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This topic has moved here: Subject: Best Mac for the job...
  • Subject: Best Mac for the job...
Subject: Best Mac for the job...
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I'm currently playing Marathon on a Macintosh Quadra 605. This machine is about 14-15 years old now, and goes for about, oh...$10, maybe? Anywho, I was wondering if anybody could give me some info on what kind of Mac to get. The cheaper, the better, 'cause all I need for it to do is run all three Marathons (in Hi-Definition), PiD, and Forge and Anvil, without any problems. If anyone could help me out, I would be forever in their debt.

  • 11.16.2004 12:47 PM PDT
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Any of the Old iMacs will be good for the job.

I just bought a PowerMac 5500, haven't had a chance to see how it goes yet.

I plan to use it as a repository for all the old games that I enjoyed as a kid.

  • 11.16.2004 2:42 PM PDT
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I just dusted off an old PM 7500 (with a G3/333 card) and installed Panther on it to run Aquaduct. While I'm at it, I'm thinking of doing pretty much what you described: throwing the Marathon Trilogy and the OS 9 versions of Oni and the Myths on another OS 9 HD.

If that old thing can run OS X (albeit slow but fine for my purposes), the old Bungie titles should be just fine. I had used it originally back in college and was playing Marathon 1-Inf over the LAN without too much problem... with the original 601 in there. Then again, I'm used to snappier things and highr frame rates now.

Your best bet would be a smurf G3, I'd think. They can be found a little easier than the older PowerMacs and are about as cheap (under $100 for a barebones one). Also, they can run a few other things if pressed (like be a file, web or backup server, for example) without needing to upgrade too much. A G3/anything would run the Trilogy in 9 smooth as silk. Upgrades if you need to, like hard drives and RAM, are more standard and also easier to find cheap (PC100 and IDE vs. FPM DIMMs and narrow SCSI on older PowerMacs).

If that's too much, try to find one of the older ones even cheaper as the previous poster(s) suggested. You may need to get more RAM and, maybe, a processor card if it seems sluggish, though.

  • 11.16.2004 3:10 PM PDT
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Thanks for taking time to tell me this stuff, guys. I really appreciate your help. Soon, I'll be playing Durandal without the ''draw every other line" option on. YAAAAYYY!!
Fun times ahead!

  • 11.16.2004 5:31 PM PDT