Sonnet Crescendo 7200 G3 upgrade card in a desktop G3 233?

If you haven't bought one, I wouldn't waste the time or money to try it. Sonnet had (3) different types of G3/G4 processor upgrade cards for Power Macs/Performas, that coexisted with the onboard processor. One was designed for the PDS slot and another for the L2 Cache slot. As you know, the PCI slot version was only intended for use in the 7200, 7215, WGS 7250, & 8200 models, because they didn't have a processor slot on the motherboard. Because of the difference in motherboard architecture and ROM programming, there would likely be a compatibility problem with attempting to use it in a beige G3/233, either with the original ZIF processor installed or removed from the socket. If someone gave you one to experiment with, you could always try it and hope that no damage was done. Most likely, the computer would either fail the Power-On Self-Test or freeze. Additionally, why waste a PCI slot for a processor upgrade, when you could install the correct type in the ZIF socket? Because they've been discontinued (due to a lack of demand), I'd check eBay for a used/pulled G4 ZIF processor, either by Sonnet or Newer Tech.

One other point to make concerns the fact that the beige G3's processor operates at the system bus speed (66 MHz). From a standpoint of speed/performance, it wouldn't make sense to install a processor card in a 33 MHz PCI slot. While there were many of these ZIF upgrades listed at eBay in the past, the supply is getting scarce. Here's a used G4/500 MHz ZIF processor. If you were to install it, you'd need to remove the red processor jumper block on the motherboard (under the "warranty void" sticker), and install individual shunts to (among other things) appropriately set the processor's recognized speed at 500 MHz. The XLR8 Your Mac web site has the specific settings used.