powermac 8500 + sonnet crescendo or imac 333?

it's faster on the bus, plus it's G3 native, which means you can run OS X. it's also cheaper (provided you find one with no PAV issues) and it can be had for as little as $10. Another thing going for the iMac, is that it has 10/100 Ethernet, and USB Native. It's also got faster Level 2 cache than the 604, and it can take cheaper memory in the long run. On top of that, the IDE Bus is faster than the SCSI on the PM 8500.

So, it's kinda a streak-by with the iMac winning.

Not to mention that the 8500 case is a pain in the a** to deal with.

Not to mention that the 8500 case is a pain in the a** to deal with.

Royal pain !

I would go with the iMac for sure unless you are going to be running old software.

faster memory = faster apps + Faster OS
a couple more things is that it can hold more VRAM than an 8500, and it's also got a faster video card.
In all aspects, i wouldn't use anything other than starting at a G3 to do much. The OS's are outdated, and it can be a mess if you rely on it for the internet (iCab has stopped development on PPC pre-OS X) Plus, the CD-Rom on an iMac is faster, and setup is pretty much plug-n-go. You have to worry about SCSI ID's on a 9500, and with OS 9, extension conflicts. If you need classic, go with the iMac because it will run both Classic AND OS X, making for the best of both worlds. That's the reason I keep my B&W, is that my G4 iBook won't run classic (not natively)
iirc, they had some upgrades, but they were kinda expensive(?) Anyway, i have seen that some people have put a 512MB So-DIMM in their iMacs, and have bumped them up to 1GB even. so you can still get as much, if not, more ram in the iMac.
also, the screen is VERY clear on an iMac. I got a DV, and it's crystal clear, and runs at a good Res as not to hurt your eyes.
if anything, i would go for a DV or SE. they would be faster, and can be had for little too. you can find people offloading them as they upgrade. You can also get a G3 or G4 PowerMac setup for pretty cheap. Heck, i traded a P /// 550(?) for a Blue & White with 512MB of ram! jut paid shipping, Plus it came with a Radeon 7000 w/ 32MB !!! not a bad deal.
If you are worried about expandability, for for a cheap powermac G3 or G4.

Hello:What would be a better and cheap mac choice,a``boosted``powermac 8500,with a `` sonnet crescendo`` or the ``imac 333 plain?``

A better choice would be a graphite case PowerMac G4. You can get them up through the Digital Audio version for stupid cheap and they come with more modern technologies on the motherboard, run faster and have more room for upgrades inside. I'm doing up a DA 533 right now and will be getting a 1.8ghz processor that benchmarks faster in many tests than a dual 1.0 Quicksilver and probably faster than some MDD and FW800 models.