CPU and Memory

The Starmax 3000 came with a 603 processor, the 4000 with a 604 processor, and the 5000 with 603 or 604 processors. All can be upgraded with a G3 card. The relatively slow 40mhz system bus of the earlier Starmax models will limit the fastest G3 cards to about 400mhz.

It is possible to clock-chip the Tanzania board. Andreas Kann has some info on one approach. Follow the links on the page, and remember the standard disclaimers associated with clock-chipping, the main one being that I am not responsible if you mess up your machine.

G3 Cards

I first tried a 240mhz Vimage card. Vimage no longer sells their cards directly to individuals, so these are hard to get now. It was nice, but I didn't like the way the driver software caused a restart to enable the backside cache. Seemed like sloppy programming. Also the card could not be easily overclocked.

So I bought a NewerTech 260/130/512k card, which could be overclocked through dip switches. And the software probably does the same sort of restart as the Vimage, but it covers it up better. Anyway, my card clocked up fine to 300/120, but was unstable at 320/128. Adds quite a bit of zip to the finder, and makes the more demanding CPU tasks doable. Note that the switch diagram in the NewerTech manual appears reversed relative to the position of the switches when the card is installed. Just pay attention to the direction for ON and OFF. If you get them reversed for 260mhz, you'll have a G3/160, and if you get them reversed for 300mhz, you'll have a G3/140.

Also note that when overclocking, the backside cache is also overclocked, and that tends to be more sensitive to speed than the G3 chip. So you should scale the backside cache back (increase the ratio from 2:1 to 2.5:1, for instance) before changing the switch settings. Overclocking also causes problems if you change the software drivers for the G3 card, since later versions of the drivers seem to reset the cache ratio to 2:1. Fortunately or unfortunately, the NewerTech drivers are not likely to be updated again now that NewerTech is out of business.

MetaBox made inexpensive G3 cards for the Tanzania boards. Unlike the NewerTech cards, the MetaBox cards work only with Tanzania boards, and not with 5400 and other L2-upgradeable Macs. The MetaBox JoeCard T comes in 260mhz, 300mhz, 320mhz and 400mhz models, and is available from many online vendors. The Metabox cards are a little taller than the NewerTech and Vimage cards, and may interfere with full-length PCI cards in the first one or two slots. Also, the 320mhz/1mb card, seems to forbid overclocking although the 260mhz/512k card routinely overclocks to 300mhz or 320mhz.

Metabox is still in business but has discontinued its line of G3/G4 upgrade cards. The scoop is that the drivers for Metabox's cards borrowed some code from another manufacturer's drivers. Metabox did not steal code since Metabox didn't even write the drivers, but hired a software developer. According to different stories, the developer was either already hired by another manufacturer, or acquired source code from yet another software developer. Anyway, the end of the story is that, to avoid legal disputes, Metabox got out of the Mac upgrade card business. Take this story for what it is worth - another rumor on the internet.

Memory

The Starmax has three RAM slots and takes 60ns 3.3V EDO unbuffered 2k refresh dimms up to 64mb (Most Macs take 5V). (Note that some other types of RAM will fit in the slots (beige G3 ram, PC66 I believe) but it will NOT work.) One RAM slot, however, only supports "single-sided" RAM and so can handle at most one single-sided 32mb dimm, or will read one one double-sided 64mb dimm as 32mb. Maximum possible RAM is therefore 160mb, and there is no way around it. (For the technical out there - the memory controller addresses 5 banks of up to 32mb each; two dimm slots handle two memory banks each.) Let me say that again, because far too many new Starmax owners hear the siren song of more RAM and think that the 160mb limit only applied when there were no larger RAM or some such. So I repeat, the combined knowledge of Motorola and years of experience by thousands of Starmax owners says: the Starmax will not use more than 160mb RAM. Fortunately, this is still enough for all but very demanding Photoshop users and all but a handful of the latest games.

Unfortunately, it is now also about the most expensive desktop RAM of any Mac. Going rate is about $2/Meg for the 32mb and 64mb dimms, and there's no sign of it dropping. Only the Mac 4400, and other clones based on the Tanzania motherboard, use this RAM. You can check prices at RamSeeker.

At this date, I would not recommend buying 64mb dimms, nor even many 32mb dimms unless you find a deal ($1/Meg). Three 16mb dimms will be reasonable cost and give 48mb total RAM. One 32mb and two 16mb would be 64mb and still a tolerable expense, but consider that for about $80 you can get 256 Megs of PC100 or PC133 RAM for a current G3/G4 machine. A newer machine will partly pay for itself in less expensive RAM.

Last Updated 01/11/01

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