Power Macintosh 9500

Power Macintosh 9500

Release date	May 1, 1995
Discontinued	February 17, 1997
Operating system	Mac OS 7.5.1-7.6.1, 8.0-8.6, 9.0-9.1
CPU	PowerPC 604 @ 120,132,150,180x2,200 MHz
Memory	Expandable to 1.5 GiB (168 pin DIMM 5V)

The Power Macintosh 9500 (the 132 MHz model is also known as Power Macintosh 9515 in Europe and Japan) was a high-end Macintosh personal computer which was designed, manufactured and sold by Apple Computer from May 1995 until early 1997. It was powered by a PowerPC 604 processor, a second-generation PowerPC chip which was faster than the earlier PowerPC 601 chip. The 180MP and 200 used the enhanced PowerPC 604e processor. The CPU was connected via a daughterboard, and so could be swapped easily. Available were single-processor cards ranging from 120 to 200 MHz, and a dual processor card with two 180 MHz CPUs. It was the first Macintosh to use the PCI standard, with six PCI slots available, with one always needed for the graphics card. The basic design of the logic board, called "Tsunami", was used by various Macintosh clone makers as a reference design and a modified version was used in the non-Macintosh Apple Network Server series. The 9500 was superseded by the Power Macintosh 9600 in February 1997.

Utilizing a third party G4 CPU upgrade and the XPostFacto installation utility it is possible to run up to Mac OS X v10.5 "Leopard" on a 9500, making it the oldest model capable of running Mac OS X.

Power Macintosh 9600

Power Macintosh 9600

Release date	February 17, 1997
Introductory price	3700-4700
Discontinued	March 17, 1998
Operating system	System 7.5.5-Mac OS 9.1 officially supported, Mac OS 9.2.2 with OS 9 Helper, Mac OS X 10.2.8 if XPostFacto is used for unofficial support, Mac OS X 10.4.11 with XPostFacto and a G3 CPU upgrade, or Mac OS X 10.5 with a G4 CPU upgrade
CPU	PowerPC 604e or 604ev @ dual 200, single 200 - 350 MHz
Memory	32 MB, expandable to 1.5 GB (70 ns 168-pin DIMM)

Power Macintosh 9600 logic board

The Power Macintosh 9600 (Codename: "Kansas"; also sold with additional server software as the Apple Workgroup Server 9650) is a personal computer that is a part of Apple Computer's Power Macintosh series of Macintosh computers. It was introduced in February 1997 alongside the Power Macintosh 7300 and the Power Macintosh 8600, and replaced the Power Macintosh 9500 as Apple's flagship desktop computer. It was the last Macintosh model able to boot and run System 7 natively.

The 9600 came in the same new case as the 8600, but was internally very similar to the 9500 that preceded it, with 12 RAM slots and 6 PCI slots instead of the 8 RAM and 3 PCI slots on the 8600. The 9600 used the new PowerPC 604e CPU, an enhanced version of the 9500 604. On introduction, three processor configurations were available: single 200 MHz, dual 200 MHz and single 233 MHz. In August 1997, they were replaced by two new models, with a single 300 MHz or 350 MHz "Mach 5" 604ev with a larger L2 cache. The 350 MHz model was initially discontinued in October due to CPU supply problems, but reintroduced on February 17 when the 300 MHz model was discontinued in favor of the new Power Macintosh G3 minitower - while the G3 was faster, its expandability was only on par with the 8600, so the 9600 was kept available until March for users that needed that kind of expandability.

IMS IXMICRO TwinTurbo 128
video card

Unlike the 8600, the PowerMac 9600 has no built-in video; instead, it shipped with an 8MB IXMICRO TwinTurbo 128-bit PCI video card installed.

The Power Macintosh 9600/350 was the most powerful Mac ever in Apple's four-digit model numbering system, the last multiprocessor Mac for three years, and the last six-slot model to date. However, no version of OS X was officially supported by Apple, its installation and use requiring the use of the third-party software solution XPostFacto and OS X 10.3 or 10.4 only available if a G3 processor upgrade is installed (and OS X 10.5 with a G4). It was also the last Mac to support System 7; subsequent models (G3+) required OS 8 or later.

External links

• Power Macintosh 9500/120, 9500/132, 9500/150, 9500/180MP, 9500/200 and 9515/132 specifications at AppleSpec
• Apple-history.com - PowerMac 9500
• Low End Mac's Power Macintosh 9500 page
• Power Macintosh 9500/ 150 official page (1996)
• Power Macintosh 9500/ 200 & Power Macintosh 9500/ 180 MP official page (1996)
• Power Macintosh 9600/200, 9600/200MP, 9600/233, 9600/300 and 9600/350 specifications at AppleSpec
• Power Macintosh 9600 at Low End Mac
• Power Macintosh 9600 at apple-history.com
• Power Macintosh 8600/200, 8600/200MP, 8600/233, 8600/300 and 8600/350 at EveryMac.com

See also

• Power Macintosh
• List of Macintosh models grouped by CPU type
• List of products discontinued by Apple Computer