> I'm new to the list. Inherited a 9500/120mhz. I would like to upgrade > this to 9.1 but I don't have a 9.1 disc. I have Sonnet's Tempo Trio PCI > upgrade card but because it needs 9.1 to work I can't use it yet. > Can anyone point me to a source for such a CD.? A cursory search on the > net showed one place selling one for $140. Ouch!. I understand it has > to be the white CD with gold "9" to be able to boot up in the CD so > that I can install over the stock HD which now has OS 8 on it. > If you have suggestions on how else to proceed, I'd appreciate it. I > just bought 512MB and installed in the motherboard. Waiting to see if > it is stable before I do anything else. > Also any suggestions on how far I should take this machine. I think G4 > 700mhz is about as fast as I should. Past that I might as well spring > for a new eMac, don't you think? > Thanks in advance for any feedback
Hello glad to have another user on the list! Yeah if you're looking at one for $140, keep in mind the original MSRP was only $99! You can find much better prices elsewhere.. Other world computing website is eshop.macsales.com They sold me a a grey 9.1 Cd for $47.99. Thatıs the one that I use on my 7300 G3, works fine even though it says iMac on the front. Ive installed on 2 imacs, a 7200, a performa 6205cd and an ibook. Works great! You can do a lot with a 9500. Youıve got more than enough RAMfor all but the most serious computing. You could upgrade the SCSI hard drive fairly cheap. Macresq.com has pretty good deals on 50 pin SCSI drives. You can get 18 gigs for about $50. The processor, like you mentioned, can be upgraded to 800 mhz g4 BUT youıve still got that 50 mhz system bus ( like most pci powermacs) and thatıs where your performance will suffer. The system bus speed is the main bottleneck on these oldermachines. An ATI rage 128 card 16 mb video card (from a blue and white g3 or an early G4) would be good for your video if you didnıt want to spend $100 dollars on ATI Radeon 7000 32mb. Howeve, my advice (as a mac user for 17 years) to you would be NOT to spend the money upgrading the 9500 and save up (or get, if you've got the money) a "Sawtooth" G4 for about $600. Check out baucom.com for good deals. Here are the advantages to a G4: 1) faster system bus: 100 mhz vs. 50 mhz 2) AGP 2x Video: AGP video is WAY faster than PCI video which is what your pretty much stuck with on a old PCI powermac. Newer AGP video cards like the nVidia Geforce 3 or 4 support way more video memory than an old PCI power mac 3) ATA hard drive: ATA drives are cheaper than SCSI, you can get a lot more storage for you money. 4) Dual Processor Support: you can easily add a dual processor card for blazing speed. Ive never seen a dual processor card higher than a 604e that will work in a old PCI powermac 5) More RAM capabilities: the g4 can use 1.5 GB of RAM in OS 9 and 2 GB of RAM in any version of OS X. You can get oodles of PC100 or PC133 RAM much cheaper than buying 128 MB Dimms for the 9500. the 9500 will recognize a maximum of 1.5 GB 6) OS X runs natively on a G4. Not so on a 9500. You have to use special software to get OS X to install and run on an old PCI powermac. I hope this helps or at the very least, hasn't confused you ! Best of Luck, Jeremy B. -- PCI-PowerMacs is sponsored by <http://lowendmac.com/> and... Small Dog Electronics http://www.smalldog.com | Refurbished Drives | -- Sonnet & PowerLogix Upgrades - start at $169 | & CDRWs on Sale! | Support Low End Mac <http://lowendmac.com/lists/support.html> PCI-PowerMacs list info: <http://lowendmac.com/lists/pci-powermacs.shtml> --> AOL users, remove "mailto:"; Send list messages to: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To unsubscribe, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> For digest mode, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subscription questions: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Archive:<http://www.mail-archive.com/pci-powermacs%40mail.maclaunch.com/> Using a Mac? Free email & more at Applelinks! http://www.applelinks.com
