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B&W G3300
- Thread starter jarednt1
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bittorrent download machine
back up computer
load itunes and use as music machine
load emulators and play old school games
spend $500 upgrading the sucker and make it a decent daily use machine for email internet etc.
put os 9 on it and play the older games not supported by classic mode
back up computer
load itunes and use as music machine
load emulators and play old school games
spend $500 upgrading the sucker and make it a decent daily use machine for email internet etc.
put os 9 on it and play the older games not supported by classic mode
The Blue and White G3s can easily be overclocked. I managed to get my 350MHz G3 up to 400MHz (which doesn't seem like much these days, but it's a 14% increase in clock speed), other people have managed to get up to 450MHz with no problems.
Check out this article at LowEndMac.com.
You can also upgrade the processor to a faster G3 or G4, but it hardly seems worth it when you consider the cost of a Mac Mini versus the cost of a processor upgrade.
Aside from that, just max out the RAM, put a fast hard drive in it, upgrade the video card, and maybe find some cool PCI cards to put in those spare slots.
Believe it or not, those old G3s are still useable for low-intensity tasks.
Check out this article at LowEndMac.com.
You can also upgrade the processor to a faster G3 or G4, but it hardly seems worth it when you consider the cost of a Mac Mini versus the cost of a processor upgrade.
Aside from that, just max out the RAM, put a fast hard drive in it, upgrade the video card, and maybe find some cool PCI cards to put in those spare slots.
Believe it or not, those old G3s are still useable for low-intensity tasks.
Put OS X on it and use it as a web server
Keep in OS 9 and put an ATI XClaim Card to make it into a wanna be tivo
Keep in OS 9 and put an ATI XClaim Card to make it into a wanna be tivo
I've found that my G3 runs really well if you limit it to only using OS9 and the software that was written when the G3 was the top-of-the-line. For example, I run an old version of Pro Tools (5.2.1) on my G3 under OS9 and it will quite happily give me 24 tracks with a fair amount of RTAS plugins. It doesn't have all the pretty aqua buttons, or the swirly blue desktop pattern, but, under OS9, the G3 isn't as redundant as some people may think.
It's been a long time since I've used OS X on my G3, but, from memory, OS X (both Jaguar, and Panther) was noticeably slower than OS 9.
My B+W G3/450 runs Panther just dandy... it is at least as fast as OS9, and some things feel slightly faster. 
And I'd definitely put Panther on it rather than Jag, as every machine I've used Panther on (including my old iMac 266...) runs it faster than what it runs Jaguar... besides, even if there was a slight speed penalty, I think Panther would still be more worthwhile than Jaguar, just because of the host of features it has that Jag doesn't have... Not to mention that it seems like a much more user friendly interface.
My machine used to be a 300 when I got it, and I put a 400mhz ZIF in it and clocked it to 450... but even at 300 it used to run Panther very nicely with the 256Mb of RAM that it came with. Of course, faster is always better, so if you can overclock (at least 350 should work) or buy a cheap 400 or 450 ZIF off ebay, then go for it...
My philosophy is that any Mac with a G3 or G4 should have 256Mb RAM or more... and as and any G3 or G4 with that much RAM is capable of running Panther perfectly well, every G3 mac should have it installed on it... just my humble opinion of course.
I'd seriously recommend you put Panther on your machine... you won't regret it a bit!... it will make an excellent machine for everyday use as it is, and it'll even do pro-type work well with a few upgrades... I regularly use mine for DV-editing work (with 512 RAM and a 40Gb HDD that is...)
And I'd definitely put Panther on it rather than Jag, as every machine I've used Panther on (including my old iMac 266...) runs it faster than what it runs Jaguar... besides, even if there was a slight speed penalty, I think Panther would still be more worthwhile than Jaguar, just because of the host of features it has that Jag doesn't have... Not to mention that it seems like a much more user friendly interface.
My machine used to be a 300 when I got it, and I put a 400mhz ZIF in it and clocked it to 450... but even at 300 it used to run Panther very nicely with the 256Mb of RAM that it came with. Of course, faster is always better, so if you can overclock (at least 350 should work) or buy a cheap 400 or 450 ZIF off ebay, then go for it...
My philosophy is that any Mac with a G3 or G4 should have 256Mb RAM or more... and as and any G3 or G4 with that much RAM is capable of running Panther perfectly well, every G3 mac should have it installed on it... just my humble opinion of course.
I'd seriously recommend you put Panther on your machine... you won't regret it a bit!... it will make an excellent machine for everyday use as it is, and it'll even do pro-type work well with a few upgrades... I regularly use mine for DV-editing work (with 512 RAM and a 40Gb HDD that is...)
