Uber Beige Upgrades

[im_to_hyper]

This isn't quite a collector's issue, but more of a tinkerer's type of thing.

For some reason, I got obsessed with upgrading the old Macs I have laying around my house, and was given money by a friend to upgrade them so he could use one or two.

Here is how things stand as of right now... I have the "before" specs listed, followed by the "after" specs.

Before:

Beige G3
G3 266MHz (O/C'd to 300MHz)
64MB RAM
20GB HD
CD-ROM
ZIP
2MB internal graphics
OS X 10.1

After:

Bright Silver Case G4
G4 500MHz
512MB (Possibly 768MB RAM)
60GB HD
Superdrive 2x
ZIP
32MB PCI Graphics Card (Hopefully 64MB if someone here has one)
PCI USB/FireWire
HOPEFULLY: PCI Wireless
New PRAM battery
OS X 10.3 for sure, Hopefully 10.4 if it will work.

So, overall, it is taking a pretty old computer and turning it into something pretty nice for someone to use basic iMovie editing with and browse the web.

I still need the RAM, Graphics, USB/FireWire and Wireless. Superdrive is still "iffy" as well.

Anyone else doing something like this at all?

Lets turn this into the "uber upgrade thread!"

[RacerX]

The one I'm using as my main system now started out as...Beige G3 Mini Tower original configuration:G3 at 266 with 512k of L2
128 MB of memory
onboard ATI Rage graphics with 6 MB of VRAM
6 GB hard drive (onboard ATA bus 1)
24x CD-ROM (bay 1, onboard ATA bus 2)
Zip drive (bay 2, onboard SCSI)Current configuration:G4 at 533 MHz with 1 MB of L2
640 MB of memory
ATI Radeon 7000 with 32 MB of VRAM (PCI slot 1)
onboard ATI Rage graphics with 6 MB of VRAM (not in use)
Tempo UltraATA66 card (PCI slot 2)
80 GB hard drive (UltraATA66 bus 1)
24x CD-ROM (bay 1, onboard ATA bus 1)
6x DVD-ROM (bay 2, onboard ATA bus 2)
USB card (PCI slot 3)
-soon- 8x CDR (bay 3, onboard SCSI)And the bottom of the case has enough room for two more internal hard drives (though the card will except up to 4 drives), so it still has room to grow a little.

I was actually given two Beige G3s and took the best parts of both and put them together in one system and then sold off the remaining parts to pay for the remaining upgrades.

I'm thinking about replacing the USB card with a USB 2.0 or USB 2.0/Firewire combo card, but the thing is that the card I have now works with iTunes nicely. Given that, I may just stick with what I have.

[Pancake]

I'm thinking about replacing the USB card with a USB 2.0 or USB 2.0/Firewire combo card, but the thing is that the card I have now works with iTunes nicely. Given that, I may just stick with what I have.

I just woke up, so maybe my brain isn't at speed, but I can't figure out how your USB card works with iTunes?:confused:

[QCassidy352]

nice upgrades guys! I always wanted to do that with my old beige G3 (266) but every time I was going to I started looking at prices and always came to the conclusion it wasn't worth it. Still, great to see those old G3s alive and kicking with some nice specs. :)

[MoparShaha]

I just woke up, so maybe my brain isn't at speed, but I can't figure out how your USB card works with iTunes?:confused:
I'm guessing iPod.

[Eidorian]

PCI Extreme is a godsend even if it causes the occasional video crash. :cool:

[macEfan]

Yeah, the beige g3s are great little machines.

Mine:

g3 300 mhz ( I don't know how to over clock it:eek: )
512mb PC 66 ram
10gb main hard drive
40gb secondary hard drive
DVD drive
Firewire/USB combo card
10/100 network card
Radius 8mb graphics card with VGA and Svideo out
Running OS X.2 as my itunes server :D

Just dont forget that the OS must be on the first 8gb partition (unless you have an IDE controller card)

[DougTheImpaler]

My beige G3 upgrade is not "uber" but it's not bad.

