Quadra 900

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Overview

October 1991 saw the introduction of Macs using Motorola's high-octane 68040 CPU. The Quadra 900 was a full-fledged tower design, although it had only a single available front accessible drive bay. The Quadra 700 and 900 were the first Macs with built-in ethernet, using Apple's AAUI connector. The 900 was replaced by the 33 MHz 950 in May 1992.

Details

introduced October 1991 at $7,200; discontinued May 1992
requires System 7.0.1 or later
CPU: 25 MHz 68040
performance: 11.9, relative to SE; 1.33, Speedometer 4; 22 MIPS
ROM: 1 MB
RAM: 4 MB, expandable to 256MB using 80ns 30-pin SIMMs; motherboard had 4 banks of 4 SIMM slots; can use 1 MB, 4 MB, 8 MB, and 16 MB SIMMs (8 MB and 16 MB SIMMs are not supported by Apple)
video: 1 MB VRAM, expandable to 2 MB; supports 512x384, 640x480, 640x870, 832x624, and 1152x870 resolutions; does not support 16-bit video
L2 cache: optional
ADB ports for keyboard and mouse
DIN-8 serial ports on back of computer
DB-25 SCSI connector on back of computer
five NuBus 90 slots
one PDS slot
upgrade path: Power Mac PDS card; Power Mac 9100

Accelerators & Upgrades

MicroMac PDS or slot-free 128KB L2 cache
Output Enablers 33-35.7 MHz clock accelerator
MicroMac Speedy variable speed oscillator (to 30 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 9100
Sonnet 100 MHz PowerPC 601 Presto PPC, available from Outpost.com

Online Resources

6100 DOS Cards, Quadras, and You. How to use a Power Mac 6100 DOS card with 66 MHz 486DX2 CPU in a Quadra
30-pin SIMM memory pricing, RAMseeker
Easter Egg, MacKiDo
Quadlist, the email list for 68040-based Macs
Memory Upgrade Guide
Quadra 700 & 900 Video by Dale Adams
Apple Specs Online for Quadra 900
For more information on Mac serial ports, read Macintosh Serial Throughput on the Macintosh Online Technical Journal.

Cautions

In 24-bit video mode, the Quadra 700 and 900 actually use 32-bits per pixel. While most Macs can display 24-bit video at 640x480 with1MB of VRAM, you must have 2 MB VRAM for 24-bit on these models (see Apple TIL 10992 for more details).
You must have a "fat" system installed to use a PowerPC upgrade as well as the 68040 CPU.

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