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My Power Mac G3 Project
Posted by: Irinikus on 2024-06-23 11:30:20 My Power Mac G3 arrived as a pretty good example of the machine. Like with virtually every other machine I've ever bought, I will still have to import a few parts to get it to a "perfect" status, but it certainly is a good start though! This is how it initially looked on the inside: Here's a video showing some of the progress that I've made on this project so far: I've purchased this ZIF SONNET Encore 1GHz CPU upgrade for this machine from a seller in Japan, so this machine's on its way to being pimped out!!! I've upgraded the system's PROM to take this CPU, as I wait for it to arrive from Japan: This is the system's hard drive setup: This is what it currently looks like on the inside: In order to complete this build I still need to fit it with a Belkin USB 2.0 PCI card, A ZIP Drive (I already have the bezel) and 1GB of matched PC100 RAM (4x256MB DIMMS) Then it will be completely MAXXED out! 🙂 My Sonnet Encore ZIF G4 1000MHz (1GHz) / 1M Processor Upgrade's on the way to me from Japan and I've successfully flashed the G3 B&W to accept it. In all the pictures of the CPU I haven't seen any evidence that the required jumper block has been shipped with it, so as a precaution I did some digging and was able to screen grab this image of the correct jumper positions off a YouTube video And this image to verify the orientation of the jumper block: (As it shows the position of the little tab) This info may be useful to anyone else who purchases one of these SONNET's!
Posted by: joevt on 2024-06-23 16:21:09 I have the Sonnet 1GHz in my B&W G3 also. I replaced the fans with a couple Noctua NF-A4x10 5V fans since one of the old ones stopped working reliably. The firmware update checksums match those of my dumped B&W G3 ROM. My B&W G3 has 768 MB RAM. I forget if there was a reason why I didn't fill the 4th slot - there could have been a RAM issue? I have a Griffin gPort which connects to the internal modem port to add an external serial port which I use for Open Firmware debugging. My jumpers match the pictured yellow block (though mine uses individual jumpers). With #1 as the top (as shown in the photo with the blue jumper block), I have (-,-,-,4,-,6,7,-,9,-,-) set. I guess this reduces the bus clock from 100 MHz to 66 MHz? The "Service Source" Blue & White G3 document has the following jumper blocks: A black jumper block (1,2,3,-,5,6,-,8,9,-,-) is for 300 MHz CPU. A blue jumper block (1,-,-,-,5,6,-,8,9,-,-) is for 350 MHz CPU (same as the one in the previous post) A white jumper block (1,-,3,-,5,6,-,8,9,-,-) is for 400 MHz CPU. A yellow jumper block (-,-,-,4,5,6,-,8,9,-,-) is for 450 MHz CPU (not the yellow jumper block of the Sonnet 1GHz). Assuming 100 MHz bus, then: 500 MHz: -,-,3,- 550 MHz: -,2,3,- 600 MHz: -,2,-,- 650 MHz: -,2,-,4 700 MHz: 1,-,3,4 750 MHz: -,2,3,4 800 MHz: 1,2,-,- I connected a Startech PCI to PCIe bridge, a Netstor NA255A (to add some PCIe gen 3 x16 (electrically x8) slots), and a Nvidia 7800GT from a Quad G5. The 7800GT works fine in OS X (1440p60 or 4K30). It also works in OS 9 but without any acceleration.
Posted by: Irinikus on 2024-06-23 23:39:40 I have the Sonnet 1GHz in my B&W G3 also. I replaced the fans with a couple Noctua NF-A4x10 5V fans since one of the old ones stopped working reliably. The firmware update checksums match those of my dumped B&W G3 ROM. My B&W G3 has 768 MB RAM. I forget if there was a reason why I didn't fill the 4th slot - there could have been a RAM issue? I have a Griffin gPort which connects to the internal modem port to add an external serial port which I use for Open Firmware debugging. My jumpers match the pictured yellow block (though mine uses individual jumpers). With #1 as the top (as shown in the photo with the blue jumper block), I have (-,-,-,4,-,6,7,-,9,-,-) set. I guess this reduces the bus clock from 100 MHz to 66 MHz? The "Service Source" Blue & White G3 document has the following jumper blocks: A black jumper block (1,2,3,-,5,6,-,8,9,-,-) is for 300 MHz CPU. A blue jumper block (1,-,-,-,5,6,-,8,9,-,-) is for 350 MHz CPU (same as the one in the previous post) A white jumper block (1,-,3,-,5,6,-,8,9,-,-) is for 400 MHz CPU. A yellow jumper block (-,-,-,4,5,6,-,8,9,-,-) is for 450 MHz CPU (not the yellow jumper block of the Sonnet 1GHz). Assuming 100 MHz bus, then: 500 MHz: -,-,3,- 550 MHz: -,2,3,- 600 MHz: -,2,-,- 650 MHz: -,2,-,4 700 MHz: 1,-,3,4 750 MHz: -,2,3,4 800 MHz: 1,2,-,- I connected a Startech PCI to PCIe bridge, a Netstor NA255A (to add some PCIe gen 3 x16 (electrically x8) slots), and a Nvidia 7800GT from a Quad G5. The 7800GT