PM 6500 + PCI SATA + SSD?

[iTurbo]

Hi all, I have an old Power Macintosh 6500 computer that has a been heavily upgraded with a Sonnet 500 Mhz G3, 128 MB RAM (maxed), upgraded L2 cache, Apple TV/FM video card, Apple ethernet card, 60 GB IDE hard drive, and a MOTU PCI-324 audio card. I used to use this machine for daily computing tasks and home recording until about '04 and it's always worked fine. Even though the MOTU card wasn't officially supported, it always worked fine with a MOTU 2408 rack mount interface and MOTU Digital Performer 2.7.

I recently got a Sonnet Tempo SATA PCI card to put in the 2nd PCI slot and want to try using an SSD in this machine (nostalgia I guess) Can anybody point me to a suitable 64 GB or 128 GB SSD drive for this? I believe it is currently running MacOS 8.6.

 

[iTurbo]

My apologies.....I just found an older thread where I had asked this before and have all the answers there. I totally forgot about that after moving to a new house and new job in the last year.

I'll post a pic of the setup when I get this thing up and running. I'm still looking for a good SSD and it looks like OWC is probably my best bet right now. I must be the only one with a balls-to-the-wall 6500 out there lol.

 

[LightBulbFun]

thats a Very nice 6500 you have there

in regards to an SSD I would stay faaar away from OWC SSDs there over priced and perform quite poorly.

i recommend getting a Samsung SSD of some kind, iv also had good luck with Sandisk SSDs, try checking out the used market on mSATA SSDs those can normally be found quite cheap in 64-128GB capacities and are easily adaptable if you cant find anything suitable in a 2.5 inch form factor.

also if you have some spare time feel free to give this a spin on your 6500 https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/os-x-tiger-on-a-603-604-cpu.1908276/

 

[weckart]

also if you have some spare time feel free to give this a spin on your 6500 https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/os-x-tiger-on-a-603-604-cpu.1908276/

His is no longer a 603...

 

[LightBulbFun]

His is no longer a 603...

the Sonnet 500Mhz CPU goes into the L2 Cache slot. (those L2 CPUs go for a boat load on ebay these days, prolly the TAM guys going nuts for em since the TAM and 6500 share the same logic board)

it sadly/fortunately? LOL, does not work in OS X (OS X simply just ignores it and uses the built in 603ev)

 

[iTurbo]

So if I installed OSX, I would lose the G3? Oh well, I kinda like 8.6 anyway and it seems fairly stable so far. I definitely need to get a new battery for the logic board and a can of compressed air.

I installed the Sonnet Tempo SATA PCI card tonight and fired the machine up. Apple System Profiler seems to think it is a SCSI card. I think I have read that this is normal though.

Now to find a compatible SSD drive. I'm paranoid that I'm going to get the wrong one if I don't get exactly the right specs though.

In the pics, the Sonnet Temp card is under the MOTU card.
[doublepost=1510535097][/doublepost]Here is a screenshot of the device tree in Apple System Profiler. I had to take it with my phone because I don't have this machine on the internet yet.

 

[LightBulbFun]

So if I installed OSX, I would lose the G3? Oh well, I kinda like 8.6 anyway and it seems fairly stable so far. I definitely need to get a new battery for the logic board and a can of compressed air.

I installed the Sonnet Tempo SATA PCI card tonight and fired the machine up. Apple System Profiler seems to think it is a SCSI card. I think I have read that this is normal though.

Now to find a compatible SSD drive. I'm paranoid that I'm going to get the wrong one if I don't get exactly the right specs though.

