History
This group of machines began production in May 1995 and were hugely powerful for their time - 1.5GB of RAM is a lot even ten years later. At the time it was almost unimaginable for a personal machine, but both the 9500 and 9600 can be expanded that far (if you can find the chips).
These are the most
upgradeable of the Pre-G3 PowerMacs. They have a daughter card processor,
which allows for very simple CPU upgrade, and PCI slots which allow a wide range of expansion cards to be fitted.
The systems all shipped with SCSI
for their internal hard drives and optical drives. SCSI drives to work natively in these
machines are very thin on the ground nowadays. Luckily there is an alternative
which is IDE - this can be added with a PCI card, and is highly recommend to prolong
the life of the system. The lack of USB or FireWire can also be overcome with
PCI cards, meaning that new printers and other peripherals can be used.
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How to Identify these Machines
These pre-G3 Towers are all marked clearly with their model number on the front. If this is missing, the following physical descriptions (and the images to the left) should help.
The PowerMac
8500 is a standard tower case, and has 3 PCI slots (which can be identified by counting
the blanking plates on the rear of the machine).
The 9500 is also a standard tower, but
has 6 PCI slots.
The 8600 has the additional side part to the case and has 3 PCI sockets.
The 9600 also has an additional side part to the case, but has 6 PCI slots.
If you are still unsure you can contact us on 01223 833 412 or by email for
confirmation. If you want to upgrade but aren't happy to install your upgrades
then we can help. Simply ask our engineers for further details.
.
Memory Upgrades
These older PowerMac machines use 168 pin EDO memory. The 8500 and 8600 have 8 RAM slots, and can take up to 1GB. The 9500 and 9600 have a colossal 12 RAM slots, for a maximum RAM of 1.5GB.
These memory chips are now very difficult to source, and at present we are unable to
supply them. We suggest maybe eBay as a source. It is best to get memory which has come from a previous
machine of the same type, due to issues with varying access speeds.
We do not have RAM available for these Macs.
CD & DVD Drive Upgrades
These Pre G3 Machines use SCSI as their system bus. Most modern CD Writers and hard drives use IDE. To upgrade your
optical drive you will need to have an IDE card installed in a PCI slot.
There are no optical drive upgrades available for these Macs
Difficulty 3 / 5 - Average (internal) - these instructions assume you have already installed your ATA controller card.
For the PowerMac 8500 & 9500
Turn off the machine and remove the power cable.
Remove the case by unscrewing the 6 (flat head) screws from the rear of the machine.
This will allow case to be pulled forward to reveal the insides.
Remove the current SCSI optical drive, the drive is mounted on
a sled which can be pulled forward.
Replace the drive onto the sled. Connect the new IDE drive to the ATA card and power supply.
For the PowerMac 8600 & 9600
Turn off the machine and remove the power cable.
Remove the case by pressing down on the top green button, this allows the side panel to be removed.
You will also need to remove the bezel/facia plate (plastic part that goes over the CD drive front) by releasing the tab on the side
case.
Then pull on the drive sled to remove the drive. Place the new drive onto sled, attach it to your IDE card and power supply, and push it back into the machine.
External devices are very easy to install.
If you are unsure call or email our team.
Internal Hard Drive Upgrades
These pre-G3 PowerMacs use SCSI for their internal hard drives. Most modern hard drives use SATA.
To upgrade your
hard drive you will need to purchase a SATA controller PCI card and one of the following drives.
If you don't want to fit a new hard drive yourself, you can take advantage of the MacUpgrades Installation Service. Add the installation service from the list below to your cart along with your chosen hard drive. We can also clone your existing hard drive onto the new one, simply add the Clone Original Hard Drive service below to your cart.
Once you have booked the service, send your machine to us, we will carry out the work and return it to you. Alternatively, we do offer a Collection Service with our courier, please see here for details.
Any fitting information below is intended as a guide before purchase ONLY, when fitting these products you should refer to the original manual for your computer, and any instructions that come with the item. Please see this page for more information, or here for information on our fitting service.
Difficulty 3 / 5 - Average (internal) - these instructions assume you have already installed your SATA controller card.
For the PowerMac 8500 & 9500
Turn off the machine and remove the power cable.