works fine in OS X (1440p60 or 4K30). It also works in OS 9 but without any acceleration. > The firmware update checksums match those of my dumped B&W G3 ROM. Thanks for confirming that my firmware is correct! > I have a Griffin gPort which connects to the internal modem port to add an external serial port which I use for Open Firmware debugging. I purposely purchased and fitted the modem module, as they're a rare feature. > My jumpers match the pictured yellow block (though mine uses individual jumpers). With #1 as the top (as shown in the photo with the blue jumper block), I have (-,-,-,4,-,6,7,-,9,-,-) set. I guess this reduces the bus clock from 100 MHz to 66 MHz? Thanks for confirming this! (I also intend to make use of SCSI jumpers instead of modifying the jumper block fitted in my machine.) > I connected a Startech PCI to PCIe bridge, a Netstor NA255A (to add some PCIe gen 3 x16 (electrically x8) slots), and a Nvidia 7800GT from a Quad G5. The 7800GT works fine in OS X (1440p60 or 4K30). It also works in OS 9 but without any acceleration. I intend to keep the 9200 LE Mac Edition in this machine, as again it's a rare collectable card! (The plan is to keep this card in this machine, fit one of these as well as an Nvidia 4600ti Mac Edition into my Digital Audio, and move the 9800 Pro Mac Edition currently installed in my Digital Audio into my QuickSilver, this leaves the MDD into which I was planning to fit a flashed 7800 GS) But now you have given me an idea to maybe make use of one of these: Coupled by one of these: To one of these: In order to get a 7800GT up and running in my MDD system!
Posted by: joevt on 2024-06-24 06:21:17 I'm not sure the StarTech PCIe to PCI bridge works at 66MHz. I haven't tried it in my B&W G3's 66 MHz slot yet.
Posted by: Irinikus on 2024-06-28 10:05:52 My ZIF SONNET 1GHz G4 CPU Upgrade arrived form Japan today and it's now fitted and working perfectly: Here's the updated System Info: Here's the new Blender Test Result: (test.blend) It's pretty much twice the speed of the 450MHz G3, so it's performing as advertised!!! 🙂 Here's the Quake 3 Time Demo Four Result: With these settings:
Posted by: Jenna16bit on 2024-06-28 11:27:25 Needs more purple PCBs 😉
Posted by: Irinikus on 2024-06-28 11:36:43 Needs more purple PCBs 😉 Hi Jenna! 🙂 The Sonnet Tempo SATA PCI's pretty hidden in there, but it is there! I wouldn't mind fitting one of these beasts as well: Giving the machine ATA 133, two USB 2.0 ports as well as two extra FireWire 400 ports!!!
Posted by: macuserman on 2024-06-28 12:47:30 Hi Jenna! 🙂 The Sonnet Tempo SATA PCI's pretty hidden in there, but it is there! I wouldn't mind fitting one of these beasts as well: View attachment 75200 Giving the machine ATA 133, two USB 2.0 ports as well as two extra FireWire 400 ports!!! Or even better one of these, which are actually available from one of our members... 🙂
Posted by: Irinikus on 2024-06-28 12:52:46 Or even better one of these, which are actually available from one of our members... 🙂 View attachment 75207 That's pretty damn nice!!! 🙂
Posted by: alectrona6400 on 2024-06-28 12:54:35 Woah, that's insane stuff! Nice work!!!!
Posted by: macuserman on 2024-06-28 12:54:49 That's pretty damn nice!!! 🙂 It is they work well I picked up a couple of them from him and they are quite a neat card. He has lots left so get ya one! 🙂
Posted by: mg.man on 2024-06-28 14:00:24 they are quite a neat card. He has lots left so get ya one! Hmm... I seem to have missed this one - is there a Trading Post link?
Posted by: Irinikus on 2024-07-06 09:22:54 Today I carried out some tests on the Sonnet upgraded G3 B&W and have come to some interesting conclusions, which I'll share later! (It's a significant upgrade in some ways, but not so significant in others!)
Posted by: ArmorAlley on 2024-07-06 13:15:20 Well done! The Sonnet 997MHz card is fast. While I had mine, I played Deus Ex on my B&W G4 and it ran very smoothly. Did it slow down your system bus to 66MHz (from 100MHz)? Mine did but then I didn't really notice it. If you want to go down the RAID route, you might consider the Formac ProRAID card. It is U40 SCSI card and you can RAID 0 & 1 on it. If you are only running Mac OS X, then Highpoint made SATA RocketRAID cards that run in G4s and may run in your G3. You may want to check the version of PCI that the backward compatibility goes to. That being said, your SSDs on SATA I are surely faster than it. Have you considered putting in a DVD burner in your machine, maybe driven by the SATA card although an IDE one from 2002 or so would probably be just as good.
Posted by: Irinikus on 2024-07-07 06:41:54
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