Accelerate Your Mac! - Railgun 466/233/1MB ZIF Review

A Click shows your site support to my Sponsors

The Source for Mac Performance News and Reviews

Review: BottomLine's Railgun G3/466/233/1MB ZIF
Published: 6/28/99

Hardware Features/Specifications/Compatibility

Intro | Benchmarks | Appl. Tests | Software Controls | Docs/Installation | Specs/Design | Summary

Hardware Features/Compatibility

The Railgun 466/233/1MB ZIF review sample contained an IBM 466MHz, 65C rated Copper based CPU and 1MB of Samsung (SEC) cache. I preferred the rotary switch to the small jumpers needed for the XLR8 ZIF models. The Railgun also comes with a non-metallic screw-on heatsink but as I mentioned on the previous page, I suggest you use the stock Apple G3 aluminum heatsink which I feel provides better cooling. If you're not overclocking the CPU, the stock heatsink should be fine as long as the case is closed (on the B&W G3 - closed case increases airflow over the CPU heatsink).

RailGun ZIF Pix
CarrierZIF w/Railgun CPU
Installed on the CarrierZIF

Speed Settings:

The black rotary switch with orange center in the upper left corner of the module (shown above) controls the CPU speed, but setting a bus speeds ratio from 2:1 to 8:1 in .5 increments. The ratio settings will vary depending on your bus speed. Your bus speed times the ratio setting will be your CPU speed. The manual PDF file has settings for beige and B&W G3s, but if used in the CarrierZIF you'll have to figure out your own ratios depending on your bus speed. To run the Railgun 466 at stock (466Mhz speeds) or thereabouts - divide your Mac's bus speed (max reliable bus speed), by 466. Often you'll need to select a ratio that is close to this value and I was able to run 480MHz with this sample in my PowerCenter Pro with the CarrierZIF base card set to 60MHz bus (60 MHz bus times an 8x bus ratio setting = 480Mhz CPU speed).

Important Note: Overclocking may void your system warranty and may not be reliable. Always back up your data before any major upgrade and exercise caution when experimenting with higher speeds. You assume all risk of overclocking.

Warning: I do not recommend running this ZIF at over the rated speeds with the stock heatsink. I attempted to run at 550MHz in the B&W G3 and within minutes saw temperatures rise from 31C to 39C - which resulted in finder errors. I replaced the screw-off heatsink with the standard Apple G3 one and was able to run fine at 500MHz. Your results may vary and again I cannot recommend others overclock their CPUs, although as noted in my database it's very common. Heed the note in the Railgun manual and backup your data before any major upgrade. Better safe than sorry.

CarrierZIF in Genesis

Speed Settings:

As mentioned earlier, the Railgun ZIF has a rotary switch for selecting bus/cpu ratios of up to 8X. In the Apple G3s, you'll use a far lower ratio (bus speed times ratio = CPU speed). The manual lists the switch settings for many speeds for both the 66MHz bus Beige G3 and the 100MHz bus B&W G3. Always start off at the stock speeds to verify reliability.

Important Note: Along with the benefits of a wide range of adjustments comes some responsibility. This card allows setting CPU speeds to rates beyond the rating and capability of the CPU. I cannot recommend overclocking to others and you assume all risk from doing so, although as noted in my Rate Your G3 Upgrade database most everyone seems to be doing it. Bottom Line warrants the Railgun for two years and often 'guarantees' that the Railgun will run one bin up (the next CPU speed higher than rated speed). For the 466 ZIF, that would be 500MHz. No other company I know guarantees overclocked speeds and remember to keep the cache at a 2:1 ratio, higher speeds may not be reliable and will buy you little real world performance gain.

