A couple months ago, I got a 250 MHz G3 card for my year-old
SuperMac J700. This would replace
the original 180 MHz 604e processor, making my main computer somewhere
between 50% and 100% faster.
Unfortunately, the first card was flawed. It would boot without
extensions, but it wouldn't run with extensions.
I knew this was abnormal behavior, because we have two of these and
two 300 MHz MAXpowr G3 cards at work. None have ever caused a moment's
trouble.
After some correspondence with tech support at NewerTech and a few
adjustments to the system, they told me to send the card back. They
would replace it with a brand new one.
Although I use a Blue
G3/300 at work, I'd always considered the J700/180 pretty adequate.
I'd replaced the stock ixMicro Twin Turbo video card with an Ultimate
Rez, boosted RAM, and upgraded to Mac OS 8.1. It was a pretty fast,
pretty reliable system.
Then the new MAXpowr G3 card arrived, the same 250 MHz model with a
512 KB level 2 cache running at half CPU speed. I popped it in, reset
the motherboard, and it booted flawlessly. I installed the support
software and began my testing.
Everything ran just like before, but faster.
So I pulled out my MacBench 5 CD to quantify the change - and see if
I could tweak things a bit.
With the original 180 MHz 604e processor, my J700 had a MacBench 5
CPU score of 442. That means it runs at 44% the speed of the old
beige G3/300 (my Blue
G3/300 at work scores 926, or 93% of the beige G3/300 due to a smaller
level 2 cache).
The MAXpowr G3/250 card boosted CPU performance to 768, about 74%
faster then the original and about 80% as fast as my Blue G3/300 at
work.
Then I began experimenting. Pull memory to compare interleaved with
non-interleaved memory - just a bit faster with interleaved RAM. Turn
off the motherboard cache - no difference. Set timing for 70ns or 60ns
memory - no difference. Switch the cache from 2:1 to 3:2 - about 3%
faster.
Using four NewerTech MAXpowr cards at work, I knew 3:2 was stable,
so I left it set there.
In the end, I ended up with a MacBench 5 score of 776, just over 75%
faster than my original processor. Between that and the Ultimate Rez
video card, my system also outperforms the beige G3/300 in video by
about 40%.
In the real world, I am amazed at how fast my QuicKeys macros run in
Claris Emailer, how much faster Emailer opens and sends messages, how
much more smoothly Claris Home Page operates, and the simple fact that
I can't seem to type ahead of the display in any program, something
which even on a 180 MHz computer has sometimes been an issue.
Overall, for $240 (your cost may vary) I improved performance of my
$800 computer (bought on close-out in June 1998) by 75%. I think that
makes it an excellent value.
Of course, there are lots of other upgrade options for the Power Mac
7300-7600, 8500-8600, 9500-9600, SuperMac J700 and S900, and Power
Computing Power Curve, Power Center, Power Center Pro, PowerTower,
PowerTower Pro, and PowerWave.
I bought my MAXpowr G3/250 on close-out - NewerTech only makes
300-466 MHz cards today. You may be able to score comparable deals
through Small Dog Electronics
(where I got mine) and other dealers on older, discontinued models -
all of which will be a huge step up from the 120-250 MHz 604 processors
that came with these older Power Macs and clones.
Or you might want to upgrade with the latest, fastest daughter
cards. (I just checked Small Dog. Their stock of NewerTech cards
starts at 300 MHz for US$419.)
Of course, there are also other brands available. We've been using
NewerTech for a couple years at work (starting when the MAXpowr G3/250
was a $1,250 card!) and found them very reliable. We based our initial
purchase on feedback from other Mac managers who had used third-party
G3 upgrades. At the time, some cards had problems with Retrospect,
which we use for company backup, so NewerTech was our best choice.
Other brands are undoubtedly reliable as well. For user feedback on
NewerTech and other brands, visit the G3 CPU User Review
Database at Accelerate Your Mac!
And for a list of available G3 daughter cards, browse the Guide to G3 Daughter Cards here on Low End Mac,
a regularly updated listing of G3 cards covering speed, cache size,
cache speed, MacBench 5 score (when known), and estimated street
price.
Compared with the cost of a new Blue G3, these G3 cards can be a
great way to extend the life of your older computers at a very
affordable price.
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