In the pics, the Sonnet Temp card is under the MOTU card.
[doublepost=1510535097][/doublepost]Here is a screenshot of the device tree in Apple System Profiler. I had to take it with my phone because I don't have this machine on the internet yet.

sadly yeah the G3 does not work under OS X. (you have installed the sonnet driver for that G3 in Mac OS 8.6 right? as without it Mac OS 7-9 will ignore it too)

it showing up as a SCSI card is perfectly normal

I would not worry so much about the SSD, (do OWR Macs have the 190GB Classic Mac OS boot partition limit?) any SSD will work, of course just like with any thing computer related, there are bad SSDs and good SSDs, but the sonnet SATA card is not picky about SSDs say like a G5 is. if you want to play things nice and safe in my opinion pick up a Samsung 850 evo or a used 840 pro (avoid the 840 evo).

a fun thing about the SATA card is they work all the way back to System 7

 

[iTurbo]

Nice, and thanks for the help! I tried to post a couple other pictures, but I think I'm limited to one picture per post. Here is the startup splash screen.

 

[AphoticD]

From my own experience, I would recommend a 64GB KingSpec mSATA SSD with a cheap 2.5” mSATA to SATA adapter like this one:
https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/272777900904

This worked beautifully in my G5 and should be fine with your Sonnet SATA Card.

If you want to keep costs down and go for a 16GB or 32GB card, keep in mind that they don’t perform quite as fast as the 64GB+ sizes, but it’s unlikely the difference will be noticed on the 6500’s system bus.

And if you want to subject your 6500 to @LightBulbFun’s experiments, it would be great confirmation that it is possible to run OS X on the 6500, but it’s not going to be a zippy experience! 8.6 is truly the best OS for your Mac.

P.S I just love the purple heatsinks on the Sonnet CPU cards. I had a similar L2 G3 upgrade in my 7220 (4400) back in the day

 

[iTurbo]

And here is a picture of the device tree in Apple System Profiler. Thanks for the SSD suggestions guys!

 

[iTurbo]

I did some window shopping at Amazon and here is what I'm looking at getting to put the SSD in the PM 6500 (with the Sonnet Tempo SATA PCI card). I'm going to go with 64GB because I've heard that older MacOS (8.6 in this case) won't recognize larger drives....128 GB or so? I can't remember. Plus, 64GB is more than enough anyway and cheaper.

64 GB Kingspec SSD (probably 2):
https://www.amazon.com/Kingspec-SAT...UTF8&qid=1511031180&sr=8-2&keywords=64+GB+SSD

Molex to SATA power adapter cable (plus some extras if/when I do this to my Quicksilver G4)
https://www.amazon.com/TxLove-6-Inc...7&sr=8-3&keywords=molex+to+sata+power+adapter

Corsair dual 2.5" SSD to 3.5" mounting bracket:
https://www.amazon.com/Corsair-Dual...1511031431&sr=1-3&keywords=2.5+to+3.5+adapter

I also need some SATA cables, but I'm going to wait until the drives are mounted so I can get the appropriate length and just get them locally.


As far as OSX install on the PM 6500, I found a bunch of information on doing this on lowendmac.

http://www.zone6400.com/files/installing_OSX.html

I decided not to though, primarily because I'd lose my G3 upgrade (no Sonnet OSX driver), and I don't think the 128 MB RAM will be enough either. Plus I am looking forward to using the old MacOS anyway since this is a fun/nostalgia project to get to the 'ultimate' PM 6500.

 

[LilsDaddy]

sadly yeah the G3 does not work under OS X. (you have installed the sonnet driver for that G3 in Mac OS 8.6 right? as without it Mac OS 7-9 will ignore it too)

it showing up as a SCSI card is perfectly normal

I would not worry so much about the SSD, (do OWR Macs have the 190GB Classic Mac OS boot partition limit?) any SSD will work, of course just like with any thing computer related, there are bad SSDs and good SSDs, but the sonnet SATA card is not picky about SSDs say like a G5 is. if you want to play things nice and safe in my opinion pick up a Samsung 850 evo or a used 840 pro (avoid the 840 evo).

a fun thing about the SATA card is they work all the way back to System 7

Funny you mentioned avoiding the 840 evo, I just tried to put one in my Power Mac 6500 (via Startech adaptor card) and while the SSD does show up it is classed as 'Unsupported' (I tried installing via both Mac OS 8.6 and 9.1 startup CDs). Maybe this particular model does not play well then?!