Jump to content
6 posts in this topic

Recommended Posts

So, after playing with OSx86 in VMware, I remember using my trusty iMac G3/333 so I bought a PowerMac G3/333 Blue and White. I am planning to put 10.4 Tiger on it. I have to do some upgrading first, though.

 

Specs:

 

Apple PowerMac G3 450Mhz

384MB RAM

10GB Hard Drive

CD-ROM Drive

ATI Rage 128Pro PCI Video Card

Mac OS 9

No Keyboard/Mouse

 

I have a 40GB Quantam HD that I am going to take out of my older Compaq Desktop and I have 3 sticks of 256MB PC133 SDRAM. Can I use this "standard PC-type" Hard Drive and RAM? I also want to (have to) upgrade the CD-ROM to a DVD-ROM or Combo. Can I install a "standard PC-type" ATAPI DVD-ROM drive? Can I use my old Compaq CRT Monitor too? I've only had a "totally all-in-one" iMac and I'm not familiar with the inside of a Mac.

 

Anything I can do to upgrade it (on the cheap)?

 

Nick

Link to comment
https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/27035-bought-a-bw-g3450-powermac/
Share on other sites

Congrats on the purchase. Yes you can use that standard SDRAM in your mac. You also should have no problem with the optical drives. I have a Dynex DVD drive in one bay on my beige, and a generic CD-RW in the 2nd. The CRT will also be no problem since the B/W uses VGA. Good luck!

You also should have no problem with the optical drives
So I shouldn't have problems with "Bootability" with a non-OEM DVD-ROM or Burner? I guess I choose the right one, I can use most of the stuff from my old Compaq like the Hard Drive, the RAM, Maybe the CD-RW.

 

Thanks for the Reply,

 

Nick

i know in oldworld macs some cd and dvd drives cant be booted, no idea if its the same with the B&W and other new world macs. may also be worth checking if you have a rev1 motherboard, they have trouble with using slave drives on the ide controller if i remember correctly.

 

If you are planning on using 256mb dimms they need to be double sided with 16chips, 8 each side or they will only show as 128mb, this is the same for all G3 macs and the first G4 tower (they used the same motherboard as the B&W).

 

a PCI geforce FX5200 is a nice upgrade for that system but not an easy thing to get to work, you need to find a standard PC card and flash it with a mac compatible bios but its the only way to get QE and CI.

 

You can check if your Burner is compatible here.

 

http://forums.xlr8yourmac.com/drivedb/search.drivedb.lasso

Hello. My SDRAM Chips are labled:

 

"Hi-Density Programmed"

"PCI133-32Mx4Bit"

 

All 3 are labeled like that and are 256MB Sticks. I also have another 8 chips per side on 2 sides RAM Module but I don't know the size. Do you have to install in pairs for this machine?

 

Thanks,

Nick

×
×
  • Create New...