Performa 6290cd Logic Board upgrades?

[Ed_Oscuro]

Hey folks. I've read and read about this system and it all remains quite mysterious. I've got an "okay" 100MHz Performa 6290cd with 40MB RAM and I want to upgrade it. I know it'd be cheap to just buy a better Mac, but I like the form factor (somewhat...) and just want to do it. In any case I see symptoms of bad performance in a game that came on the system (little old Lode Runner: The Legend Returns..!) and don't really want to deal with it trying to play Marathon Infinity

As I understand it there's two (maybe more?) options available:

The first is: Get a logic board for a Power Mac 6500 (p/n 661-1508). It's a 300MHz system, and unless I find a bare motherboard I'm not about to tear apart the first 300MHz desktop system just so I can upgrade an old Performa. Another problem is that the processor is a surface mount and I'd have to hunt down a processor upgrade utilizing the L2 cache slot, but this would let me get up to a G3. Not too shabby for a 6290cd! I'm not discounting this option offhand even despite the challenges, as I think I know where I can buy one of the motherboards.

There's another option which I read about but don't currently have the link to. I'll try to find it again, later.

Anyhow, this is supposed to be a more fun "help" topic since I'm trying to set up the computer to be a game machine, and as it's a $24 (after the thrift store gouged me a couple times by selling the keyboard and other bits seperately, I'm actually using a Mac Classic II mouse (which had no mouseball) with it) I'm not expecting TOO much out of it.

Quite a rude awakening to the world of the x200s, though...

 

[jomeyqmalone]

It's been some time now, but this computer still has a compelling low-profile form factor. I have one of these machines and was considering a similar upgrade in order to play Unreal Tournament and Quake 3 era games a few years back. Before doing any sort of logic board upgrade though, the most important part is upgrading the power supply. Any of the logic boards capable of the g3 upgrades has a pci bus, and requires 5v power which the 6290 power supply was not designed to handle. There are ways to handle this documented on the web if you're handy with electronics. The easiest solution is to just get the power supply from a 6360. When it comes to motherboards, the 6360 board is again the best option, as the 2 pci card risers in the 6500s will not fit in a 6290 case. The 6360 board will pop right in. Once the board and power supply are taken care of, then it's just a matter of putting in a L2 type g3 uprgrade, and if you're interested in gaming, a video card. There seems to be a few issues with certain video cards and g3 upgrades conflicting on these boards, so do some research at xlr8yourmac.com . Given the short 7 inch pci opening in the case, your choice of video cards is limited. I'd recommend a Voodoo 3 card, as they are relatively easy to come by (the pc ones work fine once you flash them). They don't support OS X, but neither does the 6290.
This could be a fun project, but getting hold of a 6360 power supply proved to be the tough part for me. Good luck.