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Two G4s in a beige!
Posted by: Bunsen on 2008-01-24 12:55:49
A little pricey and only listed for mailing within Germany...

Dual CPU adapter for Beige G3

Sell an adapter that allows you to 2 G4 processors in a beige G3 installed. Runs also likely to be in blue and white G3, and G4 PCI, when the bus on 66Mhz converter. Had the module with a G4/400 in my beige G3 with OS X 10.3 (using XPostFacto) in the operation. Unfortunately, I could never afford a second G4, so I never ausreizen.
The package includes the adapter, 2 active processor cooler, driver for OS9, and an anti-static strap. No CPUs.

I have drivers for OSX, but may not pass. Are me but without problems by Gary Daily (Daystar Technology) will be made available. Should this not be a problem via email.
I remember these being announced, but I've never seen one in the field, so to speak. I think I recall they were pulled from the market due to stability or power problems, or some such.
Posted by: Bolle on 2008-01-24 13:13:10
they pop up really often on german ebay. ther is one every two weeks... but imagine: you have to get the adapter and 2 G4 ZIFs :/

meh, but you can also run this baby with only one CPU inserted.
Posted by: Unknown_K on 2008-01-24 14:20:44
You would need OSX to realy take advantage of dual processors (outside of the OS 9 version of Photoshop). While you can get OSX running on a beige I would think a proper G4 tower would be a better investment of the money.

I prefer spending a small sum of money to make older hardware run its vintage software faster, then spending more money to have an older machine run newer software poorly.
Posted by: Temetka on 2008-01-25 04:55:12
This is fascinating.

Would it work in a ZIF carrier card in my 8500?

If not I do have a BeigeG3MT not being used ATM that I think would be happy to have this. I already have one of the G4 ZIF's too, so I am almost there, 🙂

This requires further information if it is available.
Posted by: Quadraman on 2008-01-25 09:50:13
That must have been strictly a local product. I have never heard of them before.

Dual G4's would really be held back by the bus speed of the beige. I do not know that it would be worthwhile.
Posted by: gobabushka on 2008-01-25 11:11:52
i would think that it would, but i have no other information to base a guess on
Posted by: SiliconValleyPirate on 2008-01-25 11:19:23
That ought to work in a B&W if it works in a Beige... maybe? Now THAT would be worth doing [😀] ]'>

10.4, Radeon 9250/128MB and Dual G4s?
Posted by: madmax_2069 on 2008-01-25 14:29:56
the reason they pulled these off the market was due to it causing data corruption. also i think that you could only run from 1 CPU on it under OS X IIRC, i am not sure if it was due to lack of drivers for OS X or was a hardware limitation not supporting dual CPUs
Posted by: Bunsen on 2008-01-26 09:37:25
That ought to work in a B&W if it works in a Beige... maybe? Now THAT would be worth doing [😀] ]'>
Except the Google translation I quoted above implies that it drops the bus speed down to 66MHz
Posted by: OtakuMegane on 2008-01-30 03:03:32
the reason they pulled these off the market was due to it causing data corruption. also i think that you could only run from 1 CPU on it under OS X IIRC, i am not sure if it was due to lack of drivers for OS X or was a hardware limitation not supporting dual CPUs
It was some combination hardware/software issue that caused OS X not to be capable of using both CPUs but OS 9 was ok. Potential data corruption and the general flakiness they can exhibit (they were more like a beta version than a good final product) usually make it more effort than it's worth. And AFAIK it only ran at 66MHz in Beige G3 or 50MHz when used in one of the Carrier cards.

XLR8/Daystar was the one who made this product, though it was more like the made an announcement it was in the works, produced a few then gave up. Last I heard was <100 were ever made.

I was lucky enough to get hold of one several years ago but never got around to making it work since I switched primarily to OS X around the same time. It's still sitting somewhere in storage.
Posted by: TylerEss on 2008-02-15 22:16:08
I would love to have one of those, just because they're so *strange*. I'd gladly accept the stability problems.
Posted by: herd on 2023-01-06 11:01:42
Interesting, I didn't know these even existed! It would be fun to compare performance with the 1GHz sonnet ZIF upgrade. Two 7410 chips at 600MHz should beat it in many cases, at least with OS X. Doesn't the sonnet use a 50MHz bus instead of 67? Anyway, I found it here:

www.ebay.com/itm/374150035863


...and searched the forum for info. This old thread was all I found, so I thought I'd bump it and steal some pictures from that link above to preserve them:

xlr8_mach_velocity_g4DualZIFb.jpg
xlr8b.jpgxlr8d.jpgxlr8e.jpg

It looks like there were at least two versions made (the board doesn't match the picture on the box). For searching, it was called xlr8 MACh Velocity MPe for ZIF sockets G4 or G3 beige, etc.
Posted by: Powerbase on 2023-01-06 11:05:00
Yeah, i remember one popping up on ebay a couple years back. The personal had butchered it, though. They didnt work as dual processors in OS X, though, so an expensive but interesting upgrade.
Posted by: Paralel on 2023-01-06 11:54:59
Is this one of those processors that would work with the SMP extension in Mac OS 9?
Posted by: macuserman on 2023-01-06 12:17:23
That one has been for sale for ages, it's on my wishlist I'd love to have one, but never have wanted to cough up the dough for it.
Posted by: ried on 2023-01-06 16:52:17
A single 450MHz G4 ZIF upgrade for a thousand bucks? Good grief. 🙄

I get that the package is rare and special, though. Yes, that is appealing.
Posted by: Powerbase on 2023-01-06 17:04:58
That one has been for sale for ages, it's on my wishlist I'd love to have one, but never have wanted to cough up the dough for it.
Looks to be in good condition. If you can afford it, Id say go for it. Theres a lot of things I regret not getting now that Im perpetually broke (wife likes expensive things).
Posted by: macuserman on 2023-01-06 18:00:44
Looks to be in good condition. If you can afford it, Id say go for it. Theres a lot of things I regret not getting now that Im perpetually broke (wife likes expensive things).
Yeah I have talked to him a couple times over the past couple years about it, we haven't found a price that I was happy with. He says he doesn't mind having it because it's good advertisement for his ebay store/account. People go there and see what else he has, like this formac proQuadra.... I mostly want it because I'm a B&W enthusiast to say the least and that's one of the few upgrades I haven't managed to procure for my collection yet.
Posted by: Byrd on 2023-01-06 20:13:41
If the second CPU isn’t detected in OS X and only useful for a small handful of Mac OS SMP apps, I could think of much better ways to spend $1000 on the hobby!
Posted by: Coloruser on 2025-05-01 05:40:23
… and it still pops up at ebay for 1199 € with one CPU…. https://www.ebay.de/itm/37415003586...zjK9FpxTJ-&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY
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