Compatibility: (repeated from the front page of the review)

The Railgun ZIF is listed as compatible with the following Mac models:

Apple: All in One, Beige G3, Blue and White G3
Older Macs only if you use a XLR8 CarrierZIF card (see review for compat. models - requires a CPU Card slot based Mac)

I verified that Retrospect 4.0 backups were error-free. Backup tests in the PowerCenter Pro using the OEM 2930B showed no problems (but I used XLR8's cache control with 'Speculative Processing' disabled for Retrospect backups). More information on compatibility issues with G3 CPU upgrades, see the CPU Upgrades area of my FAQ and CPU Reviews page articles.

OS X: Since the Railgun's backside cache was enabled without any software in the Apple G3 systems it should be OS X compatible in Apple G3 Macs. This makes 3 ZIFs I've seen that were compatible with the Apple ROM cache enabler - XLR8's and Vimage's ZIFs were the other models. Until OS X client is released nobody can guarantee compatibility with older Macs, and based on my insider sources, Apple may be removing the option to even install OS X on older Macs, despite the fact a developer reported it ran fine with a G3 CPU upgraded 8500 in the Dev 1 beta release. I didn't install OS X server on any older Macs because bluebox performance is slower than MacOS 8.x and there is no video acceleration in OS X server.

For other Railgun owner reports, see my Rate Your G3 Upgrade database. This database is a valuable tool to get a feel for a wide range of owner results with most every brand of upgrade on the market. Take some ratings with a grain of salt, especially on adjustable cards. Upon further investigation I often find problems were the result of too slow an L2 cache onboard, incorrect settings, improperly seated CPU card, etc. There are cases of a 'bad' card and some system hardware/software mixes don't seem to like any G3 upgrade, but most owners are generally happy if you buy a quality upgrade.

The hardware design was adjustable, proved reliable in use and performed well. I rated the hardware features/design a 9.

The next page contains a summary and final comments on the product.

Index of Railgun G3 466/233/1MB ZIF Review Pages
Intro | Benchmarks | Appl. Tests | Software Controls | Docs/Installation | Specs/Design | Summary

- or -
Back to WWW.XLR8YOURMAC.COM

Copyright © Mike, 1999.

No part of this sites content or images are to be reproduced or distributed in any form without written permission.
All brand or product names mentioned here are properties of their respective companies.
Users of the web site must read and are bound by the terms and conditions of use.

