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What's your FrankenMac like?

A

aquajet

macrumors 68020
Original poster
Feb 12, 2005
2,386
11
VA
Anybody out there running an awesome FrankenMac? Here's the story on the beasts I've had:

Power Mac 7500, 1 GB RAM, Sonnet 500 Mhz G3, Sonnet ATA/66 card with 30 GB 7200 rpm drive, additional 18 GB 10k rpm SCSI drive, Firewire 400 card, ATI Radeon Mac Edition PCI, running OS 9 and Jag

Blue and White G3, Sonnet 500 Mhz G4, 768 MB RAM, 80 GB 7200 rpm drive, ATI Radeon Mac Edition PCI, external LaCie CD-RW, running OS 9 and Panther

Mac Plus, Brainstorm 16 Mhz 68000, 4 MB RAM, 40 MB 3600 rpm external SCSI, running System 6.0.8 (my first Mac) :D
 
aquajet said:
Anybody out there running an awesome FrankenMac? Here's the story on the beasts I've had:

Power Mac 7500, 1 GB RAM, Sonnet 500 Mhz G3, Sonnet ATA/66 card with 30 GB 7200 rpm drive, additional 18 GB 10k rpm SCSI drive, Firewire 400 card, ATI Radeon Mac Edition PCI, running OS 9 and Jag

Blue and White G3, Sonnet 500 Mhz G4, 768 MB RAM, 80 GB 7200 rpm drive, ATI Radeon Mac Edition PCI, external LaCie CD-RW, running OS 9 and Panther

Mac Plus, Brainstorm 16 Mhz 68000, 4 MB RAM, 40 MB 3600 rpm external SCSI, running System 6.0.8 (my first Mac) :D
Click to expand...
Mine are close to those:

Power Mac 7300, 512 MB RAM, NewerTech 300 MHz G3, ATTO UW SCSI card with 18 GB 7200 RPM drive, FireWire 400, USB, Radeon 7000 64 MB, running 9.2.2 and 10.2.8

B&W G3, XLR8 500 MHz G4, 768 MB RAM, 80 GB WD Caviar HD (7200 RPM), Maxtor 200 GB 7200 RPM HD on Acard ATA/133 PCI adaptor, Radeon 9200 128 MB, 4x SuperDrive, running 9.2.2 and 10.4.1

You could also include my MDD:
Power Mac G4 (MDD), dual 1 GHz G4, 1.25 GB RAM, Striped RAID Set startup disk WD Caviar HD (7200 RPM) IBM Deskstar (7200 RPM), 200 GB Maxtor 7200 RPM HD on Acard ATA/133 PCI adaptor, Radeon 9000 64 MB (AGP), Radeon 9200 128 MB (PCI), 16x dual layer SuperDrive, 52x CD-RW/DVD drive
 
I have what started out as a beige 233 G3 desktop. It now has a 450mhz G4, USB, Firewire, max memory, and a Radeon 7000 graphics card. I'm running OS 10.3.9. Think I've run this as far as I'm going to, I'm going to get a Mac Mini sometime this year...

Isaac
 
I have a Rev.2 B&W G3 that I bought new in Sept. 99. it stayed stock(other than the ram being upgraded from 64mb to 256) from new till about late 2002. first upgrade to it was a radeon 7000 32mb video card. next I added a cdrw and it stayed that way for about another 8 months. in summer 2003 I upgraded the cpu to a G4 500 and also got a 120gb western digital 72k with 8mb. those 2 helped a lot for runnibng panther. I then upgraded ram from 256 to 512.. system stayed that way for another few months. in 2004 I added a dvd burner and maxed the ram to 1gb. I also modded the case to white and black.

so its history:

stock 350 G3 / 64mb / 6gb / rage 128 (xbench scores with G3 350 and 256mb on panther were around 30)

now 500 G4 / 1GB / 120gb / radeon 7000 / dvd burner / usb 2.0 pci card (system now runs tiger and with its current config. now scores a 64 on xbench)

I now have a mac mini and use it as my main system. my tower still gets a lot of use though. I use it to do all my big downloads, do all my burning and it also folds 24/7.
 
isaacc7 said:
I have what started out as a beige 233 G3 desktop. It now has a 450mhz G4, USB, Firewire, max memory, and a Radeon 7000 graphics card. I'm running OS 10.3.9. Think I've run this as far as I'm going to, I'm going to get a Mac Mini sometime this year...

