What are ZIF accelerator cards?

[outthere]

I've heard alot of good things about the XLR8 cards, but I don't really understand how they work. Would someone care to explain? Is the 001 compatible with them?

[Mook]

Hello outthere(cool name)
zif accelerators are made usually for the beige g3 family.
the processor on those computers is connected
to a slot which like pci slot can be replaced
for upgrade matters.
i reccomend checking out "newer technology" products allso. they have good reviews.
hope i helped you.
Mook

[outthere]

Thanks Mook. I was reading about a bunch of mac users who had added these ZIF cards to their 9600s and had great speed increases.

Has anyone tried this?

[Avid]

Installed it last night, ran it a bit today. seems to be working fine, including follow playhead, on a 9600/350/XLR8Zif Carrier/OWC 400/450 G3 at 400 mhz. (wouldn't boot for me at 450)

My initial reaction is good, but it will take quite awhile to see how well this works on my personal system. Digi Testing can't help here, since they are busy as can be with standard shipping cpu configs.

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Bruce Paine
eMarketing

[outthere]

Hi Bruce,

I was wondering how your upgrade was going? I'm considering buying one of the XLR8 cards and would like to know what kind of results I could expect. How many Ren EQs can you run? Ren Comps? Do you notice a big difference?

Thanks

[ThomCat]

I heard that the Newer Technology cards were very stable, so...I bought a G3 300/1MB card to put in a 604e 240 Mac clone. Even though the Newer card decreased by system bus speed from 60 MHz to 47 MHz (their literature tries to convince why this is necessary) I got a very substantial speed increase. Of course as soon as I did Emagic upgraded their Logic Audio software significantly which wiped out any benefits of the daughtercard swap (I guess not really...it was a significant upgrade all around, but the net result is that as far as the computer goes I'm just barely treading water.) Regards...

'Cat

[Digital Sound Lab]

I dug this older post up because I also have a Power Tower Pro 200

that I'm considering upgrading with a NewerTech or Zif.

I'm curious about track count and plugins

there is already 304mb ram.

I know there is two SCSI buses but I don't know if one is slower than the other like the 9600.

the beauty of it is that there are 6 PCI slots easily running two monitors.

these upgrade cards are getting cheaper.

there is a good thread comparison on this computer vs. 9600 http://www.digidesign.com/cgi-bin/bb...rName=Ray+Lyon

[This message has been edited by ZEALOUS (edited June 30, 2000).]

[Avid]

I think the thread you're referring to is "PowerTower Pro 225 w/G3 or G4 Upgrade card" http://www.digidesign.com/ubb/Forum16/HTML/003848.html

The PTP does have the fast internal SCSI bus like the Apple 9600 and 8600. (10MB sec internal, 5 mbs external) This isn't readily apparant from the specs at http://www.everymac.com/systems/powe...er_pro200.html but you can get a lot of other specs to compare different models at www.everymac.com .

And www.xlr8yourmac.com is also a resource worth mentioning again.

------------------
Bruce Paine
eMarketing

[dcornutt]

ZIF is a "type" of card and the above poster is correct that it was originally introduced on the Beige G3s.

Basically, the cpu is a small square with pins on the bottom that fits into the "carrier card".

I believe that ZIF stands for Zero Insertion Force.

The advantage of this is that one only needs to replace the small cpu socket to upgrade the cpu. In otherwords...its modular.

XLR8 makes a "Carrier ZIF card" that, instead of having the cpu soldered onto the insert card..as..Newer Tech does..it allows you to use ANY cpu that is of the ZIF type.

So, you can buy the XLR8 carrier with or without cpu ..and then..buy your cpu from another source if you wish.

I personally have an XLR8 zip carrier card that has an OEM Apple/motorola zif 400 G3 on my 8500 and it has worked flawlessly.

It is very configurable...ie..software adjustment of the cache speed..etc.
It has toggle switches to set overall cpu/bus multiples..then...you can use the software control panel to clock it if you wish.

The Apple OEM motorola chips do NOT like to be clocked..but...other 3rd party chips can be. (I dont recommend clocking a cpu for use with Protools/audio..or..video as it has a tendency to "dirty the bus".

I have a friend who also bought the XLR8 zif...with a powerlogic cpu module at 300 mhz. He is currently running 360 with no problems.

XLR8 enourages overclocking. Therefore, their cards are designed for it. While, again..I don't recommend overclocking..what this means is..they are highly configurable..in the event adjustments need to be made.

I have found them reliable, a good perfomer..and a good buy in comparison with the Newer cards.

I have also heard good things about the Newer cards..they have good performance out of the box.

Now, some caveats.

Ram.
If you have mixed speed ram..the higher in mhz you go...the more likely you will run into problems.

Bus speed/ratio.
Older macs have a theroetical bus/ratio limit of 8:1 @ 50mhz. Thats 400 mhz cpu speed (8x50).

Going over this speed requires higher multiples than 8:1..and...LOWER bus speeds. At 500 mhz..your mac has to run 10:1 multiple at 50 mhz...and to be truthfull...depending on your motherboard and ram..you most likely won't be able to run a 500 mhz G3 card of anymake without problems.

Powertower Pros..and 9600/9500's might do it. But if you order a 500 G3 card...do so from a place that you are SURE you can send it back.

As a result, I recommend the 400 g3 99% of the time. This gives you the optimal bus:ratio of 8:1...PLUS..it runs at optimal bus speed of 50mhz.

The gains provided by going over this mark get negated by 1) having to lower the bus speed to achieve higher multiples...and 2) having to run higher multiples than 8:1 produces cycling delays in the bus (nothing you would notice..but..it does negate some of the speed advantages.)

So in the end...the extra money you would pay for a 500 card...would only give you marginal speed increases over the 400 AND may introduce timing problems on your bus..as well as timing problems with ram.

Since 400 is the limit you can safely and reliably run your older powermac...it doesn't really matter that you have an "upgradable" zif socket..as...you won't be replacing it with anything faster anyway.

It does however offer the advantage of a more configurable cache/bus settings in the event you need to to tweak it. ( I spent 2 days testing mine to get the 400/ 50bus speed set..then...I haven't touched it since..been over a year.)

The comany that makes the zif socket card is XLR8.com. You can find out more info there.

They also sell their software for about 30 bucks..to control the cache on other cards...Newer included ..if your interested.

dcornutt

[dcornutt]

As a side note, my XLR8 carrier card is G4 compatible. That means..you can replace the G3 400 module..with a G4 400 module! Of particular note here is the gain of having altivec processing for apps that take advantage of it.

Now, the big trend..is making the carrier type cards....OS X compatible!

So, if you plan on keeping your old mac for a while...a year or more..this advantage alone might be worth considering a Carrier type card.

I haven't tested any G4 upgrade cards on older powermacs..so..Ill defer to xlr8yourmac.com site which is an excellent resource for testing..and reviews of mac hardware of all types.

dcornutt