Thread
Quadra 700 upgrade idea
Okay so I noticed that my Quadra has a 25mhz CPU, and a 50mhz oscillator on the motherboard. So I figure the multiplier must be 0.5x. So what I thought of was taking a 40mhz 68040, and changing out the oscillator to an 80mhz, or maybe 100mhz, thus getting me either 40mhz or 50mhz.
Should work, right? I'm sure someone has tried this before.
Should work, right? I'm sure someone has tried this before.
you could possible burn something out. I think something like a 66Mhz oscillator would be more realistic. Even though those CPUs overclock, 40 and 50Mhz will be really pushing it. Especially if it only has a 25Mhz CPU Beginning speed. That's essentiall the same thing as taking a 3.0Ghz XEON and pushing it to 12Ghz. Not going to happen...
Well, he said he was going to put a 40MHz 040 in there and run the whole thing at 40 or maybe 50MHz. So it's more like taking the 3.0GHz Xeon out and putting a 4.5GHz Xeon in. Not a bad upgrade for such a machine, I know it works out well in the LC475 models, I don't know how well it would work in a Q700, but I'm sure before long, somebody with more knowledge than I on those machines will reply confirming these suspicions.
I am not talking about overclocking the 25mhz... On old computers like these, to upgrade the CPU you need to change out the oscillator too. I would be running a 40mhz 040 at 40mhz, no overclocking.
I could try to overclock it to 50 though if I wanted to.
Oh, i didn't see that you would be swapping out the CPU. My apologies. I thought you were going to O'C the 25Mhz to 40MHz or 50Mhz (Thereby doubling the intended frequency) and thereby, you would have killed it. I imagine you can put a 40 in it and OC it to 50Mhz. That would be more realistic. You never know till you try!!!
Apparently there is some upgrade card with a 90mhz 68040 on it... Maybe I could find a supplier selling just the 90mhz 040s?
Does anyone know where to find those? I imagine I could overclock one of those very nicely
Edit: This is the upgrade card I'm talking about. http://www.micromac.com/products/90mhz_carrera040.html
Does anyone know where to find those? I imagine I could overclock one of those very nicely
Edit: This is the upgrade card I'm talking about. http://www.micromac.com/products/90mhz_carrera040.html
I have one of those but a 66/33Mhz one (IIci PDS version). The chip they are talking about is a 33 or 40 overclocked to 45Mhz.Apparently there is some upgrade card with a 90mhz 68040 on it... Maybe I could find a supplier selling just the 90mhz 040s?
Does anyone know where to find those? I imagine I could overclock one of those very nicely
Edit: This is the upgrade card I'm talking about. http://www.micromac.com/products/90mhz_carrera040.html
Why do they call it 90mhz?
Mostly to make the chip seem faster then it is.
"This model is sometimes designated as having a 66 MHz processor,
since the clock input runs at 66 MHz. However, the processor itself
is not "clock doubled", so technically it is only a 33 MHz processor."
The above refers to the 33/66 designation of the Quadra 950
http://www.everymac.com/systems/apple/mac_quadra/stats/mac_quadra_950.html
"This model is sometimes designated as having a 66 MHz processor,
since the clock input runs at 66 MHz. However, the processor itself
is not "clock doubled", so technically it is only a 33 MHz processor."
The above refers to the 33/66 designation of the Quadra 950
http://www.everymac.com/systems/apple/mac_quadra/stats/mac_quadra_950.html
Hahaha they said it was a 66mhz because of the clock input? well I guess my quadra 700 is a 50mhz then because the clock chip says so.
You have to remember the other components on the board. They may not take an overclock to 40mhz or beyond.
That Micromac upgrade isn't 90mhz. THe CPU only runs at 45mhz. There is no such thing as a 90mhz 68040. 40mhz is as high as they went. Even 45mhz is overclocked. Also, Micromac has been out of business a long time. You'll never be able to get one of those upgrades unless you find it on ebay.
That Micromac upgrade isn't 90mhz. THe CPU only runs at 45mhz. There is no such thing as a 90mhz 68040. 40mhz is as high as they went. Even 45mhz is overclocked. Also, Micromac has been out of business a long time. You'll never be able to get one of those upgrades unless you find it on ebay.
Instead of starting a new thread, I'm going to ask on this one:
Other than a PowerPC upgrade, did anything ever use the PDS slot on the 700?
Other than a PowerPC upgrade, did anything ever use the PDS slot on the 700?
PDS SCSI card and cache card
Who made the cache card for the 700? I never knew anyone made such a thing.
You know, I just thought of something - the DOS card originally made for the Quadra 610 works in the 700. That's another use for the PDS slot.
If you are going to go to the trouble to hunt down a cache card then you might as well get a PowerPC upgrade. It will be faster and you can use later OS's and apps. It will also be easier to find and probably cheaper. You'll be bidding against me, though, because I collect them. [}] ]'>
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Cache cards speed up the 68k quite a bit, I wonder why Apple didn't make use of cache on all their towers.
Why do people push the PPC so much? The only reason I have PPC PDS cards is because I need a weird combination of 5 Nubus slots and a PPC chip for some hardware. Turning a 68K into a PPC is not the best bang for the buck, especially when people just want their 68K to be faster (and cache WILL speed things up quite a bit).
Why do people push the PPC so much? The only reason I have PPC PDS cards is because I need a weird combination of 5 Nubus slots and a PPC chip for some hardware. Turning a 68K into a PPC is not the best bang for the buck, especially when people just want their 68K to be faster (and cache WILL speed things up quite a bit).
Putting a ppc card in an 040 Mac is blasphemy. One reason is why is anyone at this point using an 040 Mac as a main machine? Another reason is that a 6100, 7100 or 8100 can easily be had. As can a pci powermac. In fact biege and smurf G3's are about the cheapest Mac's that you can buy on eBay these days. 68k Mac's are just so much cooler than their ppc cousins.
