I've got a Performa 466 with a 68882 FPU installed. I'm tempted to get a Performa 476, but seeing as it lacks a hardware FPU, does anyone know which system would ultimately be faster for floating point operations?
Also, is it possible to drop a 68040 processor in the 476 without resorting to active cooling or mangling the heatsink / case?
A 68040 - even a 68LC040 - will generally run rings around an '030 system, even one with FPU. So I would say the 476 will be faster.
As for dropping in a full '040, if you have a heatsink already it's not too tough to remove it. It's been a long time since I worked on one of these machines, but IIRC there's a small metal clip that holds the heatsink on, and if you release one of its two tabs carefully with a jeweler's screwdriver or something similar, the retainer clip just pops off.
Once you've done it once and gotten the feel for it, it's really easy thereafter.
The more delicate operation is prying up the existing CPU without bending all its pins (although bending pins on a 68LC040 isn't the end of the world since the 'LC040 CPUs aren't really worth anything anymore).
M