I finally got my new (old) powermac 7200 /90 working well, and i'm thrilled with it, being able to run apps on it i could only dream about on my 68k.. thing is..overall, it doesn't run any faster than my 68040, and in some cases , as in loading web pages , (particularly computin.net!) it's much slower... this despite the fact that i'm running native apps on both , and other than that difference, the apps are (overall) the same,and the same versions as well ( other than being 68k or PPC versions,respectively), there's the same amount of extensions loaded at startup, same system folder size,etc.. Ive replaced almost all the 68k apps that i had on th 7200 for PPC ones, so should'nt it be faster than a 68040? I read that increasing VRAM and adding an L2 cache would help, and di plan on installing more vram when i can, but what's an L2 cache? Any other ideas how to perk it up? thanx...

Yes, the 7200 is somewhat disappointing because of the PPC 601 processor. The 603's and particularly the 604's were much better. I had a 7200 for a short while and frankly I preferred using my Quadra 840AV. You're likely to notice a fairly considerable speed improvement by adding the L2 Cache. It's a SIMM with a small amount of fast memory that stores frequently used data and instructions. You can probably find one on eBay (make sure it's compatible with the 7200). They are easy to fit, just slot it into the L2 cache slot. I think 256K, 512K and 1MB versions are available...not sure if there's a size limit on the 7200 though. I don't think you'll notice much in the way of speed improvement by adding VRAM but it's worth doing anyway. Adding some extra RAM may also be worthwhile. A utility like Speed Doubler 8 is useful if you're running OS 8. I tend to turn off Control Panels/Extensions that are un-necessary for the computer or which I don't need. Utilities like Kaleidoscope can have a noticeable slow-down effect on older machines. I wouldn't go too high with the Mac OS either even though the 7200 can go up to 9.1. Because the 7200's CPU is fixed to the motherboard you can't pull it out and replace it with a faster one like you can on the later 7000 series machines. I think you could replace the whole MOBO though. G3 upgrades are possible but really not worth the expense. (Cheaper to buy 2nd hand G3).

Sonnet has some upgradecards for Your system : Crescendo/7200 Upgrades Crescendo/7200 G3 MG3-400-512* $149.95 Stock Crescendo/7200 G3 MG3-400-1M $179.95 Stock Crescendo/7200 G3 MG3-500-1M $249.95 Stock Bob,

Thanx , all...other than an L2 cache and some VRAM, i don't plan on putting money into it ..the 90 megs of ram it came with seems sufficient for the moment..the only mac ive ever put a lot into was my lc580, maxing out the ram and buying a net card for 70 bucks (canadian!..that's like only 40 bucks in real money..) but it was worth it, the thing just flies... i got the powermac for half what i paid for just the net card for the 580...so i am thrilled with it, despite its speed.. will try all those tricks that dont cost too much tho, and have considered speed doubler before.. i've noticed a slight improvement in speed (or more accurately, responsiveness) with the extensions off, but overall its not a disappointing powermac, just perhaps not as good as one would expect... thanx for the tips, y'all -dominicus-