Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

iMac G3 Rev. A 233 MHz - what can I do with it?

T

timelord726

macrumors member
Original poster
Nov 4, 2007
80
0
Maryland, USA
Hi everybody,

I have a very original Rev. A iMac, bondi blue with a 233 MHz G3. It's never been upgraded (hardware-wise) and it's running 10.3.9. I believe it has 96 MB of RAM and a 6 GB hard drive.

What can I do with it (in terms of hardware upgrades)? I know it's never going to be a high-end pro machine no matter how much money I pour into it, but right now it's sitting in my closet gathering dust. I'd be willing to spend some money making it into a more functional toy.

I'd like to know what it's possible to upgrade in there. Processor? Doubtful, but I'd be interested to know. RAM and hard drive should be relatively simple. What's the most I can put in? What about VRAM? Is there an AirPort card I can shove in there? (And can I get 10.4 or [haha] 10.5 on here?)

Thanks for any information. :)
 
California

California

macrumors 68040
Aug 21, 2004
3,885
90
timelord726 said:
Hi everybody,

I have a very original Rev. A iMac, bondi blue with a 233 MHz G3. It's never been upgraded (hardware-wise) and it's running 10.3.9. I believe it has 96 MB of RAM and a 6 GB hard drive.

What can I do with it (in terms of hardware upgrades)? I know it's never going to be a high-end pro machine no matter how much money I pour into it, but right now it's sitting in my closet gathering dust. I'd be willing to spend some money making it into a more functional toy.

I'd like to know what it's possible to upgrade in there. Processor? Doubtful, but I'd be interested to know. RAM and hard drive should be relatively simple. What's the most I can put in? What about VRAM? Is there an AirPort card I can shove in there? (And can I get 10.4 or [haha] 10.5 on here?)

Thanks for any information. :)
Click to expand...

There is a processor upgrade for it. I think there is a Sonnet 600mhz plus firewire upgrade for it.

Outside of that, pop up to a 120gb hard drive in it and you can at least double the ram to either 512mb or 1 gig depending on which 233mhz you have.

I would not go higher than 120 gigs on the ddrive it won't see it and I had trouble with an old Cube with a 200gig drive in it with the same 128 gig limiter.

I think there was also a vram upgrade from 4mb to 6mb if I recall correctly.

Check to make sure you don't already have 6mb vram.
 
sngx1275

sngx1275

macrumors regular
Jan 27, 2009
134
11
Missouri
Aside from what was said above, you can get 10.4 on it without any fuss. Probably not a great idea without more RAM though. 10.5 though I don't think is possible, you could mod the 10.5 install to ignore the Mhz requirement (or do something with the... having a brain fart, but similar to a bios setting in PCs so you didn't have to mod the dvd). But 10.5 needs to do things that are coded with a G4 and above in mind, but not a G3. So as far as I know, it is impossible to install Leopard and have it run on a G3. But any speed G4 is capable of running it.
 
T

timelord726

macrumors member
Original poster
Nov 4, 2007
80
0
Maryland, USA
sngx1275 said:
Aside from what was said above, you can get 10.4 on it without any fuss. Probably not a great idea without more RAM though. 10.5 though I don't think is possible, you could mod the 10.5 install to ignore the Mhz requirement (or do something with the... having a brain fart, but similar to a bios setting in PCs so you didn't have to mod the dvd). But 10.5 needs to do things that are coded with a G4 and above in mind, but not a G3. So as far as I know, it is impossible to install Leopard and have it run on a G3. But any speed G4 is capable of running it.
Click to expand...
I'm not even going to bother trying 10.5 I don't think.

A while back I tried quite hard to get 10.4 on it and ran into nothing but trouble. I used XPostFacto and tried a whole bunch of different things (don't remember what at this point) but I spent a good couple days on it and it absolutely refused to take. Any idea why that is?
 
Hrududu

Hrududu

macrumors 68020
Jul 25, 2008
2,300
628
Central US
timelord726 said:
I'm not even going to bother trying 10.5 I don't think.

A while back I tried quite hard to get 10.4 on it and ran into nothing but trouble. I used XPostFacto and tried a whole bunch of different things (don't remember what at this point) but I spent a good couple days on it and it absolutely refused to take. Any idea why that is?
Click to expand...
96Mb of RAM would probably be part of the problem along with the fact your model can have as little as 2Mb of VRAM. I don't know about the Bondi blue iMac, but I have a buddy with a 266MHz Tangerine running 10.4 as well as can be expected. He simply installed the HD in a Tiger supporting computer, ran the installer and then popped the drive back into the iMac. I would guess its just as simple with yours since the 5 flavors iMacs really weren't much different.
 
T

Theclamshell

macrumors 68030
Mar 2, 2009
2,741
3
timelord726 said:
I'm not even going to bother trying 10.5 I don't think.

A while back I tried quite hard to get 10.4 on it and ran into nothing but trouble. I used XPostFacto and tried a whole bunch of different things (don't remember what at this point) but I spent a good couple days on it and it absolutely refused to take. Any idea why that is?
Click to expand...

you cant put 10.5 on anything 867 mhz or slower and i think 10.3 is your best bet. I have that on all my G3 machines and its great for them

To be honest i dont think its worth it. You cant get a 600 imac G3 for the same price or less as the upgrades unless this has sentimental
 
Hrududu

Hrududu

macrumors 68020
Jul 25, 2008
2,300
628
Central US
fun173 said:
you cant put 10.5 on anything 867 mhz or slower and i think 10.3 is your best bet. I have that on all my G3 machines and its great for them

To be honest i dont think its worth it. You cant get a 600 imac G3 for the same price or less as the upgrades unless this has sentimental
Click to expand...
I've 10.5 running pretty nicely on my 450MHz G4 Cube. Basically you just need a G4 and plenty of RAM to run 10.5. The G3 code isn't there, so installing on a G3 is next to impossible.
 
T

Theclamshell

macrumors 68030
Mar 2, 2009
2,741
3
Hrududu said:
I've 10.5 running pretty nicely on my 450MHz G4 Cube. Basically you just need a G4 and plenty of RAM to run 10.5. The G3 code isn't there, so installing on a G3 is next to impossible.
Click to expand...

Really?!?!?! i thought it was 867 or faster but im happy if its not
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom