Power Mac 6100 Upgrade Sources Page

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This page describes what I bought to upgrade my 6100, where I bought it, for how much, and where you might be able to find it today:

Introduction:

The table below lists all the major upgrade items I've bought for my 6100, and how you can buy them, too. As some products may have been discontinued, upgraded or modified, the street price and source may be for a comparable item of equivalent or superior functionality. For pure commodities like RAM and L2 cache, the street price is not for the same vendor that I bought from. Note that, although the prices on lots of items have plummeted since I bought them, it's still not worth building up one of these computers from scratch. This is a resource for current 6100 owners to find bits and pieces. Prices do not include tax or shipping. The list of sources is not exhaustive by any means, so do shop around.

I'm also selling off some of my stuff. See below for details.

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The Table

ItemMfr/ModelMfr P/NI bought it:Current street
price/sources
for:in: from:
Base machine Apple Computer
Performa 6115CD
Unknown $1,817 5/95 Stanford Bookstore $100-300, ebay
RAM 4 MB
8 MB
16 MB
32 MB
64 MB
128 MB
Various A lot
more
than
it costs
now!!
Various
times
The Chip Merchant,
among others
2 x 4 MB--$24
2 x 8 MB--$36
2 x 16 MB--$68
2 x 32 MB--$120
2 x 64 MB--$110
2 x 128 MB--$684
CPU upgrade Newer Technology
MaxPOWR PDS
7MXPA6100 $401 1/99 hardwarestreet.com $160, various
256K L2 cache PowerLogix Apple
661-1024
$99 1/97 PowerLogix.com $0!, Mushkin
(Mac Memory,
View by type)
MacSolutions
HPV card (2MB) Apple Computer
Card, Video, 2 MB,
Power Mac
661-1748 $140 1/99 Usenet $50-99,
Shreve Systems
ebay
4 x 256K
80 ns
VRAM SIMMs
Apple
or equiv.
661-0722 $28 1/99 Usenet $44,
Various
The Chip Merchant
PDS adapter Adapter, PDS,
Power Mac
922-0768 $30 1/99 Usenet $40,
Sun Remarketing
ebay
HPV card (4MB) Apple Computer
Card, Video, 4 MB,
Power Mac
661-1027 $125 1/99 Usenet $75-199,
ebay
4 x 512K
80 ns
VRAM SIMMs
Apple
or equiv.
661-1021 Usenet $52-60,
Various
The Chip Merchant
AV card Apple Computer
Card, AV,
Power Macintosh
661-1023 $80 1/99 Usenet $50-249,
Shreve Systems
ebay
PDS adapter Adapter, PDS,
Power Mac
922-0768 Usenet $40,
Sun Remarketing
ebay
S-Video to RCA
adapter cables
Cable,
RCA to S-Video
922-0816 (input)
922-0817 (output)
$50 (pair) 1/99 Shreve Systems $25 (pair),
Sun Remarketing
Sun Remarketing
4.3 GB HD Quantum
Atlas II
HN45S011-02-E-H $289 1/99 Otherworld
Computing
$169-199,
Otherworld Computing
Internal CD-ROM Apple Computer
CD-ROM Drive, 2x,
SCSI, Apple CD 300+
661-0222 $50 1/99 Usenet $50-99,
Sun Remarketing
Sun Remarketing
Shreve Systems
MacWorks
External CD-RW Computer411 OEM
Yamaha 4416S*
Discontinued
(replaced by
newer model)
$275 1/99 Computer411 $179,
Computer411
Mac OS
Reference
Releases***
Apple: Mac OS 7.5.3 N/A 1/99 N/A** Apple Free, Apple
Apple: Mac OS 7.6N/A**$39, Sun Remarketing
Apple: Mac OS 8.1$22, SmallDog
Apple: Mac OS 8.5$69, Shreve Systems
Apple: Mac OS 9.0$89, MacZone
Total:$3,384  $1,588

* This is a Yamaha OEM "white box" 4416S internal mechanism, built into a standard external drive casing by Computer411, and bundled with Toast 3.56 and EasyCD for Windows.
** I was a student at Stanford, who had a site license for the Mac OS
*** Reference releases are versions that can be installed by themselves, i.e. they don't need to be installed on top of a previous version. For updates, see my OS page.

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Key Online Resources

There are a few sites in particular that are really helpful when shopping for upgrade info.

I just got an email from a guy who goes by the name Macrefstuff. He asked me to list him as a source of hard-to-find parts, and he did seem to have a few of those (e.g. PDS-adapters and the like). I've never transacted with him, but he has good ratings on ebay.

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Usenet newsgroups

Usenet deserves its own little section because it's so useful for so many things. There are five newsgroups in particular that I read regularly for information regarding my Mac:

The latter group is the only group that specifically permits for sale, wanted, and for auction postings. In practice, all the above groups regularly receive transactional postings, although it is frowned upon. They're a good place to look if you're buying, but if you're selling please follow protocol and use the for-sale groups.

If you don't currently have access to Usenet (i.e. if you click on the above links and get errors like, "you have not been configured for reading Usenet newsgroups"), then check with your ISP and find out how to do this. You can also use web-based services like DejaNews. It's a little slower than a newsreader, but it also has a massive archive of stuff posted to the major newsgroups over the past years. Remarq is another web-based Usenet service, but I haven't used it yet.

Usenet is an invaluable source of information, interactive Q&A, and spirited debate. 90% of all the information on the 6100 Upgrade Page came directly or indirectly via Usenet.

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For Sale

I'm trying to generate funds to buy myself a new G4. No, don't worry; I'm not going to retire the website. But since I've filled in most of the blanks, I don't need to have all this stuff laying around while I'm not using it. I also have a second 6100 which died, so I can sell all the guts that were inside of it.

Prices are firm, and buyer pays shipping. I'll guarantee against DOA except, of course, for items described as "dead." All parts were recently in use in an actual PowerMac 6100. Email me at steven@kan.org to buy stuff. Include the ship-to Zip code so I can estimate shipping costs.

Items marked "SOLD" have been promised to previous buyers. In the event that the transactions fall through for some reason, these items will go back on sale. Items that have sold and shipped have been removed from the table.

I generally ship the day after a personal check clears, or the day after I receive a money order or PayPal payment. Sign up for PayPal now! Get a $5 bonus just for signing up, and get me a $5 referral bonus just for using my referral link!

ItemDescriptionPrice
Dead Apple 300i 2x internal CD-ROMUse it for parts?$5
Dead 6100 motherboardNo ROM. Includes the SCSI ribbon cable$10
AppleDesign KeyboardSame as above but with function keys$10
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If you want, you can even make a small donation to this site. Obviously, I don't expect anything, but I have put an awful lot of time, money and energy into this site, so if you've saved yourself time, money or Advil by coming here, you can help me defray the cost of a new G4! Heck, even a dollar would show me that you care :-) Just register with PayPal and send money to steven@kan.org. Thanks!


Last updated: 3/22/00

Thanks, and please come back soon!


p.s. Use Netscape, or be viciously mocked, taunted and ridiculed.

Document change history

1/27/00--Added info and sources for 128 MB SIMMs, plus section on my surplus parts for sale
9/19/00--Changed source for 64 MB SIMMs
10/23/00--Added Sur-Tech link
11/21/00--Added PC Liquidator link and removed my 6100 case from the "for sale" list