and was a step up running PPC code, even at a paltry 50mhz. But you wouldn’t bother with such a card in a Quadra now.