Help! ROM upgrade for Supermac video card

[Daniele Gratteri]

Hello!

I own a Quadra 950 computer with PowerPC upgrade (I know, quite a RetroMac!)
equipped with a Supermac Spectrum/24 PDQ+ video card.
While the card is very fast in 68040 mode, it is EXTREMELY slow if used with
PowerPC. I found some information on the Internet and now I know that I do
need an upgrade ROM, possibly version 3.x which are the latest ones (my one
is much older, 1.2xx).

Does anyone know where can I buy one? Or where can I download the firmware,
so that I can burn an EPROM chip and upgrade my card?

Thanks, have a nice day!
Daniele Gratteri - Italy

[Mike]

Post by Daniele Gratteri
Hello!
I own a Quadra 950 computer with PowerPC upgrade (I know, quite a RetroMac!)
equipped with a Supermac Spectrum/24 PDQ+ video card.

While I can't help you with your video card ROM question, your upgraded
Quadra 950 caught my attention.

I also have a 950 with a PPC upgrade card. It's an Apple card, and it
runs at twice the 68040 speed, so it's supposed to run at 66 mhz.
However, I changed the clock crystal, so the 68040 runs at 40 mhz, and
the PPC 601 card runs at 80 mhz!

Not exactly a screamer by today's standards, but it was the first or
second Mac I ever owned, I got it cheap, and it was fun to work on and
upgrade.

Mike
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[Daniele Gratteri]

"Mike" <***@def.ghi> ha scritto nel messaggio news:abc-***@news.usenetzone.com...

Hi! Thanks for your reply.

Post by Mike
While I can't help you with your video card ROM question, your upgraded
Quadra 950 caught my attention.

It seems finding a ROM upgrade is very difficult :-(

Post by Mike
I also have a 950 with a PPC upgrade card. It's an Apple card, and it
runs at twice the 68040 speed, so it's supposed to run at 66 mhz.
However, I changed the clock crystal, so the 68040 runs at 40 mhz, and
the PPC 601 card runs at 80 mhz!

I also overclocked my system but, for having it running without crashes, I
had to add a big fan for cooling the PowerPC heatsink which, at 80MHz, was
not only hot, but VERY hot!
My board is Apple too. It would be nice to own one of the Daystar ones, it
seems they made a 100MHz version and an 80MHz one with the ability of RAM
expansion (another 128MB using 72 pin SIMMs).

Post by Mike
Not exactly a screamer by today's standards, but it was the first or
second Mac I ever owned, I got it cheap, and it was fun to work on and
upgrade.

I got my one for free a couple of years ago, I did find it near a rubbish
dump, however it is in very good conditions.

Ciao!
Daniele Gratteri