Power Mac 7100 feedback

The following email was received in response to Mac Daniel #2, Speeding up a Power Mac 7100.

AS writes: I have been upgrading my 7100/80AV over the past several months, thought I'd add my thoughts to your recent column... replaced the original hard drive with a bigger and faster (7200 RPM) drive, increased the RAM, installed a Newer Tech G3 (240 MHz/1 MB) board and just installed Mac OS 8.5. I keep the drive in shape by running Norton Speed Disk every couple of months and Disk Doctor somewhat more frequently, when I have time. The machine sings. The upgrade cost, a little less than an iMac . . . the benefits, keep peripherals as they are, superb office productivity (Office 98 and ClarisWorks 5.0), vastly improved image processing and video editing/production (with Photoshop 5.0 and Premier 5.0), and Sherlock which is mind boggling even over a modem connection.

Incidentally, the install of Mac OS 8.5 with the Newer Tech board was almost too easy. (1) Ambrosia's SnapZPro got bombed but I was able to reinstall it and it works flawlessly, and (2) I had QuickTime 3.0 Pro installed with 8.1 and after it got reinstalled with 8.5, I got warning on reboot that QT could not be properly installed. I had to turn off the old QT in Extensions Manager and reboot for the machine to be happy again.

JL writes: I enjoyed your article today on "Speeding up a PowerMac 7100" - the letter from SM fits my 7100 config and bank account situation exactly. I was very interested in your comment that "Sonnet is selling a Crescendo 604e accelerator for $199," but I can't seem to find any mention of a 604e accelerator at Sonnet's web site or in any of the online catalogs. All I can find is the Crescendo G3 in various speeds, with prices starting at $499. If you could point me to some info on the 604e card or to an online reseller with prices and info, I would really appreciate it.

Mac Daniel responds: I've received several emails like yours. Although Sonnet is still listing the 604e card in their ads, it seems that upgrade is out of production and sold out everywhere.

Darn - it offered a lot of value! I'm emailing Sonnet to see if they know of any remaining inventory, or even might consider another production run.

GY writes: I wish that I could drop a 604e into my 7100, but that isn't the case. The only option is one of the G3 cards, remove the L2 cache, hope it works, and there are issues with G3 cards and 8.5 on some systems.

I did most of the same things with my 7100 as I did with its predecessor a Centris 650 (I almost let Shreve Systems do a logic board upgrade). Put in a 7200 rpm Barracuda, 88 MB RAM, 24X CyberDrive (nice!) and a Village Tronic Sonata Pro 24 video card with QD/MPEG acceleration and 24-bit 4 MB VRAM.

And though I thought I would need or want G3 now I feel satisfied and am running 8.5. But I did find that adding the LibMoto extension from Motorola really did make a noticeable difference and one everyone should be using (you would think 8.5 wouldn't need it and have the code installed right?).

When I look at what I spent, $200 Sonata Pro, $250 Barracuda, memory prices are going UP, $130 for CD (front panel and overnight shipping), and that one could do it gradually, I almost could have bought something with all that in there, like an iMac or something (refurb) after selling the 7100 ($400?).

But I enjoyed the learning experience and wanted to stay with SCSI.

One odd thing was that with 8.5 the new QuickDraw routines interfere with the MacPicasso extensions installed for the Sonata Pro that caused the system to fight and take an extra 2-3 minutes at the end of startup. Weird stuff that. Glad got it cleared up.

But my video still isn't as fast as it could be. the PDS HPV card maybe is faster than NuBus and the AV is faster yet? But the LibMoto, which affects FPU, enhances video graphics.

And it seems that the Newer G3 is more reliable, fewer problems, etc. When I read the tech support notes on the Sonnet G3 and possible problems and workarounds, remove the G3, install 8.5, then put back in, and some software has to be reinstalled after installing the G3 PDS card, building a video adapter for your PDS HPV card to use with G3... messy.

JE writes: I saw you're article on some speed improvements for 7100's. I have a few more suggestions.

1. Check the memory control panel. If you have enough RAM turn Virtual off - it really does run slower with VM -- in my opinion.
2. Check the memory cache. EVERY time you reinstall the OS or zap PRAM, the RAM cache gets reset to 96K - a VERY small amount. I normally use 512K or 1028K RAM cache - this can make a real difference.
3. I also installed Sonnet's 240 MHz G3 upgrade. Stock 7100's need the $99 video adapter (total cost was $748 - very worth it). I've been running over a week with no real problems, and MUCH faster scrolling and application launching. In general everything is faster. I highly recommend it. For a cheaper G3 option, the 210 MHz version + video adapter will run you about $550. I consider both to be well worth the money.

Mac Daniel responds: Good points - especially the first two, which can apply to any Power Mac. Rule of thumb is to set cache to 1 MB for every 16 MB of RAM in the system. It's not a hard-and-fast rule, but it tends to provide a nice boost in system performance.