Decking out a 9600

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Decking out a 9600

Hi,

I recently aquired a powermac 9600. From what I can tell it has the lower voltage powersupply, and has a 2 gig hard drive with os 8.1. Due to my lack of an ADB mouse (and I do have one on the way) I can't get any deeper into the system specs. But I do understand that, well in 1997 anyway, this was a killer machine with 12 ram slots, ect. ect.

What I would like to possible do is max out the ram (if I can find out what kind I need), and if at all supported, install a IDE DVD Re-writer drive (Currently in a wintel PIII). Does anyone know if that drive is supported, and will work on mac os 9?

Thanks,
MESTAH Teague

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re: 12 ram slots, ect. ect.

Ahh, the abbreviation I think you're going for here is etc. - short for etcetera. We understand your confusion, English isn't easy even for those of us that speak it as a first language.

Your 9600 uses 168 pin 5v fast page or EDO RAM DIMMs, 128MB is the largest DIMM supported. Lower voltage DIMMs (eg: 3.3v SDRAM) will not do.

Your 9600 does not naturally support ATAPI drives (which you've called IDE.) You'll need either a SCSI drive (for use on the internal SCSI buses) or a PCI ATA/ATAPI adapter with which you can use the ATAPI drive you already have.

dan k

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Should you get the burner in

Should you get the burner in there, its hard to say if it will work in OS 9 or not. Assuming the computer recognises it, you can probably burn using Toast 5 for OS 9, but i would assume burning in the Finder is not gonna happen. I have a feeling maxing out that thing in RAM is gonna cost you some cash. Old obsolete RAM can end up costing more than new stuff since its not made anymore. Also, OS 9 isn't all that RAM hungy anyway. 512mb or even 320 is more than enough. There really isn't all that much you can do with it that is going to require much RAM. Just don't get carried away. Nostalgia is fun and all, but a powerhouse in 1997 is nothing by today's standards. Keep in mind you can buy this http://cgi.ebay.com/PowerMac-G4-400MHz-256-20GB-DVD-OS-10-4_W0QQitemZ120131925377QQihZ002QQcategoryZ14912QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem for $70 and while its old, it can do SO MUCH more than that 9600 can for the money.

alk
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As long as we are picking nits...

You do realize, of course, that et cetera is actually Latin and not English, right? Wink

Peace,
Drew

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my own 9600 questions

instead of making a new 9600 thread, i'll just hijack this one Smile

1. Are there any dual CPU cards other than the 180mhz and 200mhz ones? I know you can get a really fast G3 or G4, but I know it does have multiprocessor support.
2. Can you put a 300 or 350mhz card into an older, non mach V motherboard? or are there some electrical incompatibilities? what about vise versa?
3. How well would it be able to handle 10.4? I run it on a 400mhz B&W G3 myself, so I assume with enough ram and a fast processor, pretty well. I know the floppy drive, and other bits of the inbuilt hardware are useless under OS X. Same with the beige G3.
4. Is the beefy 560 watt power supply a myth? I have heard that there was no such thing back when these came out, in fact, there were barely any power supplies above 300 watts, and the other 9600s use a 390 watt supply.

I think thats it.

-digital Wink

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etc.

Hell man, I speeks English, not Latin! Blum 3

9600 hijack questions:
1-IIRC, one of the aftermarket makers had a dual ZIF card onto which one could put one's choice of whatever. Or maybe not, my memory gets hazy on these things . . .

2-no, yes and no.

3-My household server is a 9600/G3/450MHz with 768MB RAM and it runs fine for the task. I wouldn't however say it's exactly zippy with Tiger. I really ought to turn its clock back to 10.3 as that was a bit more responsive, but that would be a bother. Plus I lose the braggin' rights, running Tiger on such an obsolete box.

4-I've yet to see proof, but those 'in the know' swear they've seen 'em.

dan k

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Re: Decking out a 9600

... What I would like to possible do is max out the ram (if I can find out what kind I need), and if at all supported, install a IDE DVD Re-writer drive (Currently in a wintel PIII). Does anyone know if that drive is supported, and will work on mac os 9? ...

If this is a curiosity-driven money-is-no-impediment quest, let me add that 128MB EDO RAM cards are cheaper (USD14-18 each) than FPM cards for the 9600 (up to USD28 each). That said, I divided the 1GB (total) of FPM that I had in my 9500 into two lots of 512MB for a 9600/G3/400MHz (originally an 8600/200MHz) and a 7300/G3/400MHz when I got them, and pensioned-off the 9500. 1GB of RAM in a beige 60x PPC machine, with or without a G3 upgrade, is distinct overkill, even under OS 9.2.2 (using OS9Helper). Even VM gives up the attempt to compete with 1GB of RAM.

You will be better off using an optical drive built for Mac compatibility. The road to success is littered with the corpses of those who have tried to adapt PC stuff (and drivers) to Mac use. You could be successful, but there is no certainty in marrying optical drives and computers of different 'ethnicity'.

de

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Re: my own 9600 questions

... 4. Is the beefy 560 watt power supply a myth? I have heard that there was no such thing back when these came out, in fact, there were barely any power supplies above 300 watts, and the other 9600s use a 390 watt supply. ...

I use a 390W PSU in my re-educated 9600. It powers a ZIF 400MHz, four IBM SCSI drives (9, 9, 9 and 18GB), four PCI cards (including USB/FireWire) and Adaptec 2940U2W, and its brow is never even damp, let alone awash with sweat.

de

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Re: my own 9600 questions

... 4. Is the beefy 560 watt power supply a myth? I have heard that there was no such thing back when these came out, in fact, there were barely any power supplies above 300 watts, and the other 9600s use a 390 watt supply. ...

I use a 390W PSU in my re-educated 9600. It powers a ZIF 400MHz, four IBM SCSI drives (9, 9, 9 and 18GB), four PCI cards (including USB/FireWire and Adaptec 2940U2W), and its brow is never even damp, let alone awash with sweat.

de

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bin_jammin claims to have own

bin_jammin claims to have owned a 9600 with the infamous 560W supply, and has pointed out here before, Apple's tech specs list a 560W peak for the 9600/350:
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=112424

I don't see it as such a big deal to believe such a thing existed. PSUs of that wattage weren't standard back then because there was no market for it...that doesn't mean it was impossible to create one back in those flint and bearskin days ;). Keep in mind this is Apple we're talking about, where logic and design sometimes weren't on speaking terms. Perhaps it was anticipated video professionals filling up all six cards and powering a full-height monster of a scsi drive might exceed the 390W's peak.

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Want free ram? I have i think

Want free ram? I have i think 320MB of ram.

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The quest for the legendary 9

The quest for the legendary 9600 560w power supply:
http://www.applefritter.com/node/9742
Still waiting for that pic.

Someone at 'Fritter claimed to be using a Mach V 350mhz daughtercard on a Kansas motherboard--or was it an 8600 motherboard?--and said it worked, but there were occasional issues. Wish I could remember who and when.

Did you check out this thread?:
http://www.applefritter.com/node/21109

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