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Power Macintosh G3 (Beige)

M3979 · M4405 · 1997–1998 · desktop

Specifications

Cpu: PowerPC 750 (G3) 233 to 333 MHz, 66 MHz system bus
Gpu: ATI 3D Rage II+ or Rage Pro, 2 to 6 MB VRAM
Ram: max: 768 MB PC66 SDRAM (3 168 pin DIMM slots) · base: 32 MB
Ports: 2x DIN-8 GeoPort serial · ADB · DB-25 SCSI (external) · 10Base-T Ethernet (100Base-T optional) · Microphone in · Headphone out
Display: No built in display; external monitor via ATI 3D Rage II+ or Rage Pro, 2 to 6 MB VRAM
Storage: base: 4 GB EIDE/ATA2 HDD · options: 6 GB SCSI HDD (minitower) · 9 GB EIDE HDD
Os Support: latest: Mac OS X 10.2.8 · shipped: Mac OS 8.0
Release Price: $1,999 (desktop) to $2,999 (minitower)

Variants

Revisions

DesktopM3979horizontal desktop case, 233 or 266 MHz at launch, later up to 300 MHz

MinitowerM4405vertical minitower case, 233 to 333 MHz, adds a Zip 100 drive and 3 PCI slots on most configurations

Upgrade paths

CPU

PowerPC G3/G4 daughtercard upgrades (Sonnet, PowerLogix), several hundred MHz class · Processor lives on a removable ZIF daughtercard; the famous entry point to the beige G3's long upgrade life. Replacement cards must stay compatible with the 66 MHz system bus.

MODERATE

RAM

768 MB across 3 168 pin DIMM slots · One of the higher RAM ceilings among consumer Power Macs of its generation.

EASY

GPU

3 internal PCI slots plus a dedicated personality card slot · Minitower configurations offer the most room for third party PCI cards.

EASY