All Macs In-Depth Tests
Books & Buyer's Guides

Books
Using iLife ... Books
Using iWork ... Books
Using The iPod ... Books
All Books On Apple Products ...

Information Hubs



Other Product Information


Site Supporters

send this page

Send to a friend

News Feed

Mailing list ...List information...


 
MacSpeedZone Gift Shop



Power Macintosh 7200/120 Processor Upgrade And Discussion Page - Performance Of Latest G3 & G4 Processor Upgrades

Power Mac 7200/120 Facts at a Glance

  • PowerPC 601, 120 MHz
  • Bus Speed: 40 MHz (64-bit)
  • L2 Cache: Optional 256K
  • Installed RAM: 8 or 16 MB (512 MBMax)
  • RAM Slots: 4, 168-pin DIMM
  • Min RAM Speed: 70 ns
  • Installed VRAM: 1 (Max 4 MB)
  • Drive: 1.2 GB SCSI
  • CD Drive: 4X or 8X
  • Removable Drives: Floppy Drive
  • Networking: AAUI,10baseT
  • Slots: 3 PCI
  • Drive Bays: 1 free
  • Additional Ports: ADB, 2 Serial - Printer & Modem , SCSI
  • Supported MacOS: 7.5.3 - 9
  • Introduced: 4/96
  • Discontinued: 2/97
  • Initial Retail Price: $1,899 - $2,299
  • Current Price
Notes:
  • 128MB DIMMs can be used, but have not been tested by Apple

PowerMac Upgrade & Troubleshooting
Discussion Forum

8/01

The Power Mac 7200 made its debut in the summer of 1995 as part of the second generation of Power Macs, which also included the 7500, 8500 & 9500. This generation of Power Macs turned its back on the NuBus slot, in favor of 3 PCI slots in each model, and replaced SIMMs for DIMM type memory.

The 7200/120 was a successor model that came out in the spring of 1996 and was aimed primarily at the business, home office and consumer markets. There was the option to add a PC compatibility card so that you could run MS-DOS, Windows programs

A few corners were cut to keep costs down. The 7200s accepted less RAM than their brethren, the CPU was not replaceable and the cache & RAM busses were only 64-bits wide (as opposed to 128)

In fact on the 7500/120 no L2 cache was installed on the base model , though the option to add one was available. Adding a L2 cache can significantly improve the processing performance of the machine.

For Great Prices On Upgrades
Check The Vendors Below
Processor Upgrades
PowerMax Small Dog
Graphics Cards
PowerMax Small Dog
Hard Drives & Optical Drives
PowerMax Small Dog
RAM & Other Memory
4AllMemory MacConnection
SCSI, Firewire USB Cards
MacConnection
Closeout, Used & Refurbished Macs
Apple ebay
PowerMax
(refurb)
PowerMax
(used)
Small Dog
Get your store listed in this space!

 

 

This machine came with 1 MB of VRAM which can be upgraded to 4 MB for 24-bit color at 1024 x 768 resolution.

Though the 601 PowerPC processor is soldered to the motherboard Sonnet has engineered an upgrade for this machine that utilizes one of the PCI slots.The 7200 was considered inexpensive at the time and sold well.

 

Below you will find the MacBench 4.0 results for the processor upgrades available for this machine.

** Note that MacBench does not take advantage of the Velocity Engine (AltiVec instructions) of the G4. For AltiVec accelerated applications you can see a 1.4 to 4 times performance improvement over the G3, depending on the application and the functions you are trying to perform.

 




"But I thought that the G4 was so much faster than the G3?" In some cases it is! For G4 Application specific scores - Click Here

MacBench Absolute Scores

Processor Upgrade Card

MacBench 4.0 Processor Score

Power Macintosh 7200/120 174
Sonnet Crescendo 7200 G3/400/133/512K 1100
Sonnet Crescendo 7200 G4/400/200/1MB
1180
Sonnet Crescendo 7200 G3/400/133/1 MB 1250

Internal Links

External Links

  • 7200 Apple Press Release
  • Processor Card Upgrade Index
  • Graphics Card Upgrades Index
  • Upgrades By Machine
  • Hardware Index
  • Older Machine Benchmark Comparisons
  • Processor Upgrade Cards Manufacturers Links
  • Apple's online specs for the 7200/90
  • LowEndMac's information page for this machine
  • EveryMac's information page for this machine
  • Processor Card Reviews
  • Index of all online Macintosh hardware and software reviews


  • Top of page

     

    Copyright 1996-2007 by Cider Press Publishing LLC all rights reserved. MacSpeedZone is not authorized, sponsored, or otherwise approved by Apple Computer. Apple, the Apple logo, Macintosh, iPod, iBook, iMac, eMac, and PowerBook are registered trademarks of Apple Computer, Inc. Additional company and product names may be trademarks or registered trademarks and are hereby acknowledged.

    |