Quadra 610

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Overview

Finding the market confused with five product lines (Mac II, Centris, Quadra, Performa, and PowerBook), Apple renamed the Centris models in October 1993. At the same time, the CPU in the 610 was boosted to 25 MHz. (The 8/160 version sold in the U.S. was based on the less expensive 68LC040 chip.)

Details

introduced October 1993 at $1,440; discontinued May 1994
requires System 7.1 or later
CPU: 25 MHz 68040 (68LC040 only on 8/160 sold in U.S.)
performance: 12.1 (relative to SE); 7.93, MacBench 2.0 CPU
ROM: 1 MB
RAM: 4 MB on motherboard, expandable to 68 MB using 80ns 72-pin SIMMs; motherboard has 2 SIMM slots, which can be filled independently; can use 4 MB, 8 MB, 16 MB, and 32 MB SIMMs. If SIMMs are not the same speed, faster SIMM should be in bank 0 (frontmost slot).
video: 512 KB VRAM, expandable to 1 MB; supports 512x384, 640x480, 640x870, 832x624, 1024x768, and 1152x870 resolutions
L2 cache: optional, PDS
ADB ports for keyboard and mouse
DIN-8 serial ports on back of computer
DB-25 SCSI connector on back of computer
one PDS slot (NuBus adapter available)
upgrade path: Power Mac PDS card, Power Mac 6100

Accelerators & Upgrades

MicroMac 128KB L2 cache
replace 68LC040 with 68040 on 8/160 model
Output Enablers 29.5-30 MHz clock accelerator
Griffin Mac-celerator (variable speed to 28 MHz, incl. fan)
MicroMac Speedy variable speed oscillator (to 29 MHz), available from Outpost.com
Sonnet QuadDoubler (50 MHz 68040), available from Outpost.com
Apple Power Macintosh Upgrade Card/Daystar PowerPro 601 runs at twice the speed of the original processor (50 MHz) and has a 1 MB level 2 cache (resource: Unofficial PowerPro 601 Page)
Daystar PowerPro 601 (100 MHz 601), discontinued
Power Mac 6100
Sonnet 100 MHz PowerPC 601 Presto PPC, available from Outpost.com

Accelerator Reviews

Sonnet Quad Doubler

Online Resources

72-pin SIMM memory pricing, RAMseeker
Mac Daniel: Is upgrading my Centris 650 worth it?
Quadlist, the email list for 68040-based Macs
Centris & Quadra Onboard Video by Dale Adams
Fall '93 '040 Macs by Dale Adams
Memory Upgrade Guide
This Old Mac in MacAddict

Cautions

You must have a "fat" system installed to use a PowerPC upgrade.
If you have a non-Apple hard drive formatted with Silverlining, read this warning.
The fan filter for the 610 and other models that use the same case is inside the power supply. Sometimes a "bad" power supply can be repaired by clearing the dust out of the mesh screen near the fan.
This case has poor air circulation, which can cause replacement hard drives or accelerators to overheat. If this happens, the first thing to try is removing the small horizontal insert on the back. If this fails, look into replacing the fan in the power supply (contact Newark Electronics at 1-800-463-9275 for information on their 25cfm fan) or moving the hard drive to the CD-ROM bay (assuming you don't have a CD-ROM player).
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.

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