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Processor: PowerPC 750 (G3/Arthur)
Speeds: 250, 275 MHz
Bus Speed: 50MHz
Memory: 64mb standard. Memory is interleaved, 8-168 pin DIMM slots.
Level-2 Cache: 1Mb backside cache (allows for much greater speeds!) Runs at same speed as processor.
Graphics: ixMicro Twin Turbo 128M8 card, 8mb VRAM; Resolutions upto 1920x1080. Core systems include ixMicro based built-in video, 2mb VRAM;
Hard Drive: 2Gb 7200rpm Ultra-wide SCSI drive or 4gb 5400rpm Ultra-narrow SCSI drive; 2gb 5400rpm drive on core systems.
SCSI Architecture: Ultra-wide SCSI (40Mb/sec), Internal Fast SCSI (10Mb/sec)
CD-ROM drive: 24X (sustained transfer rate of 3.6mb/sec!)
Networking: Built in AAUI and 10BaseT ethernet
Expansion: 6 12" PCI slots; 9 drive bays.
Cases: ATX full tower enclosure

These are from a MacUser story and are unofficial!

MacBench Test	PowerTower Pro G3/250	PowerTower Pro G3/275
CPU		1052
Floating Point		564
Disk		649
Graphics
CD-ROM

You can't purchase it, but in case you were wondering...

PowerTower Pro G3/275 64/2gb AV or 4gb/24x/ixMicro TT128M8 $4795
PowerTower Pro G3/250 64/2gb AV or 4gb/24x/ixMicro TT128M8 $4295
PowerTower Pro G3/250 Core 32/2gb/24x/ixMicro 2mb VRAM     $3695

Thanks to Steve Jobs, this will never see the light of day.

MacOS 8, Director 5.0, Shockwave, Nisus Writer, Now Contact/Up-to-Date, 250 fonts, FWB HDToolkit PE and CD-ROM Toolkit, Novell Netware Client, Speed Doubler, Acrobat reader, Asante Net Doubler.

It's not often you come across a machine that truly leaps ahead of its predecessors, but the PowerTower Pro G3 does it magnificently. Let me give you a little background on what machines I use, so you can understand just how fast this thing really is. My main machine here is a PowerTower 200e, clocked up to 220MHz. This is a fast machine already, and it has lots of nice stuff in it, and plenty of RAM. In other words, it gets the job done. At work this summer, I use a Dell Pentium 166 system running NT 4.0. This is also a pretty snappy machine.

The best analogy I can come up with is that the G3 system feels like it has two of my PowerTower 200e's in one box. It really feels twice as fast. A quick test with MacBench 4.0 revealed the following:

• Processor: 1052
• Floating Point (w/o MathLibMoto): 564
• Disk: 649

My PowerTower 200e/220MHz scores about 540 on the processor test, so the claim of twice as fast is not that far off.

The processor isn't all the makes this machine scream. Between the 128 Mb of interleaved memory, an 8 gb striped disk array tied to an Adaptec 2940UW card, a 24X CD-ROM, and a ixMicro TwinTurbo 128M8. Did I mention the Zip and Jaz drive? This thing is loaded, and it flies as a result.

I admit the CD-ROM drive, though extremely fast, isn't as cool as the Teac 16X on the PowerCenter Pro model I tested several months ago. I love the super fast tray on that model-- it's so cool!

The hard drives scream, too! There were two 4gb Seagate Barracudas in a striped RAID (Level 0?) which was partitioned three ways. Man, they were amazingly fast. I couldn't figure out how to find out how many megs/sec it was transferring, but it was pretty substantial.

The system came pre-installed with MacOS 8, so I was ready to roll right away. Real world application speed was what I was after, and I wasn't disappointed. Since Microsoft Office was installed, I decided to fire up the notably slow MS Word 6.0.1 to clock it's loading time. In 4.5 seconds, I was ready to start typing.

Now, with Pagemill, Netscape Communicator, Eudora,Telnet, and Word open, it was time to run Excel too. LESS THAN 3 SECONDS. Excel runs considerably faster than my PC at work. Folks, when those G3 cards become affordable, buy them, quickly.

Even my favorite pastime, web surfing, is super fast. Netscape seems to load pages faster-- as if my modem received an upgrade when I plugged it into the G3 system.

I managed to try VirtualPC, which was faster, but did not have enough time for any extensive testing. I did a little CD-ROM burning using Toast 3.5.1, which was fast too, though I'm not sure the computer had too much to do with that ; - )

One surprise was that the CD-ROM drive didn't eject the CD when you restart, and there's not even an option to change that in the included version of FWB CDT 2.3.1. A welcome change.

Gamers will be pleased with the speed increase of the G3 system as well.. Quake played pretty well at 1024x768.. and I wish I had a 3dfx card at the time I tested it! Other games were snappy, such as Civilization II.

All in all, I'd highly recommend the machine-- but since nobody can ever own the PowerTower Pro G3, that doesn't mean much. However, it does make a case for the extraordinary power of the PowerPC 750, and I'll be first in line to buy one of the upcoming G3 cards (presuming it will work on th Catalyst architecture). I'm going to miss the PowerTowerPro G3.. it was fun while it lasted!

PowerTower Pro G3/275
128/8gb RAID/24X/Zip/Jaz/TT128M8
Prices start at $3695 (never went on sale)
Pros: Fastest machine you can't buy in every possibly way;
Cons: Fastest machine you can't buy; Would've been expensive.