Remove the case by unscrewing the 6 (flat head) screws from the rear of the machine. This will allow case to be pulled forward to reveal the insides.
Find a free bay for your drive and screw the drive to the sled. Attach the drive to the SATA card and your power supply.
Close up the machine, and format the drive with your desired file system.
For the PowerMac 8600 & 9600
Turn off the machine and remove the power cable.
Remove the case by pressing down on top green button, this allows the side panel to be removed.
You will also need to remove the bezel/facia plate (plastic part that goes over the CD drive front) by releasing the tab on the side case.
Then pull on a spare sled to remove it. Place the new drive onto sled, attach it to your SATA card and power supply, and push it back into the machine.
Graphics Card Upgrades
These PowerMacs have three or six 33MHz PCI sockets, which can be used for upgrading your video capabilities. The machines have between
4 and 8MB of Video RAM by default.
There are no graphics card upgrades available for these Macs
Difficulty 2 / 5 - Easy
For the PowerMac 8500 & 9500
Install any software, then turn off the machine.
Remove the case by unscrewing the 6 (flat head) screws from the rear
of the machine. This will allow case to be pulled forward to reveal the insides.
Find a free PCI slot (long cream socket)
and remove the back plate.
Install the PCI card and replace the screw if necessary.
For the PowerMac 8600 & 9600
Turn off the machine. Remove the case by pressing down on the top green button. The side panel can now be removed.
You will need to remove the bezel/facia plate (plastic part that goes over the drive bay front) by releasing the tab on the side
case.
Remove the fan unit.
Find a free PCI slot (long cream socket) and remove the back plate. Install the PCI card and replace screw if necessary.
If you are unsure please call or email our team.
Expansion Card Upgrades
Your PowerMac tower has either three or six PCI sockets available for connectivity expansion.
Since the machine was
released USB, FireWire and gigabit ethernet (among others) have been released. Keep your machine up to scratch with our range
of upgrade cards.
NB: Some products have a minimum operating system requirement, please see below.
Any fitting information below is intended as a guide before purchase ONLY, when fitting these products you should refer to the original manual for your computer, and any instructions that come with the item. Please see this page for more information, or here for information on our fitting service.
Difficulty 2 / 5 - Easy
For the PowerMac 8500 & 9500
Install any software, then turn off the machine.
Remove the case by unscrewing the 6 (flat head) screws from the rear
of the machine. This will allow case to be pulled forward to reveal the insides.
Find a free PCI slot (long cream socket)
and remove the back plate.
Install the PCI card and replace the screw if necessary.
For the PowerMac 8600 & 9600
Turn off the machine. Remove the case by pressing down on the top green button. The side panel can now be removed.
You will need to remove the bezel/facia plate (the plastic part that goes over the drive bay front) by releasing the tab on the side
case.
Remove the fan unit.
Find a free PCI slot (long cream socket) and remove the back plate. Install the PCI card and replace screw if necessary.
If you are unsure please call or email our team.
Keyboards & Mice
The following keyboards and mice are compatible with this Mac.
There are no keyboards or mice available for these Macs
Difficulty 1 / 5 - Very Easy
Keyboards plug into the relevant port on your Mac. Mice can either be plugged into your keyboard, or they can be plugged directly into your Mac.
Power Supplies & Batteries
Listed below are power supplies, batteries and related products
we supply for this Mac.
Cables & Tools
Listed below are power cables, tools and related products
we supply for this Mac.
Any fitting information below is intended as a guide before purchase ONLY, when fitting these products you should refer to the original manual for your computer, and any instructions that come with the item. Please see this page for more information, or here for information on our fitting service.
External Hard Drive Upgrades
It is possible to upgrade this Mac with an external hard drive, however you will need to add a modern connectivity type to your Mac. For this machine we
strongly recommend looking at FireWire if you want any external data storage devices. FireWire can be added with an expansion card (see below).
You will need to be running at least OS9 to use FireWire.
There are no external hard drive upgrades available for these Macs.
Difficulty 1 / 5 - Very Easy (assumes you have already added the required connectivity)
Install any supplied software and connect the new device.
You will need to format the drive before use. This is done with the "Drive Setup" utility, which can be found in Applications > Utilities.