The Source for Mac Performance News and Reviews
Review: BottomLine's Railgun G3/466/233/1MB ZIF Published: 6/28/99
Hardware Features/Specifications/Compatibility
Intro \| Benchmarks \| Appl. Tests \| Software Controls \| Docs/Installation \| Specs/Design \| Summary
Hardware Features/Compatibility
The Railgun 466/233/1MB ZIF review sample contained an IBM 466MHz, 65C rated Copper based CPU and 1MB of Samsung (SEC) cache. I preferred the rotary switch to the small jumpers needed for the XLR8 ZIF models. The Railgun also comes with a non-metallic screw-on heatsink but as I mentioned on the previous page, I suggest you use the stock Apple G3 aluminum heatsink which I feel provides better cooling. If you're not overclocking the CPU, the stock heatsink should be fine as long as the case is closed (on the B&W G3 - closed case increases airflow over the CPU heatsink). Installed on the CarrierZIF Speed Settings: The black rotary switch with orange center in the upper left corner of the module (shown above) controls the CPU speed, but setting a bus speeds ratio from 2:1 to 8:1 in .5 increments. The ratio settings will vary depending on your bus speed. Your bus speed times the ratio setting will be your CPU speed. The manual PDF file has settings for beige and B&W G3s, but if used in the CarrierZIF you'll have to figure out your own ratios depending on your bus speed. To run the Railgun 466 at stock (466Mhz speeds) or thereabouts - divide your Mac's bus speed (max reliable bus speed), by 466. Often you'll need to select a ratio that is close to this value and I was able to run 480MHz with this sample in my PowerCenter Pro with the CarrierZIF base card set to 60MHz bus (60 MHz bus times an 8x bus ratio setting = 480Mhz CPU speed). Important Note: Overclocking may void your system warranty and may not be reliable. Always back up your data before any major upgrade and exercise caution when experimenting with higher speeds. You assume all risk of overclocking. Warning: I do not recommend running this ZIF at over the rated speeds with the stock heatsink. I attempted to run at 550MHz in the B&W G3 and within minutes saw temperatures rise from 31C to 39C - which resulted in finder errors. I replaced the screw-off heatsink with the standard Apple G3 one and was able to run fine at 500MHz. Your results may vary and again I cannot recommend others overclock their CPUs, although as noted in my database it's very common. Heed the note in the Railgun manual and backup your data before any major upgrade. Better safe than sorry. Speed Settings: As mentioned earlier, the Railgun ZIF has a rotary switch for selecting bus/cpu ratios of up to 8X. In the Apple G3s, you'll use a far lower ratio (bus speed times ratio = CPU speed). The manual lists the switch settings for many speeds for both the 66MHz bus Beige G3 and the 100MHz bus B&W G3. Always start off at the stock speeds to verify reliability. Important Note: Along with the benefits of a wide range of adjustments comes some responsibility. This card allows setting CPU speeds to rates beyond the rating and capability of the CPU. I cannot recommend overclocking to others and you assume all risk from doing so, although as noted in my Rate Your G3 Upgrade database most everyone seems to be doing it. Bottom Line warrants the Railgun for two years and often 'guarantees' that the Railgun will run one bin up (the next CPU speed higher than rated speed). For the 466 ZIF, that would be 500MHz. No other company I know guarantees overclocked speeds and remember to keep the cache at a 2:1 ratio, higher speeds may not be reliable and will buy you little real world performance gain. Compatibility: (repeated from the front page of the review) The Railgun ZIF is listed as compatible with the following Mac models: Apple: All in One, Beige G3, Blue and White G3 Older Macs only if you use a XLR8 CarrierZIF card (see review for compat. models - requires a CPU Card slot based Mac) I verified that Retrospect 4.0 backups were error-free. Backup tests in the PowerCenter Pro using the OEM 2930B showed no problems (but I used XLR8's cache control with 'Speculative Processing' disabled for Retrospect backups). More information on compatibility issues with G3 CPU upgrades, see the CPU Upgrades area of my FAQ and CPU Reviews page articles. OS X: Since the Railgun's backside cache was enabled without any software in the Apple G3 systems it should be OS X compatible in Apple G3 Macs. This makes 3 ZIFs I've seen that were compatible with the Apple ROM cache enabler - XLR8's and Vimage's ZIFs were the other models. Until OS X client is released nobody can guarantee compatibility with older Macs, and based on my insider sources, Apple may be removing the option to even install OS X on older Macs, despite the fact a developer reported it ran fine with a G3 CPU upgraded 8500 in the Dev 1 beta release. I didn't install OS X server on any older Macs because bluebox performance is slower than MacOS 8.x and there is no video acceleration in OS X server. For other Railgun owner reports, see my Rate Your G3 Upgrade database. This database is a valuable tool to get a feel for a wide range of owner results with most every brand of upgrade on the market. Take some ratings with a grain of salt, especially on adjustable cards. Upon further investigation I often find problems were the result of too slow an L2 cache onboard, incorrect settings, improperly seated CPU card, etc. There are cases of a 'bad' card and some system hardware/software mixes don't seem to like any G3 upgrade, but most owners are generally happy if you buy a quality upgrade.
The hardware design was adjustable, proved reliable in use and performed well. I rated the hardware features/design a 9.
The next page contains a summary and final comments on the product.

Index of Railgun G3 466/233/1MB ZIF Review Pages Intro \| Benchmarks \| Appl. Tests \| Software Controls \| Docs/Installation \| Specs/Design \| Summary - or - Back to WWW.XLR8YOURMAC.COM
Copyright © Mike, 1999. No part of this sites content or images are to be reproduced or distributed in any form without written permission. All brand or product names mentioned here are properties of their respective companies. Users of the web site must read and are bound by the terms and conditions of use.