| Click here to select a new forum. |
| Easy way to identify different B&W G3/G4 Revisions? |
Posted by: EvieSigma on 2016-09-05 17:24:02
Hi, I apologize if I'm posting a topic that already exists, but as a budding Mac collector, I wanted to know.
Is there an easy way to determine whether a B&W G3 you're looking at is a Revision 1 or 2, especially when combing eBay? Same for the G4, is there an easy way of making sure I'm not getting a Yikes! G4? I know both the Revision 1 B&W G3 and Yikes! G4 are troublesome machines so I'm trying to avoid purchasing one by mistake.
|
Posted by: Carboy7 on 2016-09-05 19:59:09
Ooh, a tough problem. I don't think there is an easy way to compare the B&WG3 revisions without having detailed pictures of the logic board, because the CMD chip is apparently different between models. Some Revision 2 models also shipped with a different hard drive bracket, allowing for more hard drives.
The Yikes! G4 and Sawtooth G4 logic boards were different as well. The Sawtooth could also hold an airport card.
That's about all I know... 😛
|
Posted by: Unknown_K on 2016-09-05 23:41:33
You should be able to tell the difference between CPU and heatsinks of the ZIF based Yikes and the later G4 machines.
Revision 2 B&W G3 came with the 2x dual HD carriers while revision 1 came with 3 singles. Still that only matters if the machine was still stock and not modified after the fact.
|
Posted by: EvieSigma on 2016-09-06 05:38:35
Hmm...I think for safety's sake I'm going to avoid buying a B&W G3 off eBay.
|
Posted by: SlateBlue on 2016-09-06 09:46:27
http://www.xlr8yourmac.com/G3-ZONE/yosemite/newfeatures.html |
Posted by: EvieSigma on 2016-09-06 10:27:44
http://www.xlr8yourmac.com/G3-ZONE/yosemite/newfeatures.html Thanks, that really helps.
|
Posted by: SlateBlue on 2016-09-06 14:47:27
You're welcome.
|
Posted by: EvieSigma on 2016-09-07 09:18:20
Does anyone have nice clear pictures of the different G4 motherboards?
|
Posted by: ArmorAlley on 2016-09-08 13:02:46
The main problem is with the IDE controller, isn't it? I only use the built-in IDE-controller for the DVD-ROM and the Zip-drive. I have put in an Adaptec 29160 and a SATA card for the internal and external drives.
if the case is in good condition, then get it. You'll eventually come across some good soul who'll sell you a Rev.2 board that runs at 450MHz.
Rev.2 macs boot 8.6 as a minimum while Rev.A require 8.5.1, if I remember correctly.
|
Posted by: Unknown_K on 2016-09-08 18:55:23
Not sure why you are worried about early G4 revisions. I bet you can get a G4 MDD cheaper then a B&W G3 these days if speed is an issue. The days of free B&W G3's is kind of over, they are not as easy to find these days.
There are all kinds of firmware and hardware revisions that limit you a little on what you can do with them. QS version 1's have issued with 128Gb drive limit, early G4 Sawtooths have issues with dual CPU support (and dual G4-450/500 CPUs were cheap a while back).
|
Posted by: EvieSigma on 2016-09-08 19:24:36
I just remember seeing the Yikes! G4 show up on both Low End Mac's "Road Apples" list and a Worst Macs Ever list, so I wanted to avoid it...
|
Posted by: Unknown_K on 2016-09-08 21:16:42
A yikes is a G3 B&W with a grey case instead of blue and G4 ZIF instead of a G3. So you can call a G4 yikes a road Apple and a B&W G3 with a G4 ziff upgrade a hotrod... but they are the same machine.
If you don't game or run OSX then either G3/G4 PCI based machine would rock with OS 9.
There are Apple machines that sucked new and still suck now because of massive compromises, I don't see the yikes being one. One of my B&W G3's has a G4 ZIFF in it because I wanted to run a Matrox RTMAC in it many years ago and it needed a G4 CPU.
|
Posted by: Cory5412 on 2016-09-10 15:15:39
Don't bother avoiding the Yikes! G4 -- it's a great system. My blue-and-white G3 came with a Yikes board and over the years, I never had any major troubles with it. I use a G3 G3@450/1M CPU in it and it was always a great performer both with Mac OS 9 and with OS X 10.3/10.4.
I don't remember the Yikes being on the Road Apple list, but it's one of those situations where LEM got the mark way wrong, or had it right only so extremely briefly that in retrospect it's laughable they bothered at all.
You probably would have wanted to avoid buying one new, but if you could get one used in the era where sawtooth was still relevant anyway, then it wasn't a huge difference unless you were planning on totally hotrodding the sawtooth. The Yikes has, because of reasons that are obvious, the same limitations as a blue-and-white G3 in terms of upgrades, but sawtooth can take newer video cards and CPUs.
That said: Today if that's what you're looking to do, you should probably start with a digital audio, quicksilver, or mirrored drive door. dA/QS would probably be the best choice if you're looking to get into OS 9 specifically.
The Power Macintosh G3 and G4 series are each relatively short lived, but there's a lot of variety in tere so it depends on what stuff you want to do, if you're searching for something specific. If you just want "something" then there's no real great reason to avoid any of the G4s, or even most of the G3s, if you're comfortable installing some kind of expansion card if you happen to get a blue-and-white Rev 1 and you need to run more than one internal hard disk, which was what the problem with the disk controller was, it was errors handling two hard disks and otherwise you can use one with no real trouble, as my understanding goes.
|
| 1 |