Original specs:

233MHz (Rev A with the crappy ROM that doesn't like slave drives), 32MB RAM, 4GB hard drive, standard 2MB graphics, OS 8.1

Current specs:

G3 333, 576MB RAM (2x256, 1x64), 120GB hard drive. Added 3 PCI cards:

Voodoo4 PCI Mac Edition (didn't buy a Voodoo5 because I didn't think it'd fit)
Sonnet ATA/66 card
Daystar USB 2-port card

The ATA card has a 40GB hard drive attached. I've also got an ATi Xclaim TV tuner for watching TV. It's running 9.1, as that's the latest OS that seems to work with OpenGL and the Voodoo, since it's not compatible with OpenGL 1.2.1 or later. I could go through the trouble of manually disabling/installing OpenGL versions that are older, but I'm happy with this setup. It watches TV and plays some older games, and GLIDE games like Diablo II run very nicely on it.

Come to think of it, aside from the CPU (which is going to cost a hefty penny to go beyond a 333MHz G3) it's actually pretty nicely upgraded.

A nice upgrade from the PowerMac 5500/225 I had with the Apple TV card.

[4JNA]

ok. hate to haul out the stuff from 'back in the day', but this thread made me go to the basement with the camera. before x, in the myst of 'os 9' time, i thought it would be cool to have more space, more drives, and a stand up case. didn't know that you could modify peecee power supplies, so i drilled like 50 holes in the 'side' cover of the g3 power supply, mounted it sideways in the atx case, and added the rest of the beige goodies, to include the floppy with cutout coverplate to match. wow, what a lot of work! ran great, amazed my friends, now collecting dust. all the 'cool' parts moved on to b&w upgrades. thanks for the trip down memory lane...:eek:
49715

49716

[im_to_hyper]

Come to think of it, aside from the CPU (which is going to cost a hefty penny to go beyond a 333MHz G3) it's actually pretty nicely upgraded.

A nice upgrade from the PowerMac 5500/225 I had with the Apple TV card.

Actually, if you search Ebay you can find ZIF processors for not too much. This is the one I am using in mine. I have bought from this seller before, and all their products work great.

450MHz G4 LINK HERE (http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=9737362192&rd=1&sspagename=STRK%3AMEWN%3AIT&rd=1)

Here ([QUOTE=macEfan]

[URL="http://www.bekkoame.ne.jp/~t-imai/g3ae1.html) is a nice little site that includes the jumper chart for overclocking, and the pin settings, and a general guide on how to overclock.

Linkety: Here (http://www.bekkoame.ne.jp/~t-imai/g3ae1.html)

[Pierre Films]

For some reason, I got obsessed with upgrading the old Macs I have laying around my house...
You're not the only one ;)

I love the Beige G3's...infact its my main desktop. It too has been upgraded :)

Beige G3 MiniTower:

1Ghz G4 Sonnet
768Mb RAM
80Gb HD
ATI Radeon 9200 128mb PCI
Mac OS X 10.4.6 & Mac OS 9.2

Looking for a USB2.0/Firewire card for it and perhaps a SuperDrive now that OWC has lowered the prices even more.

Pierre Films http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v208/PierreFilms/Apple%20Forum%20Icon/icon_ideaTP.gif

[RacerX]

I just woke up, so maybe my brain isn't at speed, but I can't figure out how your USB card works with iTunes?:confused:Frankly, I wasn't curious enough about the how to look into it any further... my iPod shuffle works with the card, which is good enough for me. :D

[im_to_hyper]

Frankly, I wasn't curious enough about the how to look into it any further... my iPod shuffle works with the card, which is good enough for me. :D

HA!

I believe he meant, what relationship is there between the card and iTunes... what bearing would a piece of hardware have on the overall operation of iTunes.

Anyway, it is cool to see so many people with great upgrades!

I will update my post with some pictures, soon.

Keep 'em coming here!

[RacerX]

I believe he meant, what relationship is there between the card and iTunes... what bearing would a piece of hardware have on the overall operation of iTunes.Oh... I thought he was wondering how it got around the only compatible with built in USB part of iPods. :rolleyes: Which I'm not sure about.

