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What is different about the 7200/120?
Posted by: Phipli on 2026-06-28 08:58:25
So the 7200 was known to be a little unreliable and crash prone back in the day, as well as being a disappointment as the only upgrade Apple offered was an overpriced motherboard replacement. By the time Sonnet's curious PCI card based CPU upgrade came along the 7200 was already very long in the tooth.

There were a few versions of the 7200 at various speeds... the 75, 90 and 120MHz versions? So, other than obviously the 7200/120 is slightly different in that it has a bus tripped CPU, and that the 75 uses the 601 while the 120 and probably also the 90 use the dieshrunk 601v... Did the 120 get an updated logic board? Or updated ROM version? The reason I ask was that I was reading the readme for the Radius Thunder 3D and in the compatibility section, it says that it is not compatible with the 7200/75, 7200/90 and other clones based on the Catalyst platform, while specifically saying it is compatible with the 7200/120.

I'm curious why the distinction exists and whether this might mean 120MHz machines are more reliable or otherwise interesting. I actually quite like the 7200 - it is potentially one of the fastest 601 based machine with bonus PCI. Good fast video, quirky as it is one of the only beige macs with built in QuickDraw Acceleration.

My own experiments with a 7200 found that they progressively get more stable the newer the OS you install. By 8.6 they're pretty usable, but I think I saw a further improvement with 9.1. I wouldn't usually install such a new OS on a 601, but it might actually be worthwhile on these.

Anyway. Regardless, back to the point. Does anyone know what, other than the CPU speed itself makes a 7200/120 different compared to a 7200/90?
Posted by: adespoton on 2026-06-29 15:41:33
Does anyone know what, other than the CPU speed itself makes a 7200/120 different compared to a 7200/90?
Bus speed goes from 45MHz down to 40MHz, default HDD/CD-ROM is improved and there was an optional Pentium card available,
Posted by: joevt on 2026-06-30 08:09:41
Documentation:
https://leopard-adc.pepas.com/documentation/
Click on "Hardware & Drivers" -> "Apple Hardware" -> "All Hardware Products"
Relevant docs:
Click on "7200" and "7200 Improved".
The latter lists only a few changes.

There's a couple ROMs:
077d.28f1.1  045a3b23.04a82e3e.0333e815.0400652a  02c65d54.03175e91.020d323a.027bef10.02a0f232.037e5917.0231da82.029ef77a:c241cd82bf90797a  dfebb8fdad4124e02608429d98bf349b  "1995-08 - 96CD923D - Power Mac 7200&7500&8500&9500 v1"
077d.28f2.1  045a3ff2.04a8169b.03334745.03ffe575  02c6b097.0317a71b.020d1a9e.027c620c.02a0a3bd.037df94c.0231514d.029e06b3:4db4a42fea3b53b3  2623a0c438045ea04d2cc67310c97743  "1995-08 - 9630C68B - Power Mac 7200&7500&8500&9500 v2, SuperMac S900"
Posted by: Phipli on 2026-06-30 09:28:29
Click on "7200" and "7200 Improved".
The improved versions are mostly just described as a speedbump / updated RAM / disk options that I can see. I'm wondering if they bumped the logic board revision a the same time.

I didn't realise there was a 7200/100 though. That has a 50MHz which is surprising. I'd have expected them to go for a 3x 33.3MHz.

Interesting that the 7200 ROMs are common with the TNT based machines.
Posted by: joshc on 2026-06-30 09:46:21
makes a 7200/120 different compared to a 7200/90?
One key difference is that Apple took more money away from you for the privilege of owning such an unreliable disappointment. 😉

From https://archive.org/details/mac-mall-62s/mode/2up?q="Power+Mac+7200+120"

1782838487871.png
Posted by: lobust on 2026-06-30 13:17:38
Does the radius readme say anything about the 8200?
Posted by: Phipli on 2026-06-30 13:31:33
One key difference is that Apple took more money away from you for the privilege of owning such an unreliable disappointment. 😉

From https://archive.org/details/mac-mall-62s/mode/2up?q="Power+Mac+7200+120"

View attachment 100757
Yeah, but T-Rex!
Posted by: Phipli on 2026-06-30 13:32:39
Does the radius readme say anything about the 8200?
To my knowledge, anything that applies to a 7200 will apply to the equivalent 8200 speed. I don't have the computer the readme was on set up at the moment.
Posted by: lobust on 2026-06-30 16:44:20
To my knowledge, anything that applies to a 7200 will apply to the equivalent 8200 speed. I don't have the computer the readme was on set up at the moment.

That's why I asked - the 8200 is supposedly identical to the 7200, but it wasn't released with the same clock speeds, the only one that actually matches the 7200 is the 120Mhz model - it would be interesting to know if it mentions compatibility issues with the 8200 at all.
Posted by: Phipli on 2026-07-01 00:24:35
That's why I asked - the 8200 is supposedly identical to the 7200, but it wasn't released with the same clock speeds, the only one that actually matches the 7200 is the 120Mhz model - it would be interesting to know if it mentions compatibility issues with the 8200 at all.
Apple's documentation actually lists a 7200/100, even if they didn't sell it widely / at all. The 8200s are just speed bump 7200s in an 8500 case.

Unfortunately, as they were only sold in some regions, absence from the readme wouldn't really tell you anything because they're usually forgotten, especially as Radius was a company based in a region that didn't sell the 8200. I don't remember the 8200 being mentioned in the readme and I own one so tend to notice.
Posted by: lobust on 2026-07-01 11:51:23
Unfortunately, as they were only sold in some regions, absence from the readme wouldn't really tell you anything because they're usually forgotten, especially as Radius was a company based in a region that didn't sell the 8200. I don't remember the 8200 being mentioned in the readme and I own one so tend to notice.

Ah yes, I forgot about that...
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