You can stick a G4 ZIF into a B&W G3 board easily enough (I have one G4-400nhz of my B&W G3's), you just need a firmware update.
The speed difference isn't that much Ghz to Ghz.

Click to expand...

The usual warnings apply here:

1) Get a rev.2 (or a Yikes!) if you want to use IDE drives.

2) Be wary of installing an OEM Apple G4 into a rev. 1 B&W. (MY experience, ymmv)

Raw speed is about the same at the same Ghz. You see the difference if/when you hit a piece of software which is Altivec aware. That said, there is not a lot of reason to *not* have a G4 over a G3.

JR

P.S. I have one you can have, but it is all the way up here in Joisey and probably not worth shipping.