It was refreshing to see a unique design in a CPU slot G3 upgrade card. With the bonus of a ZIF socket onboard, this card can be easily (and cheaply if you shop carefully) upgraded to faster CPUs and can reuse Apple G3 ZIFs. Since many Mac owners have older Macs and an Apple G3, if they upgrade the Apple G3 the original ZIF can be used to upgrade the CarrierZIF card. I won't repeat all the advantages listed on the First Look article, but I think you can see the advantages of a ZIF socketed card. I had hoped to have a PowerLogix Z-Force ZIF socket card to compare, but they have not provided a review sample as of this date and none are shipping.

I'll admit I was apprehensive about the radical design, especially since the Z-Force announced back in January still had not shipped. Based on what I've seen in the tests systems here I think XLR8's done a great job with the CarrierZIF design. I never thought I'd see a G3 CPU card run 55MHz bus speed in my Genesis, but this one did. As noted on the previous pages, it also ran 55MHz bus speeds in my 9600/350 (60Mhz with RAM not interleaved). My only regret is that I did not have other ZIF modules to test (like the Other World Computing 366/183). My tests with an XLR8 and Apple (Beige and B&W G3) ZIFs saw no problems.

If you're in the market for a CPU slot form factor G3 upgrade, you really owe it to yourself to take a look at the CarrierZIF, especially if you plan to keep our Mac for some time or have an Apple G3 system to allow for 'inherited' upgrades in the future.

Since the Genesis is loaded with RAM, a Cheetah boot disk, 4 drive RAID array and dual SCSI cards this card is the icing of the cake. At this moment in time the CarrierZIF card (with the right ZIF CPU module onboard) is the fastest upgrade I've seen for CPU card slot Macs. BTW: I regret not buying some bargains like the G3/220/110 cards when they were available last year, but you can bet I'm not going to let this one slip away.

Price/Performance: Since the CarrierZIF card alone (no CPU module) sells for $189 MSRP. Total cost will depend on what CPU ZIF you use. Considering everything I think the price is a bargain.

ZIF module prices (and speeds/models) change often and listing them all here would be an impossible task and quickly obsolete. Site sponsors like Bottom Line, Other World Computing and MacGurus offer discounts and special sales. If you do buy from a site sponsor, please mention this review.

Summary of Ratings:

• Benchmarks: 10
• Appl. Tests: 9
• SW/Controls: 9
• Docs/Installation: 8 (preliminary)
• Features/Design: 9.5
• Price/Performance: 10
  ---------------------
  Total: 55.5 (of a possible 60)

Overall Rating

Based on these scores, you can apply your own weighting of each category to determine if this card is right for your needs.

The OS X Issue: I know many of you (and I) are wondering about the issue of OS X (coming next year) running on non-Apple G3 Macs. Many people wonder if they should invest in a G3 CPU card upgrade vs. the safer bet of getting an Apple G3 system. In some cases that's not an option, for instance those that need more than 3 PCI slots or have a large investment in their existing Mac of hardware that does not fit or work in the Apple G3. The latest info post in the last week at the main site was that OS X client (dev beta) did run on a Railgun upgraded 8500, so there is hope despite the fact it will not be 'supported' by Apple if used on pre-G3 Macs. I've not attempted installing OS X Server while running the CarrierZIF, but plan to in the future. Note that the backside cache would not be enabled without a 3rd party utility.

OS X support for older Macs is uncertain, but with only two of my Macs being Apple G3s I certainly hope Apple does not abandon the millions of existing owners of pre-G3 systems. And keep in mind OS 8.x will be supported by software vendors for many years to come, as that will be the the largest segment of the Mac market for some time to come. To be honest, I'm not looking forward to replacing the small fortune in applications I have now for native OS X versions (since blue box performance would likely be less than my current OS 8.x machines).

Availability/Pricing:

The CarrierZIF card alone (no CPU module) sells for $189 MSRP. Total cost will depend on what CPU ZIF you use. ZIF CPU pricing varies by CPU speed, cache size and brand and changes very frequently so trying to list all the options here is not possible. As noted on previous pages of this review I recommend you use either an adjustable ZIF or one that relies on the Apple G3 motherboard for speed settings (CPU/Bus ratio control). Some ZIFs are hard wired to a fixed ratio for 'drop in' use with Apple G3 systems are would not be a good choice for this card for reasons explained in this review and in my First Look article.

Bottom Line, MacGurus and Other World have the CarrierZIF (and ZIF modules) available now.

As regular readers of my daily news page know Bottom Line and MacGurus often offer my readers discounts and special offers. You may also order direct from XLR8 by calling 1-888-957-8867. If ordered direct from XLR8, the CarrierZIF comes with a 30-day money back guarantee from XLR8 and a 2 year warranty. Most dealers offer 30 day returns as well but as policies vary be sure to check this before you order should any problems arise.

I hope this review has provided you with sufficient information of all aspects of the product, but if you have any further questions or comments you may contact me by email at: news@xlr8yourmac.com.

For reviews of other CPU cards at this site, see my CPU Cards page. The home page (www.xlr8yourmac.com) has links to reviews of Systems, SCSI controllers, Video cards (incl. 3Dfx), Game related articles and some of the most useful daily news on the net (updated 7 days a week). Thanks for stopping by!