How to Enhance G3 as well as Macintosh OS Performance?

You can always upgrade the CPU to a faster G3 or G4. If you play any 3D games (any at all) you'll want a graphics card, like a Radeon 9200 PCI Mac Edition, though if you don't, don't bother.

If you want your hard drive to be able to run at its best speed, you'll need to get a ATA PCI card (or SATA PCI card), else it will be restricted to the G3's built-in controller, which has a max speed of 16.7 MBps, vs. the 60+ MBps today's drives are capable of. Plus, if you wanted a drive over 120 GB, you'd need one anyway.

As for virtual memory, turn it off. 320 MB RAM is enough for Mac OS 9, unless you're doing a lot of photoshopping and such.

Disk partition.. just leave that alone, unless you actually need more than one. HFS+, not HFS.

All RAM which is PC66 to PC133 will work just fine in your computer, so long as it is no larger than 256 MB- though if it's 256 MB, make sure it's double-sided... single-sided 256 MB sticks have chips that are too "dense" (too much RAM per chip) and the computer won't recognize it. Try OWC for RAM, if you want.

As for antivirus software, you don't need it... no one would ever bother to write something for an OS used by around 1/1000th of the population, and there aren't any out there anyway, unless you're worried about giving someone a PC virus which you've picked up.. as for that I don't really know.

The most cost effective hardware evolution for a Beige is, one, add RAM (at least 384 MB total or max it out to the 768), two, install a high performance 7200 RPM HDD (yes, you are limited to 16.7 MB/sec on the motherboard IDE bus, but a fast HDD on it will be much quicker than the slow stock HDD), three, add a HDD controller in the PCI slot (an ATA-66 controller will do wonders for HDD speed), and finally four, add a PCI video card (a 16 MB Rage Orion is cheap and will add significantly to 2D performance).

For memory management, in the Memory Control panel set all to default except the fourth item, which controls memory tests at startup. Turn off those tests. You don't need them once you've confirmed that your RAM is working the first or second time. If you have enough RAM MBs, increase the minimum and preferred memory in your most used applications. I set the minimum at the suggested size and the preferred at some multiple of suggested (e.g., IE for Mac preferred memory set to 80 MB).

I wouldn't partition a disk unless I had to. If you're looking at disk optimization, try DiskWarrior to optimize your directories. I've found it had a greater positive impact on OS 9 performance than Norton's Speed Disk. If you don't have Norton's Disk Doctor, run the most recent version of Apple's Disk First Aid often.

Unless you're running a big CPU upgrade, turn off the Control Strip extension and control panel. If you are using the stock Rage Pro video graphics, set them (in the Monitors control panel) to thousands of colors, not millions and don't set the resolution above 1024. These adjustment will add to the overall quickness and speed of your Beige. If you prefer beauty to snap, ignore these video setting suggestions.

Although it is questionable as to whether or not virus protection is still needed for OS 9, if you can find a cheap or free copy, Norton Anti-Virus for Mac, version 7 was the last one for the classic Mac OS. It works simply and well, especially with a large memory allocation. If you can get it with a still functional Live Update feature, Norton still posts monthly virus definition updates for it. Most of the new virus update items are Macro viruses, which may or may not affect what you do with your Mac.

Upgrading to OS X 10.3.9 is a nice move. Speed is not that big an issue, it runs pretty smooth on a G3.
Video is working, the stock videocard works well, besides some people reporting black screens. I haven't had that problem, so it seems to be solved in 10.3.9.
Some things won't work well. If you want to view online video, it might be choppy, but hey, it's only 300 MHz or so...

IMHO, there is a significant speed or snappiness hit with OS X (10.3.9 in my case) compared to OS 9.2.2 and I'm running 768 MB of RAM and a 1 GHz CPU. But, it is all opinion.

Yes, for internet surfing, OS X is the better choice and is why I bothered to load OS 10.3.9 in the first place. But, every time I boot into OS 9, I'm reminded of just how much quickness I'm giving up to run OS X.

I guess the speed difference is not an issue for me, still using the original 300 MHz CPU 🙂
For some reason tho, the few games I have that have been ported to OS X work faster in OS X than in OS 9...
Diablo 2 is one.

hey with that G3 1ghz cpu did you have to install a cpu enabler like you do with the G4 cpu upgrade. cause i want to stick with a cpu this system see's fine. i seen most people with a G4 upgraded system in OS 9 the cpu is seen as a 60? cpu no matter if the software is installed or not.

i know that a G3 cpu will be seen properly without software. but might need software to set the clock multiplier on the cpu to get to the 1000mhz speed. BTW i have tiger on my system i wonder how much better OS X runs on a G3 1ghz cpu Beige than on my G3 466mhz Beige with a Radeon 7000

Netscape 7.0 works well for most websites with OS9, I have found.

FireFox won't run on OS (I don't know about the others).
A site that lists which version work on which platform the way I like to see it is www.macupdate.com.
You can search for specific OSses, or by name of application.

Frank,
My 1 GHz G3 upgrade is a Powerlogix (now owned by OWC), IBM 750 GX model that requires the CPU Director software. That software is working well for me in OS 9.2.2 and 10.3.9. Of course, the Profilers in both of those OSs don't know what speed the new CPU runs at and the CPU speed doesn't kick in until the enabling software is loaded. The CPU speed at chime and until CPU Director activation is anybody's guess, but is somewhere between 333 MHz and 533 MHz. The Profilers do know that the CPU is a G3.

The literature that came with my CPU upgrade back in March only acknowledged the operability of the G3 CPU in a Beige running up to 10.3.9 with XPF. Before considering that upgrade in Tiger, I'd contact OWC to ensure it will work in Tiger. Their site shows a revision available for up to OS 10.4.6, but since that same software is used with some of the Powerlogix G4 upgrades, I wouldn't assume the 10.4.6 version works for the G3 upgrade without verifying that fact first with OWC.

I chose the G3 upgrade to 1 GHz (I was running a 466 MHz G3 upgrade since 11/99) rather than a G4 for 3 reasons, none of which may be valid for someone now considering such an upgrade. First was cost. The G3 upgrade was significantly cheaper than a similar G4 upgrade. Second was compatibility. I've been following Beige CPU upgrades for years and there have been numerous, gremlin-like problems with the G4 CPU upgrades in a Beige. These problems may have all been solved in the most recent G4 upgrade offerings, as several people on this forum seem to have success with such G4 upgrades now. My final concern was heat. The G4 upgrades do run hotter than the G3 upgrades and heat can be a problem in a Beige.

Since I didn't load Panther until I had the CPU upgraded to 1 GHz, I can't comment on the difference in Panther's speed. However, the difference in OS 9.2.2's speed in certain activities was substantial (e.g., opening large JPG files, opening my Comcast home page in IE or Mozilla, general web page loading while surfing, running DiskWarrior or Norton Disk Doctor or Norton Anti-Virus, executing photo fixes in Graphic Converter).