Debating on parting from my PowerMac 8600/300

Question

Hi all
I know the Apple has unleashed the latest and greatest machines just recently.
I still have my good ol 8600 PowerMac with maxed out ram, graphic apps,drives,etc. and was wondering if I should throw in the towel and sell it or donate it. I kept it because I have my third party plug ins for my graphic apps needs. I hardly use it though.
Your thoughts will be appreciated,
Web dude

Answer 1

The least expensive Mac-compatible, ATA-133 controller card (Acard AEC-6280M) has consistently been found here. You can even find the slower, Acard AEC-6260M ATA-66 controller card here for $25 USD, but it would have the 128 GB recognition limit for each connected drive. Of course, the price of either card alone (not to mention a large capacity IDE/EIDE hard drive) exceeds the value of an 8600/300. The ATA-133 controller card and its connected drive(s) could always be transferred to a newer computer, having a slower ATA bus. The 8600/300 with its A/V module, extra 5.25" expansion bay (compared to the beige G3 mini-tower), mounting plate on the chassis floor for additional hard drives, large cooling fan in the side panel, and decent 604ev processor with 1 MB inline L2 cache was a very well-designed and capable computer. I replaced the 604ev/300 processor card in one of mine with a G3/266 MHz ZIF processor on a carrier card, and it makes a noticeable difference. Unfortunately, having newer computers to use gradually discourages the use of older (even upgraded) ones. Your life moves on with daily use of the newer computer, so that when you fire up the old one for sentimental reasons, it's a step back in time. You look for a file and realize that it's saved on the newer computer, as you can only find older, saved documents. After connecting to the internet, you look for a browser bookmark, only to realize that it's also saved on the newer computer. As you have to wait a little longer for the slower processor to handle the computing chores, you appreciate the speed boost that the newer computer offers. Eventually, you're less and less inclined to use the older computer, so it sits in storage. When you realize how little you could get by selling an 8600/300 today, one's first inclination is to park it in a closet, rather than give it away for an insultingly low amount. After another year or two, when the dormant computer has no value, you may decide that you need to part with it, simply because it's taking up space. At that point - realistically speaking, nobody will be interested in paying anything for it. You'll end up disposing of it at a computer recycling center, and wonder why you didn't sell or donate it sooner, when someone could have gotten some operational use out of it. Having made the case for disposing of the computer sooner rather than later, I can also understand the point of keeping it, as part of a collection of vintage Macs from each generation made (68K, PowerPC 601/603/604, G3, G4, etc.).