warner@ecs.umass.edu (Lee Warner) (02/13/91)
As an undergrad, my Mac SE has served me well for quite awhile. I have
decided that it is a fine time to upgrade the Mac SE with a faster 32-bit
processor and lots of memory. Before making a purchasing decision, I would
like to field recommendations from the Internet mac community. Issues of
Prime importance to the decision are:
(1) Are there any software compatibility problems with using a
third-party CPU replacement?
(2) Given the SE hardware, is there an optimum performance vs. price
pointto consider? That is, would it be a waster of money to buy
a 33 MHz 68030 replacement in comparison to a 25 MHz version due
to slow hardware constraints on the existing SE motherboard. Also,
am I wrong in assuming that the benefits of a 33 MHz decision
over a 25 MHz decision would not be realized unless considerable
money was invested in a fast SRAM I-Cache for the 33 MHz device?
(3) What about power supply loading and heat dissipation?
(4) Has anyone good recommendations?
(5) What about A/UX compatibility? I am sure that in the near future
I will move into a Unix-Mac environment.
If anyone has recommendations/advice on accelerators, I would be very
interested in hearing from you. Also, I would like to hear from "Mac Speedsters"
that have successfully used accelerated Macs for semi-serious scientific and
engineering computation: MO calculations, finite-element analysis, modelling
in general....