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	Save on DVDs from DVD Express. No DVD? Watch movies on CD from CoolVCD.com Centris 610 Got a Centris? Consider joining the Quadlist email list. "Going along with the auto-marketing trend toward meaningless names that sound important, Apple's new Centris line will serve as the company's mainstream, midlevel computers." MacUser, April 1993 (Apple names included Quadra, Performa, and Centris. The Centris name was dropped after 9 months.) Overview Creating a midpoint between the Mac II line and the Quadra series, the short-lived Centris models were introduced in February 1993. The Centris 610 introduced a new case style, one which would later be used for the Power Mac 6100. Unlike either the Mac II or Quadra lines, this model has a power switch on the front and cannot be turned on or off using the power key on the keyboard. (Many users more familiar with DOS hardware mistook the power switch for a floppy eject button -- although it didn't take long to discover what the button really did.) As a cost saving measure, the Centris 610 used the less expensive 68LC040 CPU (no FPU) and the least expensive version left out ethernet circuitry. Still, it averaged twice the performance of the IIci, Apple's workhorse business computer. An easy way to increase calculation speed on this model is to replace the CPU with a full-fledged 68040. Unlike the IIci or Quadra 700, the Centris 610 had a drive bay for a CD-ROM drive. It also introduced a new, high-speed SCSI bus to the Macintosh line. This model was upgraded to Quadra status in October. Apple earns a Road Apple for the Centris name, which was discontinued after 9 months. Details introduced February 1993 at $2,520; discontinued October 1993 requires System 7.1 or later CPU: 20 MHz 68LC040 FPU: none, 68LC040 can be replaced with 68040 CPU performance: 9.7 est., relative to SE; 0.80, Speedometer 4 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: 2 DIN-8 serial ports: 2 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 Output Enablers 28-28.6 MHz clock accelerator Griffin Mac-celerator (variable speed to 28 MHz, incl. heat sink and fan) MicroMac Speedy variable speed oscillator (to 26 MHz), available from Outpost.com Sonnet QuadDoubler (40 MHz 68LC040 or 68040 ), available from Outpost.com Apple Power Macintosh Upgrade Card/Daystar PowerPro 601 runs at twice the speed of the original processor (40 MHz, making it the slowest PowerPC based computer ever) 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? Apple TIL: Centris 610, 650, 660av compared Quadlist, the email list for 68040-based Macs Memory Upgrade Guide Centris & Quadra Onboard Video by Dale Adams This Old Mac in MacAddict Printed reviews: Macworld, April 1993; Mac User, April 1993 Cautions You must have a "fat" system installed to use a PowerPC upgrade. Because the onboard ethernet port shares the same oscillator as the CPU, clock chipping the Centris 610 makes the internal ethernet port unusable. You can overcome this problem with a third party ethernet card. 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 Online Tech Journal. <back to Centris/Quadra page or home page> Macinstein Banner Exchange Low End Mac established April 7, 1997. This page, the entire Low End Mac site, and all subsites of <http://lowendmac.net/> copyright ©1997-2000 by Dan Knight unless otherwise noted. All rights reserved. LINK POLICY: This site allows and encourages links to any public page, so long as the linked page does not appear within a frame that prevents bookmarking the linked page. 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