Apple Power Macintosh Upgrade Card

The Apple Power Macintosh Upgrade Card is a PowerPC 601 based processor upgrade that fits into Quadra PDS (Processor Direct Slot) equipped Macintosh computers. The card uses a 66 MHz PPC 601 processor with 1 MB of level 2 cache, which runs at twice the original processor speed of the computer it is installed in. An included control panel allows one to reboot the system using the original 68040 processor of the Mac as programs not written to run natively on PowerPC processors generally run faster with the original processor. The card supports System 7.1.2 (included) to Mac OS 8.1.

The reason for the abnormally large 1 MB cache is due to the 32-bit memory interface used on the 68040 based systems the card is installed in. Having a large 1 MB cache directly connected to the processor via a 64-bit interface means the system accesses the slower main memory less often and therefore increases the speed of the system.

A second version of the card exists for 68040 computes without Quadra PDS slots; the Apple Power Macintosh Processor Upgrade functions much the same way but installs directly into the 68040 socket. These cards have a smaller 256 KB level 2 cache and the original CPU is removed and therefore one cannot reboot using it.

Using this card inside a Centris 610 produces the slowest Power Macintosh computer possible, 40 MHz.

The box contains your standard array of manuals in addition to the card and PDS adapter. System 7.1.2 is also included on floppy disk.	The plain box which was the standard Apple design at the time with a rather humourus requirement of 8 MB of memory.
The card has a Quadra PDS connector as the only connector. The long and thin heatsink takes up most of the front of the card.	The back of the card contains the Apple ROM chips.
Here you see the 66 MHz PowerPC 601 processor used on the card. This is one of the few yellow 601 chips I have as most speeds are blue-green in colour.	This large chip is the only other card component of the card. It most likely provides an interface to the host system bus.
This bank of eight 15 nanosecond Toshiba chips makes up the 256 KB of cache memory on the card.	A close-up of two of the PPC ROM chips on the back of the card.
This adapter which is used only in 610 series Macs allows for installation in the low profile case used in those models.	Here you can see the card installed in the adapter.

Please don't link to images. Link to pages!
I work very hard on taking nice photos of all the items on this site myself. Please don't steal them.