Bdog

You bet they can. Contrary to popular rumours Macs are overclocked and modded.
You can find CPU's, fast ram, hard drives, video cards and other goodies if you look.

My MAC SE (circa 1989) went from a 8Mhz Motorola 68000 to a 33Mhz 68030 CPU.
It's memory went from 1Mb ram to 8Mb ram and no hard drive to a 500Mb SCSI hard drive.
It had the built in screen. A video output was added which went to a 15" portrait monitor (Imagine, dual monitors in 1989!)
It pumped out Pagemaker like a champ. It still starts up and prints to a NEC LaserPrinter.

The Motorola/IBM G3 CPU used in many Mac's is known to easily pull 10% or more in overclocking.
Just like on a PC of the same time (P2-P3) it's a matter of moving jumpers on the Motherboard to change the FSB and multiplier. And like always, finding a good overclockable CPU.

We had a Beige G3 up to 1183Mhz before it wouldn't start.
Right now it is cruising at 1Ghz. The original G3 CPU on the MB was a 233Mhz.

In my sig there is a B&W that originally was a 450Mhz G3. It is now a G4 running at 1Ghz.
It came with a 6Gb HD and 128Mb of Ram. Now it has 7200 120Gb HD and 1Gb of Ram.
The only thing original is the PSU, MotherBoard and most of the case.

Many parts exchange between PC's and Mac's.
Depending on the model and what is added Macs's can use PCI, PCIe, AGP, USB, IDE, SATA, DDR, etc.
So fast Hard Drives, Ram, PCI cards, and other PC hardware can be swapped.
Like in your PC, sometimes you need a driver.

You can find faster Mac processors from many places.
Sonnet http://www.sonnettech.com/ and Powerlogic http://www.powerlogix.com/ are two of the most popular sources.

gonX

Great guide!

__________________
THE Mouse FAQ | 32-bit Resolution Fix | Important Information
64-Bit Driver Signing Fix | The Infraction and Warning System
My Anime Progress | The HoN Discussion Thread

Please direct all tech related questions to a thread in the respectable forums, and not to my PM inbox. Thank you