Isaac
Click to expand...


Isaac7 - nice work keeping that 233 running. What software are you using for your homepage on your .mac account, BTW?
 
My Powermac started out in life as a Blue and White G3. G3/300, 320 MB of RAM, 6 GB hard disk, CD-ROM, Rage128. Got this on eBay for nearly 200 dollars. Back in '03.

Then, I upped the RAM, dropped an extra hard disk in, OCed the processor, and all.

Flash forward to this year.

I grabbed on eBay a broken Yikes G4 machine, that the mainboard was bad and everything else was all good and dandy. So, I took out my Blue and White mobo, installed it into the Yikes, transferred my hard disks, installed a DVD drive, put 768 MB of RAM into it, got a PC flashed Radeon 7000 64MB installed, OC'ed the 350 MHz processor to 400 MHz, and installed Panther on it, then when Tiger came out and I bought it, Tiger.

On Wednesday I will be getting some extra 256 MB DIMMs so I'm gonna swap out the 2 128MB pieces, drop in 2 256 MB DIMMs, and max it out to 1 GB. This machine is working quite well, and its gonna last me till the Intel Macs. :)

Though soon I'm buying an iBook G4. Because I need a laptop!
 
My PowerMac started life as a 350 MHz G4 Sawtooth with 16Mb VRAM and 256 Mb RAM. It's now got a Sonnet 1GHz processor, 64 Mb Radeon 9000 video card, and 1.5 Mb RAM. I love it! The thing flies. I haven't gotten Tiger yet, but from what my friends tell me, it'll run even better than Panther.
 
law guy said:
Isaac7 - nice work keeping that 233 running. What software are you using for your homepage on your .mac account, BTW?
Click to expand...


Thanks! I'm using rapidweaver. It's a mac only authoring tool that is wonderful for html challanged people like myself.

Isaac
 
I've had two "FrankenMacs":

* Beige G3/233: Sonnet G4/500 upgrade, 768MB RAM, 3 HDD (30,60,100 GB - I took out the floppy and mounted a HDD in its place) running on a Sonnet PCI controller, Radeon 7000 PCI + Apple CD/DVD player, and a Macally FireWire/USB PCI card - I took the internal FireWire Port and threaded a 6' shielded cable from it through the case and out the front where the missing floppy left an opening.

* Blue/White Rev. 1 G3/300: I still have this, but it has been pared down (see sig. below) from its original specs: Sonnet G4/500 upgrade, 1GB RAM, 4 HDD (60, 80, 80, 100 GB - I mounted the fourth HDD above the CD mount) running on the same Sonnet PCI controller, Zip 250 (IDE) - pulled from somewhere, Radeon 7000 PCI + Pioneer DVR-108, a Rev. 2 ATI Rage 128 in a second PCI slot for fun, the same Macally FireWire/USB PCI card, and a PCI cooling fan.

Good times...
 
isaacc7 said:
I have what started out as a beige 233 G3 desktop. It now has a 450mhz G4, USB, Firewire, max memory, and a Radeon 7000 graphics card. I'm running OS 10.3.9. Think I've run this as far as I'm going to, I'm going to get a Mac Mini sometime this year...

Isaac
Click to expand...

450mhz is impossible on a beige G3 with its 66mhz bus. a 450 zif would run @ either 433 or 466 in a beige.
 
