Mac IIci

A Low End Mac Best Buy

code name: Pacific, Aurora II, Cobra II

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" . . . may be the best machine Apple has ever produced." MacUser, November 1989.

Overview: Beyond 16 MHz

Building on the success of the Mac IIcx, the IIci offered 65% more power in the same compact case. A new feature was onboard video. The advantage was that users no longer needed to buy a video card; the drawback was that internal video used RAM. Again on the plus side, video was faster than with Apple's NuBus video card (25 MHz motherboard video v. 10 MHz NuBus connection) and supported 8-bit color on a 640x480 screen, 4-bits on a 640x870 portrait monitor. Depending on bit depth, this used 32 KB to 320 KB of RAM. Also, Byte reported (10/89) that because the CPU and video share the same memory, sometimes the CPU is shut out during video refresh, reducing performance up to 8%.

My own tests on an accelerated IIci showed that although CPU performance does increase slightly when using a NuBus video card, video performance with an unaccelerated video card is about half that of internal video. Unless you need to support a larger screen or have an accelerated video card, your overall performance may actually be worse with a video card than with internal video.

Adding a video card was a popular way to increase performance (up to 30%!) and free precious RAM; another boost came from adding a level 2 (L2) cache. This proved so popular, Apple eventually made a 32 KB cache standard.

The Mac II, IIx, and IIcx all ran a 16 MHz CPU on a 16 MHz motherboard with a separate 10 MHz bus for NuBus cards. Byte mentions (10/89) that the IIci runs the CPU and RAM at 25 MHz, NuBus at 10 MHz, I/O subsystems with a third oscillator, and onboard video with a fourth oscillator. By decoupling various subsystems this way, it would be easier for Apple to boost the CPU/RAM without redesigning every part of the motherboard.

The IIci also had the fastest SCSI in the Mac II series, reaching approximately 2.1 MBps.

The IIci was the first Mac to support the 68030's burst access mode, which "allows the CPU to read 16 bytes of data at a time in about half the clock cycles. This results in [a] ... 10 percent improvement in performance." (Byte, 10/89, p. 102)

The IIci was the first Mac with "clean" ROMs, allowing 32-bit operation without special software. Along with the Portable, it was the first Mac to use surface mount technology.

Upgrade Advice

The IIci is a best buy because of the numerous upgrade options.

If you don't have a cache card, buy one -- unless you plan to add an accelerator. $15 and up on the used market.
If you're running low on RAM, by all means buy more. You should have at least 8 MB, but more is better.
Buy a NuBus video card if you're using internal video. $30 and up on the used market.
Quadra 700 motherboards are very rare. For that level of performance, consider a 68040-based accelerator, such as the Sonnet Presto 040 (40 MHz 68040 with 128 KB L2 cache, see our benchmark page). See a more complete list of accelerators below.
A newer hard drive will be far more responsive and have far more capacity than the one that shipped with the computer. Any 3.5" half-height or third-height drive will fit.
More RAM plus Speed Doubler equals improved hard drive performance through intelligent caching.

Details

introduced September 1989 at $6,700 ($8,800 with 40 MB hard drive); discontinued February 1993
requires System 6.0.4 to 7.6.1
CPU: 25 MHz 68030
FPU: 68882
performance: 3.5 without cache, 4.3 with cache (relative to SE); 2.05, MacBench 2.0 CPU; 6.98, Speedometer 3.06; 0.40, Speedometer 4; 6.3 MIPS
see Benchmarks: IIci for more details
ROM: 512 KB
RAM: 1 MB, expandable to 128 MB using 4-SIMM banks of 80ns 30-pin memory; can use 256 KB, 512 KB, 1 MB, 2 MB, 4 MB, 8 MB, and 16 MB SIMMs
built-in 8-bit video, supports 512x384 and 640x480 at 8-bits or portrait monitor (640x870) at 4-bits (uses 64-320 KB of RAM for video, not separate VRAM)
L2 cache: optional, later 32 KB standard
ADB ports: 2
DIN-8 serial ports: 2
DB-25 SCSI connector on back of computer
NuBus slots: 3
PDS/cache slot
size (HxWxD): 5.5" x 11.9" x 14.5"
weight: 13.6 lbs.
PRAM battery: 3.6V lithium
Gestalt ID: 11
addressing: 24-bit or 32-bit
upgrade path: Quadra 700

Accelerators & Upgrades

adding a video card frees RAM and increases speed
32 KB level 2 cache (became standard late in production run) -- most accelerators occupy the cache slot, which means removing the L2 cache
Apple Quadra 700 motherboard (25 MHz 68040)
MicroMac Diimo/030 (50 MHz 68030), 64 KB cache, optional 50 MHz 68882 FPU
MicroMac Carrera (33 MHz and 40 MHz 68040), optional 128 KB cache (33 MHz Carrera 040 available from Outpost.com)
MicroMac 90 MHz Carrera (45 MHz 68040)
Sonnet Technologies Presto 040 (40 MHz 68040 or 68LC040), optional 128 KB cache (see benchmark)
Daystar 50 MHz 68030 with 68882, discontinued
Daystar Turbo 040 (33 MHz, 40 MHz 68040), discontinued
Daystar Turbo 601, 66 MHz and 100 MHz versions, discontinued (resource: Unofficial Turbo 601 Site)

Discontinued accelerators (68030 unless otherwise noted) include the Applied Engineering TransWarp (50 MHz 68030, 25, 33 MHz 68040), DayStar Universal PowerCache (33, 40, 50 MHz), Fusion Data TokaMac SX (25 MHz 68040), Logica LogiCache (50 MHz), Radius Rocket (25 MHz 68LC040 to 40 MHz 68040), TechWorks NuBus (33 MHz 68040), and Total Systems Magellan (25 MHz 68040).

Accelerator Reviews

Online Resources

System 6 for the Macintosh, Ruud Dingemans. If you have an older, slower, memory-limited Mac, System 6 is fast, stable, and still very usable.
30-pin SIMM memory pricing, RAMseeker
Easter Egg, MacKiDo
Upgrades: Mac IIci, MacSpeedZone
browsing on older Macs, Mac Online Technical Journal
Mac II, IIci, and LC III Questions, Mac Daniel
Should I push my IIci any further?, Mac Daniel
Information on 32-bit addressing
Email lists: Classic Macs Digest, Vintage Macs
Memory upgrade guide
Links to System 6.0.8 and 7.0.1
Robert Art Morgan of Bare Feats fame drops a Daystar Turbo 601 into his IIci. (bad link)
Apple Specs Online for Mac IIci
This Old Mac on Mac Addict

Cautions

Internal video on the IIci and IIsi, and the Mac II mono and color video cards, will not work with multisync monitors unless you use an adapter. Griffin Technology makes a Mac II Series Adapter that works with Apple's Multiple Scan monitors and most Mac compatible monitors. There is also a version for using VGA-type monitors on older Macs.
When using internal video, RAM from Bank A is used for video. During video refresh, the CPU is prevented from using Bank A. For best performance, largest SIMMs should be in Bank B if you are using internal video.
Serial port normally restricted to 57.6 kbps; use of a 56k modem may be limited. See 56k modem page. For more information on Mac serial ports, read Macintosh Serial Throughput on the Macintosh Online Technical Journal.
Internal video may reduce system and serial performance; a NuBus video card is recommended.

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