Overclocking a Beige G3 AIO

I have been doing some research on overclocking my machine and found that it is fairly simple. I need to get some supplies but i have one question.

On the charts i have been looking at to overclock my G3. There is a column that has PLLConfig at the top and then numbers ranging from 3x-7x under it. Here is a link to something what i am talking about
http://www.bekkoame.ne.jp/~t-imai/g3ae1.html

So what does that PLLConfig mean and does it "set" it self as you change the jumpers?

If anyone can give me info on overclocking my G3 i would appreciate it.

Thanks

The PLL configuration is the mathmatical ratio between the CPU and Clock speed. For example go down the chart to a bus speed of 70 with a CPU of 280; the PLL is 4. Low End Mac has some info and links for the G3. According to them, the maximum PLL is 7 but that may cause instability; www.lowendmac.com

I've overclocked both of my G3 AIO's, and as you said, it's quite a simple process. However, you really don't need any "supplies" to do it, other than a length of thin wire to use as additional "jumpers". You can cut short pieces of the wire and bend it into a U shape, and it will work very nicely.

The only other item you might want to purchase is a small tube of thermal paste to use on the heat sink. In most cases this isn't really necessary, but I chose to use it just to help keep processor temps down since my cooling system is otherwise original.

One other thing to note if you do plan to remove and reinstall the heat sink is that Apple doesn't seem to have installed the clamp correctly from the factory. You'll notice that the clamp is sort of "M" shaped, but that the flat portion in the middle is offset to one side like this: /¯¯\_/¯¯¯¯\ That flat spot in the middle should be directly over the processor's heat pad, but on both of my machines, it had been installed the reverse way, and thus wasn't putting even or direct pressure on the proper location. By switching the clamp around to the proper direction and using the thermal paste, I achieved significantly lower processor temps.

Here's another similar page that has some good information on OC'ing the Beige as well: http://www.xlr8yourmac.com/G3_OC/tims.html

Both of my machines began as 233 MHz, and both are running rock-solid at 300 MHz with the original 66 MHz bus and 33 MHz PCI clock speeds. I'm not sure if Apple used the same processor for the 233 and 266 MHz versions of the G3 AIO and simply altered the jumper setting to achieve the "speed bump", but if the processors are in fact the same, you probably won't be able to get much more than 300 MHz out of it while maintaining stability. Mine refused to boot when I tried to go to 333 Mhz.

Thanks for the help. I think i will probably go and get the thermal gel just as a precautionary measure.

I think i am also going to try it on one of the computers at school before i do it to mine at home.

There are so many at school that if one dies they won't miss it.

Thanks

prostuff1 said:

Thanks for the help. I think i will probably go and get the thermal gel just as a precautionary measure.

I think i am also going to try it on one of the computers at school before i do it to mine at home.

There are so many at school that if one dies they won't miss it.

Thanks

Click to expand...

LOL - You'd have to really mess something up to kill one of these G3's trying to OC it. All this overclocking discussion made me want to play with my AIO again, so I decided to open it up and change the jumpers again. It's now running at 315 MHz with the bus upped to 70 MHz and the PCI clock up slightly to 35 MHz. Seems to be running happily here, so unless I notice any stability problems in the future, these are the settings I'll stick with. A 35% boost in CPU clock speed for free isn't so bad.

I am at school right now but i got a chance to mess with a couple 233MHz AIO in the back room. They are now running at 315MHz and 300MHz. It was a lot easier then i thought it would be.

I think I am going to go home and mess with my computer now.

prostuff1 said:

I am at school right now but i got a chance to mess with a couple 233MHz AIO in the back room. They are now running at 315MHz and 300MHz. It was a lot easier then i thought it would be.

I think I am going to go home and mess with my computer now.

Click to expand...

I told you it wasn't so hard. :mac:

Let me know what you're able to achieve on the 266. I'm curious to see how much higher (if any) it will be willing to go compared to the 233.

Just finished messing with my computer at home and i got it to go to 300MHZ/33/66. I was expecting to be able to run 333 without a problem but it would boot up an seem fine but it would freeze after a while. Tried the same thing at 315 but it did the same thing. So i guess i am stuck at 300...for now

Might buy a cheap ZIF from eBay to get a little more boost. But i am not complaining to much just got a free boost form 266 to 300. I'm happy