There are a number of upgrades that you must have to run your G3 Mac at its best. (Note: This page was originally written when the Beige G3 was first released (OS 8.0/1998). See the main www.xlr8yourmac.com topics page for other reviews/guides to the latest upgrades like CPU modules, Graphics cards, IDE hard drives and more.) Add RAM first! - you should always upgrade your RAM as the first upgrade. Since there are only 3 slots, I suggest getting a 128 MB SDRAM DIMM if you can afford it. Verify the DIMM is certified for use with the Apple G3 systems (see the main page ad for G3 certified SDRAM pricing). The Upgrades page has illustrated guide to installing RAM upgrades in the G3 system. SGRAM video ram upgrades - if you are not going to buy a PCI video card, adding a 4 MB SGRAM upgrade will boost performance of the built-in video. It's cheap, about $20 now ($19 + shipping at OWC) and is well worth the price. Verify the 4MB SODIMM is certified for use with the Apple G3 systems. The Ram Upgrades page has illustrated guide to installing the SGRAM upgrade in the G3 system. Upgrade to OS 8.1 - OS 8.1 offers much improved memory and FPU speed and fixes some OS 8.0 finder issues as well. The new HFS+ file system can save a tremendous amount of disk space if you have large drives with only a single partition due to its smaller minimum block size. Beware that if you do convert a volume to HFS+, only a OS 8.1 system can read the disk, but even without HFS+, OS 8.1 is a must upgrade. Although you should still backup your data beforehand, Alsoft makes a great HFS+ disk converter utility called Plusmaker ($29.95) that will covert volumes without reformatting. Speed Doubler - Connectix's Speed Doubler 8.1 is one of the first pieces of software I install on all my Macs. It adds much faster copying, keyboard macros and faster emulation for non-PowerPC native code that still exists in the MacOS and many applications. They also include a server version for much faster network copying, as much as a 3X speed increase according to reader feedback. Note: Speed Doubler is NOT compatible with OS 9.0!

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