Another B&W on my doorstep yesterday.
It’s a 350 MHz and it came with an Adaptec AVA-2906 SCSI card AND a Sonnet Tempo ATA 133 PCI Host Adapter card. No hard drive(s).
I’ve never seen one of these in-the-wild. (Showing off now.)
Someone was evidently compensating for the B&W’s 100 MHz Bus Speed. And as this B&W has the original wonky Rev.1 mobo, it’s likely that the Sonnet will eventually be moved to the flagship B&W here - the one now with the most stable, Rev.2 mobo. (Ya gotta check that CMD chip.)
Call me crazy but don’t get me wrong, but it seems rather expensive and effort-wasting to boost the B&Ws up to their absolute optimum performance with processor upgrades, host adapter cards, SSDs, etcetera… when there are so many Quicksilvers (and MDDs) still “out there” that are simply faster and better equipped (out-of-the-box) for a myriad of tasks (and more cost-effective). Sure, there’s the sentimental / nostalgic angle to muscle-up these B&Ws. And I spent many years and hours fighting with mine - attempting daily graphics production… and it often did quite well. Until it froze or crashed. (OS X didn’t help.) But I still enjoy the clicky-clacky Apple Extended ADB keyboards that the B&W ADB port allows. (It’s the little things, right?) We'll see how impressive the flagship B&W performs with the Sonnet installed and overclocked to maybe 500 MHz?
Someone else (Jason Taylor) singing the praises of the B&W G3:
https://jasontaylor.blog/mac-museum/power-macintosh-g3-blue-and-white/
OVERCLOCKING:Well, I was waiting for Petros90 to successfully install his SSD in his B&W (or for anyone else here still running a B&W to chime in) before proceeding with this. But I need to get this all off my desktop and out of my head. Would’ve been nice to see others’ pictures of the SPEED/CTL block and how their jumpers were set… but here goes anyway.
Just to the right of the CPU, there’s that light blue block under the warranty warning. I doubt that any warranty is still in effect now 23 years later. (Some of these blocks are blue, some black and some even white.) Once removed, you can see the various jumpers placed within that block. Notice the little tab at the top of the block (top left) which serves to properly orient it when replacing it after any changes. (“Top of the block” to ya.)
Shown below, the jumper settings for the recently arrived, 350 MHz B&W. Sans warranty tape.
Intend to attempt an overclock to 450, before changing the CPU out.
Now, there are various reference sources for just what jumpers go where and for what overclocked speed. And they can be very confusing.
For instance, I thought that the red in this example below showed where jumpers should be… when in fact they denoted empty slots for the uppermost 4 positions on the jumper block. (Black being the actual jumper positions.)
The following image below “borrowed” from The House of Moth:
https://thehouseofmoth.com/ppc-overclocking-station/#G3bwMore detailed instructions and insights there! It’s all really quite simple.
Again, position 5 (from the top) and below, are not changed. Clock speed is set / changed only via the topmost 4 positions and the jumpers themselves need be carefully pried from the block and you might need to add some jumpers from another source to achieve overclocks. Someone mentioned that regular HD jumpers can also be used, but not likely with the plastic jumper block itself. I don’t know about this - as a “regular” HD jumper seems a bit large, even when removed from its’ plastic housing. *Refer again to The House of Moth link above.
And here’s another jumper guide, turned on its’ side:
(Notice 5-6 and 8-9 jumpers remaining all same.)
I’ve some other ZIF CPUs to test and may go as far as a 500 MHz overclock.
But even at that (if stable)… Quicksilvers will still outpace and outperform the B&W.
(Even with the Sonnet Host Adapter card and attached SSDs.)
See if I can attach that Sonnet’s Quick Start Guide .pdf below?
(Important SCSI info, firmware update mentions and other important info!)
Also available here:
http://www.sonnettech.com/support/downloads/manuals/tempo_ata133_qsg.pdfSo all-in-all… this has been a
sort-of-fun exercise - but I’ve grown very weary of the G3’s.
AND if anyone’s interested in a B&W… looks like I may have two, to-go.
PM me.
Oi, the sentimental nostalgia of it all.
And don’t forget to add a fan!
