Help!!! Just got my first POWERMAC!!! ...7200!!

[nickyj182]

Hey guys!

I am a converted man from the evil world of Wintelm and as of yesterday, a proud mac user for one year. My college had a surplus sell yesterday, and I stumpled upon a Power Macintosh 7200 / 120! Regardless if it was out of date or not, it had a color apple monitor (14") and a mouse and keyboard for just 35 bucks! I was like, hell yeah! I brought her home, fired her up to see she had no software on her! So I broke out the OS 9.1 Install CD and I brought new life back into the old power mac! Needless to say, I am happy!! But I have many questions!!!

1. I heard you can upgrade the old processors up to G3's!! Is this true? If so how, and how much!

2. If it at all possible to ad a slot for an airport card? I want Max Reebo (I named her!) to be on our network, The Orchard!

3. Am I crazy for wanting to add an internal HD, max out the ram, and put a G3 in an old power mac? Hah! Tell ME!!!!

Thanks!
Nick

 

[AlphaTech]

For upgrading the processor to something with enough balls to get decent use, look at www.sonnettech.com/. They make pretty good upgrade parts for most Mac's (if you have the scratch to get them).

To add Airport, you would have to get a PCI card that has the ability to use a wireless network card. You would be better off just getting a 10/100 NIC for it (it has 10BASE-T built in already). After that, if you want any USB or FireWire connectivity, you will need to get a PCI card (or two)

Looks like you have a SCSI hard drive interface. To use modern (and less expensive) hard drives (ATA100/133) you would need to get an ATA PCI card.

Bottom line... do some research for PCI cards and processor upgrades before doing any of it. It might end up costing more then you can afford, or justify. I would slide away from getting a larger SCSI hard drive, since ATA drives are much cheaper. The current ATA levels give SCSI more then a run for the money. Considering how you can get a 120GB drive for about $200 (or so). Try and get that size in SCSI, and get your rich relative to get it for you (big $$ for anything even close).

 

[eyelikeart]

Re: Help!!! Just got my first POWERMAC!!! ...7200!!

Originally posted by nickyj182
3. Am I crazy for wanting to add an internal HD, max out the ram, and put a G3 in an old power mac? Hah! Tell ME!!!!

I wouldn't say u are crazy...but honestly...for the money u may end up spending....u could most likely get a new lowend G4 system...or even check around for a decently priced, used G4...

but if u are going to go the long route...which may end up being quite gratifying once it is complete....listen to Alpha...

 

[mac15]

go for a cheap imac or the lowend powermac
or get the last models that were out...you can get em real cheap

 

[britboy]

Re: Help!!! Just got my first POWERMAC!!! ...7200!!

Originally posted by nickyj182
1. I heard you can upgrade the old processors up to G3's!! Is this true? If so how, and how much!

If it's any help to you, last year i upgraded my 7600 (almost identical to what you've got) with a sonnet G3 500MHz card. It's really, really simple to do. Just open the case up b sliding the top off, remove the old processor, and insert the new one. It's not ZIF, so you'll have to press it in quite firmly, but it really gives the system a kick.

The only problem is that the bus isn't quite able to keep up with the processor, so in effect i only get a boost to 195MHz. Still, it runs about twice as fast now

 

[AlphaTech]

Hey britboy... the 7200 is not the same as your 7600. Sonnet does have an upgrade card, but it doesn't go into a processor slot but rather into a PCI slot. Directions right from Sonnet's web site (http://www.sonnettech.com/product/crescendo_7200.html)...

The Crescendo/7200 G3 or G4 installs in minutes with illustrated instructions. There are three easy steps:

Step 1. Run the Sonnet installer. There are no switches or jumpers to set or control panels to configure.

Step 2. Add memory to the processor card, either by moving the largest DIMMs from the motherboard, or by adding new DIMMs.* (You must leave a minimum of 16 or 32MB of memory on the motherboard, depending on the OS version.)

Step 3. Plug the Crescendo/7200 into the first PCI slot.

Consider how the 7200 uses a PowerPc 601 processor, it may not be worth doing much to. By anything close to today's standards a 120MHz 601 chip is pitiful. You will need to get 168 pin DIMMs for memory (not the PC66/100/133 chips sold all over the place today). It maxes out at either 256 or 512, depending on where you look.

Personally, since seeing how the processor upgrade path goes, I wouldn't waste any money upgrading it at all. There is a good chance that PCI cards will not work, or work properly, in a system that old (believe it was the first from Apple to use PCI slots).

Good conversation piece, and you will be able to power it up to prove the lifespan of Mac systems, but beyond that, forgedaboutit...

 

[britboy]

Originally posted by AlphaTech
Hey britboy... the 7200 is not the same as your 7600.

I meant in terms of the case, and i assumed much of the internal architecture would be the same. Thanks for the correction anyway.

 

[AlphaTech]

Originally posted by britboy


I meant in terms of the case, and i assumed much of the internal architecture would be the same. Thanks for the correction anyway.

They came out with way too many models during those years... Generally the x100 was the first generation PPC system, the x200 was the second and so on. Your 7600 was one of the last before the G3 came out, which is why it is easier to upgrade and generally better then a 7200.

I have heard of people having problems trying to use new PCI cards on the older Mac systems, like the x200 series.

 

[Hemingray]

Not to plug PowerMax.com, but they've got used beige G3's and bondi iMacs for about $400-500... A LOT cheaper in the long run than upgrading that 7200! Not to discourage you or anything...

Welcome to the Mac!

 

[mc68k]

I've had personal experience with the 7200. Bottom line: do NOT upgrade it. I was young…(alright…still am) and naive once, and bought this thinking it was upgrade friendly.

I was dead wrong and have been living with a bad mistake ever since then. It does make the system faster etc., but for todays standards, you would be THROWING YOUR $ AWAY. This card reduces your system thoroughput to the PCI bus (33MHz). Granted, Fortissmo technology was innovative, but the overall cost of upgrading a 7200 specifically, is not worth it. I could go on, but save your money please…

As for other old systems…there are MUCH more upgrade friendly machines than your 7200 there. The 7200 was SO cheap because the processor is soldered into the mainboard. Many other older mac systems/clones have a removable processor daughtercard. If you ever want to buy an old PowerMac system again, I suggest that you buy one that could be upgraded more easily.

I did the complete upgrade route, and have a BEAST of a PowerMac that runs X better than the B&W's and comprable to many G4 systems. It even runs OS X (through some great efforts). But bottom line is: unless your d*icking around like me, go the better route and buy a new or used system thats fairly recent and save yourself trouble and time.

I am the upgrade king…listen to me.