[im_to_hyper]

Here is a setup that was just hooked up today:

Specs:

1GHz G4 ZIF upgrade
768MB RAM
120GB HD
Superdrive
32MB ATI Card w/DVI
19" AOC Widescreen DVI monitor @ 1440x900 resolution
New white Apple Keyboard
Logitech USB two-button mouse

Had to take of the front holder handle, since it was cracked. I need to find a new one.

EDIT: Wow! That desk sure looks dirty. Didn't realize it looks like that, in all honesty!

[Maxwell Smart]

You should move the rear handle to the front of the machine until you get a replacement :D

[im_to_hyper]

Ah, good idea, I suppose.

It has been running for a day now -- its a pretty nice computer. Really like the widescreen, too! A 32MB card can drive that without any problems.

[ReanimationLP]

Ah, good idea, I suppose.

It has been running for a day now -- its a pretty nice computer. Really like the widescreen, too! A 32MB card can drive that without any problems.

PM me if you need a handle and some more RAM. I have lots of 256MB modules and plenty of handles for the Blue G3s.

[madmax_2069]

my Beige G3 AIO spec's are in my sig.

now to get ahold of a Yikes G4 case, PSU, and front board, cause i want to build my Yikes system up now

[RedTomato]

I installed 900GB of drive space into my G3 B+W yesterday.

That's about 7 times more than the next largest poster in this thread.

I rule.

In an Uber Upgrade thread.

Oh the humanity!

(Ok so it's not a beige G3 but let me enjoy my moment of glory :)

..RedTomato..

Dirty details:

B+W G3, brought for £50 last Xmas inc 1GB ram 12GB drive
RocketRaid 2220 card (8 port SATA) cheap off ebay
3x300GB Maxtor Sata in RAID5

I plan on adding more 300GB drives after building or taking a drive cage from a spare PC.

Not sure if the power supply can take it tho, each 300GB drive is 1.5 amps on the 12v line, + 0.5 amps each for fan, mobo, graphics card, original 12GB drive and maybe another 1.5 amps for the G3 processor. That's 8amps in total, and the power unit states a maximum of 8 amps on the 12v line.

[livingfortoday]

Well, I can't compare to the mad upgrades in this thread, but since I OC'd my Beige today, I figured I'd post specs.

Beige G3
366Mhz (from 300Mhz - gonna try for 400Mhz soon)
544MB RAM
40GB HD

Edit: Okay, 400Mhz won't boot, but it's stable at 385Mhz now.

[Anonymous Freak]

My main beige (tower):
G4/400, 384MB RAM, 60 GB hard drive + original 4 GB, ATI Radeon 7000 PCI, 2x SuperDrive , combo FW/USB2/ATA133 card, and an 802.11g card.

Also have a mostly stock 233MHz desktop. It's only additions is a Radeon 7000 and a USB card.

My B&W has:
G4/500, 448MB RAM, 80 GB hard drive, ATI Radeon PCI (not 7000, the original is faster,) 8x SuperDrive (pulled from an eMac that had a 16x +DL +RAM drive put in,) Gigabit Ethernet card. And a serial port adapter (takes the modem out and puts in an old-style mini-DIN-8 RS-422 serial port.) Out of irony, I have an old ADB keyboard (original Extended,) and mouse; plus an old beige 17" 1710 monitor, beige AppleDesign speakers, and had my Newton connected through the serial port before it (the Newton) died.

[livingfortoday]

To you who have G4's in your beiges, are you using upgrade cards, or do certain types of G4's pulled from other Powermacs work in them?

[Anonymous Freak]

To you who have G4's in your beiges, are you using upgrade cards, or do certain types of G4's pulled from other Powermacs work in them?

One is a Sonnet upgrade, the other is a pull from a PMac G4. The pull is in the beige, the Sonnet is in the B&W. (The B&W can have firmware problems with G4s, so I made sure to run the Sonnet firmware update before trying it. The beige generally doesn't have any firmware issues.)

[livingfortoday]

One is a Sonnet upgrade, the other is a pull from a PMac G4. The pull is in the beige, the Sonnet is in the B&W. (The B&W can have firmware problems with G4s, so I made sure to run the Sonnet firmware update before trying it. The beige generally doesn't have any firmware issues.)

