AIO powermac questions

neodeusneodeus
Posted:
in Current Mac Hardware edited January 2014
I have a few questions about the powermac al-in-one in case u foreget what that is http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dl...&category=14911



well anyways here goes

1) can they take the crecendo pci cpu upgrade cards

2) if i have the upgrade card is there anyway to get osx on it

3) if i can get osx on it can i upgrade to nvidia pci video



i always wanted one of these and i would like to have a beefy upgraded one if i can so thanks in advance for the help

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 4
    dhagan4755dhagan4755 Posts: 2,152member
    Well you're link is dead.



    I think you're talking about the G3 All-In-One. If so, it's the "old world" G3 and I don't believe will be upgradeable to OS X 10.3 Panther. I think it has only one PCI card slot. You could beef it up, but it would be like putting lip stick on a pig.
  • Reply 2 of 4
    craig12cocraig12co Posts: 106member
    The G3 AIO was essentially a Beige G3 (tower or desktop) tossed into a big chassis with a monitor. As such, the motherboard is pretty much the same as any other beige G3 and can take any ZIF processor upgrade - no need to go the PCI route. But supposedly Panther only supports USB equipped Macs, so no 10.3 for you.



    Other World had 800 and 900MHz G3 chips that should work fine with no software to install at all for a pretty affordable price.



    EDIT: My beige tower has a ATi Nexus 128 that OS X does recognize. However, the screen stays black most of the way through the boot process until 3rd party video drivers get loaded, which is unnerving at first. The trick for you would be connecting the built in monitor, which IIRC is not really an option, as your PCI cards have the VGA ports on the outside, and the AIO has its video routed internally. Plus it might be a non-standard connection.
  • Reply 3 of 4
    neodeusneodeus Posts: 3member
    as far as the usb issue is concerned theoretically wouldnt a pci usb card work for that, and can a svga cable be hooked to this monitor at all or am i really stuck
  • Reply 4 of 4
    snoopysnoopy Posts: 1,901member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Neodeus

    as far as the usb issue is concerned theoretically wouldnt a pci usb card work for that . . .



    No. Having USB available is not the issue. USB on the motherboard is just a convenient way to tell which models will work or not work. I have a beige G3. The firmware is the issue on the beige G3. It is partly in hardware ROM that cannot be modified. I knew this was coming sooner or later. It is just too much to keep supporting these old models with the latest OS. We are limited to Jaguar with this Mac, unless someone comes up with a software patch, which may or may not be possible.



    I finally broke down and bought a G5. Quite a difference.
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