Speaking of PDS slot cache cards. I bought one a while back on eBay that wasn't a Daystar and it had a different form factor but the Daystar software worked fine with it. I think it was a Techworks card.
"The only reason I have PPC PDS cards is because I need a weird combination of 5 Nubus slots and a PPC chip for some hardware."
Do tell?
Do tell?
I don't think it is blasphemy. I put PowerPC upgrades in my 68ks for the same reason I enjoy collecting 68ks. They are rare and unique pieces of hardware.
If 68k Macs are to be treasured for their design and uniqueness, then so to should be the orders of magnitude rarer cards which are designed to be used in them. Besides, what other computer do you know that can dual boot between completely independent and binary incompatible (without an emulator) CPUs?! That's pretty cool, in my opinion.
Peace,
Drew
If 68k Macs are to be treasured for their design and uniqueness, then so to should be the orders of magnitude rarer cards which are designed to be used in them. Besides, what other computer do you know that can dual boot between completely independent and binary incompatible (without an emulator) CPUs?! That's pretty cool, in my opinion.
Peace,
Drew
An AVID system I have. I needed a PPC Nubus machine with slots for Nuvista card, advanced jpeg, SEIV scsi, and the card for the 442 Audio input. The only 4 slot PPC with Nubus would be a 9150 which I don't have so a 950 with a 601-100 PPC upgrade holds those cards well. Normally I think they used an 8100 with an external Nubus expansion box.
True. If I was going to use it full time under the 601 processor I would definately get a ppc Nubus Mac though.
The easiest - and in my view best - way to speed up a Quadra 700 is simply to swap in the motherboard of a Quadra 800. It's the identical form factor and just goes right in.
You get a CPU speed upgrade from 25MHz to 33MHz, and in the process you also get a faster system bus, and faster 72-pin (as opposed to 30-pin) RAM. And it's a heck of a lot easier to find super-cheap/free 16MB 72-pin RAM SIMMs than it is to find 16MB 30-pin SIMMs.
As a side bonus, the RAM slots on the 800's mobo are oriented differently than on the 700's - so you can replace/upgrade RAM without having to take out the PSU and remove the drive cage.
And if you want still more speed, I would think the components on a Q800 mobo, already designed to run at 33MHz, would be much more tolerant of a 40MHz overclock than the designed-for-25MHz components on a Q700 board.
Of course, you might not want to cannibalize a perfectly good Q800 for this purpose - but on the other hand, the Q800 case is notorious for being a PIA to work on, so you could take the mobo and perhaps part out the PSU and CD drive to other 68kMLA members to help resurrect other Macs.
Best,
Matt
You get a CPU speed upgrade from 25MHz to 33MHz, and in the process you also get a faster system bus, and faster 72-pin (as opposed to 30-pin) RAM. And it's a heck of a lot easier to find super-cheap/free 16MB 72-pin RAM SIMMs than it is to find 16MB 30-pin SIMMs.
As a side bonus, the RAM slots on the 800's mobo are oriented differently than on the 700's - so you can replace/upgrade RAM without having to take out the PSU and remove the drive cage.
And if you want still more speed, I would think the components on a Q800 mobo, already designed to run at 33MHz, would be much more tolerant of a 40MHz overclock than the designed-for-25MHz components on a Q700 board.
Of course, you might not want to cannibalize a perfectly good Q800 for this purpose - but on the other hand, the Q800 case is notorious for being a PIA to work on, so you could take the mobo and perhaps part out the PSU and CD drive to other 68kMLA members to help resurrect other Macs.
Best,
Matt
A Q650 motherboard is also the same form factor as the Q700 and takes more RAM.
Good point - and the Q650 (I think) has more built-in VRAM than the Q700 or Q800.
M
M
Wrong. The Quadras 700 and 800 are quite different. The Q700 case is based on the Mac IICX one (a 030 mac). A Q800 would fit in a Q650, and theoretically a Mac IICX or CI.
Not wrong. I've owned a Q700 with a Q800 mobo in it - in fact, I did the work myself. The Q800 mobo fits in the Q700 case with no modifications. It fits physically; its rear ports line up identically; it connects to the PSU with the same connector in the same place; it has the same number and mobo location of drive ribbon connectors (SCSI and floppy).
The only differences are:
- IIRC, the speaker connector may be different, so you have to bring over the Q800 speaker, or else splice the cables of the two speakers (very easy);
- The Q800 has three NuBus slots but the Q700 has only two. So the third Q800 NuBus slot can't be used unless you cut the appropriate rectangular opening in the back of the Q700 case (again, really easy).
When I said the Q800 and Q700 have the identical form factor, I meant their motherboards - obviously the cases/computers are very different form factors.
FYI, you can also put a Power Mac 7100 mobo in a Q700 case as well - works great!
Best,
Matt
The only differences are:
- IIRC, the speaker connector may be different, so you have to bring over the Q800 speaker, or else splice the cables of the two speakers (very easy);
- The Q800 has three NuBus slots but the Q700 has only two. So the third Q800 NuBus slot can't be used unless you cut the appropriate rectangular opening in the back of the Q700 case (again, really easy).
When I said the Q800 and Q700 have the identical form factor, I meant their motherboards - obviously the cases/computers are very different form factors.
FYI, you can also put a Power Mac 7100 mobo in a Q700 case as well - works great!
Best,
Matt
If a Q800 motherboard would fit in a Q650 case then it should also fit in a Q700/IIcx/IIci case. I have a Q700 motherboard in a IIvx case which is identical to the Q650 case, but before that I had it in my IIci case. I had to hack the back panel because some things don't line up exactly, but it did go in.