I had a:

Yikes G4 400mhz
1gb RAM
ATI Radeon 7000 64m graphics card
40 +80gb HD's
Pioneer Dvr-105
Belkin PCI WIreless adapter

Thats about as FrankenMac as i have gone,

ShadOW :p
 
zen.state said:
450mhz is impossible on a beige G3 with its 66mhz bus. a 450 zif would run @ either 433 or 466 in a beige.
Click to expand...

Well then it either runs at 433 or 466 :rolleyes: It was a 450 zif, a sonnet I think. I haven't messed with it in a while so the details escape me...

Isaac
 
PowerMac G3 B+W Rev.1 (originally a 300), 400mhz ZIF oc'd to 450 with a fan, 512Mb RAM, 40Gb HDD + 10Gb HDD, Imation DVD+/-RW, ATI Radeon 7000 32Mb, 10.3.6.

PowerBook G3 Lombard, 400Mhz, 256Mb RAM, 10Gb, 6x DVD-ROM (out of a Pismo, cause the original was only 2x20...) RagePro LT 8Mb, VST FireWire card, 10.3.6.... I think the Pismo DVD unit and the FW card qualify it as a frankenmac...possibly the HDD too, cause it originally had a 6Gb.

Powermac 7600, 200mhz, 264Mb RAM, 2 4Gb HDD's, CD-RW, Rage128 16Mb PCI (from G3) + 4Mb VRAM onboard, 3-port PCI Firewire card, USB 1.1 card, 10.2 and 9.1. (I used to use this mac for DV editing until I got the G3)
 
PowerMac G4/667 overclocked to 800mhz, Radeon 9600 Pro with AGP tape hack, 1GB SDRAM, 60GB HD, extra fan, portion of case sawed away for light (failed mod), sides of tower have some of the graphite paint removed (failed mod), second drive bay houses a red LED light (plate removed), UV cathode-ray tube inside.

I sold it... it was a great machine, I miss it.
 
Switzermac said:
what is a frankenmac?
Click to expand...

A "Frankenmac" is a significantly upgraded Macintosh computer. Like mine!

Six years ago, it started out life as a humble Sawtooth Powermac. It has since been mangled into a perversion of science!!

  • Single G4/450MHz w/ no L3 cache --> Dual 1.3GHz G4 w/ 2MB L3 per CPU
  • 128MB RAM --> 2GB RAM
  • 20GB 5400rpm ATA66 --> 2X180GB Hitachi 7200rpm 8MB cache drive (xServe drives), running off an ATA133 PCI card as a striped RAID
  • DVD-ROM --> 8X DVDRW
  • ATI Rage 128 Pro 16 AGP --> ATI Radeon 9000 Pro 64MB AGP & Radeon 32MB PCI
  • Dual NEC 17" LCDs w/ 16ms response time
  • Apple Pro keyboard
  • MS Trackball Explorer

This Xserve comparison pits it against a more-or-less stock Sawtooth.

My sig covers where my Frankenmac was at one time (carbon date the OS version :D )
 
Hey Issac7

I have essentially the same set-up except in a mini tower (rev A.) Did you run into any problems with the Panther install or running Panther? I am thinking of doing it.

Thanks in advance
Roger
 
Mac128->Mac512->MacPlus+Radius68020+4MB RAM+internal HD (5MB!!! :) later upgraded to 20MB then to 40MB then to 80MB)+internal fan+added external SCSI HD (mandetory at that point!!!) last time was running System 7. It had the signatures inside the case. Up in the attic now collecting dust with the bats.
 
IT'S ALIVE!!!

Mine began as a B/W G3/350 back in 1999

OverClocked it to 400mhz
80gb HD, and later a 20gb HD
Crazy device called an iPod 5gb (1st Gen)
450mb RAM
DVD-ROM from a Dell.
Belkin PCI wireless card.

Tiger and MacOS 9.2.2
 
G4 cube

dual 1.7GHz PL
radeon 9700 128MB
120GB seagate HD
1.5GB ram
superdrive

oh yeah baby
 
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