History
The G3 Beige was the first machine to ship with Motorola/IBM designed G3 processor. Code-named the PPC 750, this processor was the first to use fast backside cache memory that could communicate directly to the processor.
It was significantly faster than its PowerMac predecessors and came on a very small logic board. In other changes the CPU used a ZIF socket rather than daughter board slot, and IDE was provided as well as SCSI.
This page deals specifically with Beige G3 Towers using the revison 2 or revison 3 ROM. Machines with the revision 1 ROM, known as Rev.A Beige G3s, have some caveats and are dealt with on their own page. There is also a page for non-Rev.A desktop G3s.
See below for information on distinguishing the different revisions of the Beige G3.
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How to Identify these Machines
The G3 beige tower is labeled on the front with PowerMac G3. The machine
has a removable side panel with a large green button (which opens the case).
The top part of the machine pivots with two green clips and reveals the logic
board. See picture on the left to check.
ROM Revision
This page does not deal with Rev.A Beige G3s. To find out whether your G3 is a Rev.A, you need to check the revision of the ROM.
You can find the revision of the ROM chip via the Apple System Profiler utility. The ROM revsion should correspond with one of the below.
- Rev. 1: $77D.40F2
- Rev. 2: $77D.45F1
- Rev. 3: $77D.45F2
Rev.A machines all have the Rev.1 ROM. If your Beige G3 has a Rev. 1 ROM, please see our Rev.A Beige G3 page.
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
The PowerMac G3 Tower has 3 memory sockets. These machines can accept up to 768MB in RAM, in 3 x 256MB modules.
When this machine was released, some revisions of this machine were unable to use 256MB chips, and Apple's original advice on RAM upgrades reflect this. With modern RAM chips, we are able to guarantee compatability for all Beige G3s with our 256MB chips.
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 1 / 5 - Very Easy.
Open the side of the case (with machine off) by pressing the green button.
Lift the two green clips and swing the top case open. Place the RAM into a socket. The RAM is designed so it cannot go in the wrong way.
If you are unsure, please call or email our team.
CD & DVD Drive Upgrades
You can either replace the internal optical drive of the Beige G3, or you can use an external device. With all Beige G3s both these methods do have some caveats. Please note, a Beige G3 without an upgraded CPU is not powerful enough to burn DVDs.
Internal
Any replacement 5.25" IDE CD unit will install into this Powermac, and should work to read data. However, unless there is an Apple ROM on-board the CD unit, the computer cannot be booted from the CD, and the unit will not integrate with Finder burning and Apple software like iDVD. Burning can still be accomplished by third party software such as Roxio's Toast.
Look for the footnotes on any internal drive listed below, to see if there are any difficulties as described above.
External
The Beige G3 does not have either FireWire or USB - the modern connection types used for this kind of external device. This means that you must install a PCI expansion card to provide the new connection type. See the expansion card section at the end of this page for information on available cards, and operating system requirements.
For an external CD-RW on this PowerMac, we strongly recommend FireWire as the best connection type.
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 (internal)
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 IDE controller and power supply, and push it back into the machine.
Internal Hard Drive Upgrades
The Beige G3 Mini-Tower can take internal IDE hard drives of sizes up to 80GB. Assuming your machine is not a
Rev.A model an extra drive can be added alongside your existing hard drive - although a straight replacement is possible as well.
If you want to use a larger hard drive you will need to use a SATA drive and install a SATA controller into a PCI socket. See the expansion cards section at the end of this page for details on available cards.
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 2 / 5 - Easy
Turn off the machine. Press the green button on top of the PowerMac and remove the side door.
Turn the machine onto
its side. The G3 tower has three places for drives. If replacing your current drive, it is located above the power supply on a caddy
held in place with 2 screws.
If installing a second drive place under CD or Zip drive (after setting new drive to slave).
If you are unsure call or email our team.
Graphics Card Upgrades
Your PowerMac G3 Beige mini-tower has three 33MHz PCI sockets, any of which can take a PCI graphics card. The existing graphics capability is integral to the main logic board.
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
Install any supplied software, then turn off the machine. Press the green button on top of the PowerMac, which then allows you to open side door.
Locate first
free cream socket, and remove the PCI blanking plate. Then install the new card in this socket.
If you are unsure please call or email our team.
Expansion Card Upgrades
Your PowerMac G3 Beige has up to 3 available PCI sockets for connectivity expansion.
Since these machines were released FireWire, USB, faster Internal IDE controllers, faster wireless and wired connectivity, and more modern graphics cards have been released.
By using PCI cards you can add these modern connectivities, although please be aware there are minimum operating system requirements for some of these products.
| 1 | Requires OS 10.2 or later. |
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
Install any supplied software, then turn off the machine. Press the green button on top of the PowerMac, which then allows you to open side door.
Locate first free cream socket, and remove the PCI blanking plate. Then install the new card in this socket.
If you are unsure please call or email our team.
Keyboards & Mice
The following keyboards and mice are compatible with this Mac.
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.
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.
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.