Thanks
Thanks for your adivce.
I am thinking of going with 9, could someone point in the best direction maybe setting up a webserver for it?
Last question, its got a standerd CDrom drive, can I just plug in a standerd DVD/CDRW drive and have it work?
Thanks
Thanks for your adivce.
I am thinking of going with 9, could someone point in the best direction maybe setting up a webserver for it?
Last question, its got a standerd CDrom drive, can I just plug in a standerd DVD/CDRW drive and have it work?
Thanks
You can use a lot of the ATA drives available, but before you buy one, check on xlr8yourmac.com to see if it is compatible with your system.jarednt1 said:
My G3 and OS upgrade
Guys I'm still running my G3 400 w 1 GIG of ram and the 9 gig stock scsi and an added 120gig ATA.
It was my FCP machine and it still is nice for it if I can ignore the G4 and G5 speeds at work.
I'm finding I'm running into net browsing issues and trying to keep the machine in the dark age of OS9 to be a chore. I loved OS9 but I wanna move on since this is the web and email machine.
My only problem is all my software office, Photshop etc are the older versions.
What is the recommendations for an OS upgrade, without altering the spec of the machine (I might Overclock to 450 though).
Can I safely run the older software and keep them functional.
Thanks
Guys I'm still running my G3 400 w 1 GIG of ram and the 9 gig stock scsi and an added 120gig ATA.
It was my FCP machine and it still is nice for it if I can ignore the G4 and G5 speeds at work.
I'm finding I'm running into net browsing issues and trying to keep the machine in the dark age of OS9 to be a chore. I loved OS9 but I wanna move on since this is the web and email machine.
My only problem is all my software office, Photshop etc are the older versions.
What is the recommendations for an OS upgrade, without altering the spec of the machine (I might Overclock to 450 though).
Can I safely run the older software and keep them functional.
Thanks
I am running OX.3.9 on both of my stock G3 B&W's
using photoshop, illustrator and quark on them just fine
they are great for web design and web graphics work
or repetitive scanning
the video card is not that bad, i can still play some of the newer games on them, but why would I want to with my new 15" 128VRAM PB...
but seriously the G3 towers are still good machines, putting panther on them makes them work so much better and the option to boot into OS 9 or earlier is still useful.
For day to day stuff they are more than adequate.
using photoshop, illustrator and quark on them just fine
they are great for web design and web graphics work
or repetitive scanning
the video card is not that bad, i can still play some of the newer games on them, but why would I want to with my new 15" 128VRAM PB...
but seriously the G3 towers are still good machines, putting panther on them makes them work so much better and the option to boot into OS 9 or earlier is still useful.
For day to day stuff they are more than adequate.
My friend got one of these on eBay a couple of weeks ago and I went up to his parents' house with him tonight (He's letting them use it for a while) and we were messing around on it a bit. It had 256MB when he got it and he put in another 256, bringing it up to 512 and I must say, it ran Panther very nicely. His is a 350MHz.
Great Machine..lots of uses
My G3/300 has 3 internal HDs (2ATA and a SCSI). I have 576MB RAM, with one slot still open. Stock vcard, stock CD drive and an external USB ZIP. It can boot either in OS 9 or OSX 2.8. Bought it new when they came out, loaded with Photoshop v5.5, Illustrator v10, QuarkXPress v4.11, GoLive v6, Acrobat v4, and a host of lesser known creative apps. Got kids; my 5 yr old daughter loves my machine because it runs all the cool kids software better than my son's eMac running Classic. I use it daily and have never had a problem. Been though 2 keyboards though, keys stick down, still have the original hockey puck mouse too. It runs 24/7 (SETI is running all the time). The possibilities are endless for useage. I just happened to be in the Graphic Arts field so my machine is for creating. I still think OS 9 is more responsive than any OS X (thru Panther, haven't tried Tiger yet)
My G3/300 has 3 internal HDs (2ATA and a SCSI). I have 576MB RAM, with one slot still open. Stock vcard, stock CD drive and an external USB ZIP. It can boot either in OS 9 or OSX 2.8. Bought it new when they came out, loaded with Photoshop v5.5, Illustrator v10, QuarkXPress v4.11, GoLive v6, Acrobat v4, and a host of lesser known creative apps. Got kids; my 5 yr old daughter loves my machine because it runs all the cool kids software better than my son's eMac running Classic. I use it daily and have never had a problem. Been though 2 keyboards though, keys stick down, still have the original hockey puck mouse too. It runs 24/7 (SETI is running all the time). The possibilities are endless for useage. I just happened to be in the Graphic Arts field so my machine is for creating. I still think OS 9 is more responsive than any OS X (thru Panther, haven't tried Tiger yet)