Ok, cool. I'd read that the Beige couldn't handle pulls from G4 towers, since the bus on those processors was 100Mhz versus the 66Mhz in the Beige. Could you point me to a site, or do you know off the top of your head which G4's could be pulled and put in place of the G3 in the beige? I can't seem to find definitive answers anywhere, and the one G4 processor I have definitely won't fit.

Thanks.

[madmax_2069]

One is a Sonnet upgrade, the other is a pull from a PMac G4. The pull is in the beige, the Sonnet is in the B&W. (The B&W can have firmware problems with G4s, so I made sure to run the Sonnet firmware update before trying it. The beige generally doesn't have any firmware issues.)

Ok, cool. I'd read that the Beige couldn't handle pulls from G4 towers, since the bus on those processors was 100Mhz versus the 66Mhz in the Beige. Could you point me to a site, or do you know off the top of your head which G4's could be pulled and put in place of the G3 in the beige? I can't seem to find definitive answers anywhere, and the one G4 processor I have definitely won't fit.

Thanks.


yea but also the yikes CPU in a Beige G3 wont work right cause OF dont have the proper info to use the L2 on the G4 case the addresses for the L2 is diffrent in the G3 than in the G4. and in OF reports the cpu as a 60? and the reason for that is cause there is no info in OF for a G4

if there was a way to add the proper info into OF about the G4 cpu. say like all the addresses for the L2 and components in the G4 and the info to say what the cpu is. like look in OF on a yikes G4 and look at the cpu info and write it all down , and then put the G4 into the Beige G3 and boot into OF and look at the cpu info and you will see what im talking about.

if you could imput that G4 info into the Beige G3's OF from the yikes then the cpu would and should properly work. but im not holding my breath.

the only way for you to use the L2 on the G4 cpu from a yikes on the Beige is to use the L2 cache enabler from some where.

i tryed that same upgrade path to pull a G4 cpu from a yikes "it worked and ran at the 400mhz speed" and put it into the Beige G3 and i found out that the L2 wasnt being used and the system ran real slow. and i tryed to use a L2 enabler progie and all i got was lockup's when i tryed to boot to OS 9.2.2 during the extension's loading. the ATI exelorator extention was conflicting with the L2 enabler extention and would lockup.

so i just bought a G3 450mhz cpu and since my system bus is at 66mhz i could select 433 or 466 i opt for 466. and i have no problems what so ever with that cpu. people have tryed to feed me the the BS on why the G4 cpu didnt work in the Beige G3 cause of the 100mhz system bus in a yikes vs the 66mhz bus on the Beige, Yea right if that was the case the G3 cpu from a B&W would not work either. all it is is OF dont have the proper info to detect the G4 cpu right, and since it cant detect it right cause the proper info isnt there in OF it uses the 60? info and that is by far not the same settings that the G4 cpu uses.


sorry for my running at the mouth. but it woruld be cool if a fix was possable to add in OF to get the Beige G3 to properly detect a G4 cpu L2 and all with no software help of a L2 enabler

[Anonymous Freak]

Based on your posts, I went and opened them up and checked. You're right. I have the Sonnet in the beige, and the G4 pull in the B&W with a firmware hack. (May even just be the Sonnet hack.) Which also means that the two speeds are reversed. 400 MHz in the B&W, 500 MHz in the beige. I really should put the Sonnet in the B&W.....

[ReanimationLP]

Add this uber Beige to the list :)

Got it as -
266 MHz G3
32MB RAM
NO HD
CD-ROM
Wouldnt turn on.

Now is a -
300 MHz G3 OC'ed to 333MHz
512MB RAM
8GB IDE, 9GB SCSI
CD-ROM, 48x
Boots
Mac OS X Jaguar, Mac OS X Panther, Mac OS X Tiger, Mac OS 9.2.2
ATi Rage 128 16MB Graphics
USB 1.1

I think my brothers going to love his new Mac. :D He was using a 8500 with 9.1

Whats even scarier, is Tiger FLYS on this thing. Its faster on this ol' Beige than Panther or Jaguar. O.O