Accelerate Your Mac! - XLR8 MAChCarrier 450 10X G3 Review

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Review: XLR8's MAChCarrier^TM 450 CPU Card
CarrierZIF w/10X G3 CPU ZIF module
Published: 8/31/99

XLR8 Ships 10X Bus/CPU Ratio G3 Bundle

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

Introduction

Update: Just after I wrote this review Apple announced their new G4 Systems at Seybold. XLR8 also has announced G4 CPU upgrades - see my First Look at the XLR8 G4.
XLR8 was the first company to ship a ZIF socket based CPU card (and still is as of this date). They are also one of the first to ship a 10X ratio G3 CPU as part of their standard line. I'll explain in more detail in later pages of this review, but the bottom line is a 10X ratio CPU allows speeds of up to 10 times the Mac's system bus speed. Previous G3 designs were limited to 8X ratios maximum. Since the CarrierZIF design allows 50MHz or more bus speeds in many Macs (every one I've personally tested so far), the 10X ratio benefit will be more valuable when 500MHz and faster G3s are available.
My original review of the CarrierZIF used a first production run model. Since then there have been several minor design changes to improve compatibility with certain Mac models such as the PowerTower Pro series. I was was glad to see that the changes did not have any negative effects (reduced bus speed tolerance, etc.) in any of the Macs here.

As regular readers know from my past review and past comments from the front page news, I consider the XLR8 CarrierZIF^TM card the best G3 CPU Slot upgrade I've tested to date. It has been stable, reliable, runs at high bus speeds, has great control software and a ZIF socket feature to allow upgrading the CPU. XLR8 has even announced it is G4 CPU compatible and has a Trade-Up discount program for owners of XLR8 CPU cards.

Carrier ZIF pat.pending

As mentioned in my First Look and previous CarrierZIF review , there are many advantages of a ZIF socketed card such as:

Lower Cost Upgrades: Only the ZIF needs replacing so you don't pay for the base card over and over again.
Choices: You can buy the best design base card and choose from anyone's ZIF upgrade to use with it. But as noted above, Apple or OEM (original equipment mfr) ZIFs and Adjustable ZIFs work best, not those that have fixed ratio (bus/CPU) on the ZIF itself)
Recycle ZIFs: Own an Apple G3 or know someone who does? There's your source for future upgrades. Some real bargains are possible from those trading up to faster speeds. If you own both an older Mac and Apple G3 series, then it's easier to justify an upgrade when two systems could benefit by reusing the previous ZIF module.
Easier to Repair: If the CPU or cache should ever fail, you don't need to replace the entire card. The reverse also applies of course.

If you're confused about ZIF upgrades with the CarrierZIF see my Setup Guide.

The motto of the CarrierZIF^TM is 'the Upgradeable upgrade' which means this is one CPU card that you'll not outgrow like the standard designs with soldered-in CPUs. The ZIF socket allows you to easily upgrade the CPU in the future. ZIF CPU upgrades often cost less due to reduced mfg. cost and the many offerings for the Apple G3 systems (and recycled ZIFs from those systems).

With the release of 10X ratio (bus to CPU ratio) G3 CPUs like this one, older Mac owners with limited bus speeds will be able to attain higher CPU speeds (10 times the bus speed, up to the limit of the CPU's max reliable speed). Since the CarrierZIF design seems to be able to run 50MHz or better bus speeds in most macs, many older Macs will eventually be able to run 500MHz or more CPU speeds (with a 10X G3s CPU module) as faster 10X G3 CPUs are released. The base CarrierZIF card is also G4 compatilble. See my illustrated Setup Guide to the CarrierZIF for more info on replacing CPU modules.

Since the test systems easily ran 50+ MHz bus speeds and this particular CPU was not able to run more than 480MHz reliably, the benefit of the 10X CPU was not really a factor for these systems, but would be for Macs that were limited to bus speeds under 50MHz . Remember that with standard 8X max ratio G3 CPUs your Mac has to run a 50MHz bus to be able to run a 400MHz CPU speed (50 x 8 = 400). With a 10X CPU, a 45MHz bus Mac can run 450MHz (with a 450MHz rated CPU of course).

Compatibility:

The CarrierZIF is listed as compatible with the following Mac models [updated 6/16/99]:

Apple: 7300, 7500, 7600, 8500, 8600, 9500, 9600
DayStar Genesis, Millennium
UMAX S900 & J700.
Power Computing PowerWave, PowerTower Pro*, PowerCenter, PowerCenter Pro, PowerTower
Note: The early CarrierZIF cards were PowerBase compatible (based on a review at MacsOnly and owner reports in my Rate Your G3 Upgrade database) - however the latest CarrierZIF/MAChCarriers are said to NOT be PowerBase compatible.

* I recommend PowerTower Pro owners call to check compatibility with their logic board. Although XLR8 has revised the card design and this may be solved now but I suggest verifying before you buy.

For many CarrierZIF owner reports check my Rate Your G3 Upgrade database for XLR8 CarrierZIF owner reports (selectable by Mac models)

I also verified that Retrospect 4.0 backups were error-free. With 'Speculative Processing' disabled a complete backup of a 1.2GB boot volume in the Genesis completed without errors (including verification). The XLR8 control panel default setting for 'Speculative Processing' (often called Branch Prediction) is disabled and on the applications performance page you'll see in some cases that setting actually increased performance. Retrospect was the only application I saw that required it, but there could be others that I've not used. I have not tested Adaptec wide SCSI card compatibility but XLR8 has a Tech Note on how to use their software with these cards. The tests in the PowerCenter Pro using the OEM 2930B showed no problems. More information on compatibility issues with G3 CPU upgrades, see the comments in the First Look or in the CPU Upgrades area of my FAQ and CPU Reviews page.

Review Tests/Ratings:

BenchMark Performance: MacBench 5.0 and Bytemark DR/3 scores of the card under test. Other system scores are shown for comparison.
Applications Performance: How the uprade performed in real world CPU intensive tests like Photoshop, Infini-D, After Effects, Bryce 2, and demanding games
Software Controls: Ease of use and features of the supplied software controls.
Docs/Installation: How clear and complete the installation and setup instructions are in the supplied manual. Includes general installation info.
Specs/Design: Features and details on the hardware design. Includes compatibility information.
Summary: Final comments, summary and pricing/availability.

System Compatibility/Stability Tests:

Here is a summary of my tests to see how the XLR8 MAChCarrier G3/450 performed in two systems here, each chosen for a particular reason:

PowerCenter Pro - a good test of maximum bus speed since it was designed for 60MHz 604E bus speeds. The CarrierZIF ran 60MHz bus speeds with no problems in my system as long as the stock 1MB L2 Cache dimm was removed. The PowerCenter Pro has a 3Dfx Vodooo3 2000 graphics card installed, 160MB of RAM, running OS 8.1.
Genesis - This 9500 motherboard (w/512K soldered-in cache) based system has always been picky about cards it likes especially at bus speeds over 45MHz. Only XLR8's cpu cards have ran at 50MHz or faster bus speeds in this system (see reviews). The CarrierZIF has run as high as 55MHz bus speeds fine in this machine. The Genesis system is loaded with dual ATTO SCSI cards (slots 1 and 4), ATI Rage128 Orion (slot 2), FUSE capture card (slot 5), boot UW Cheetah disk and 4-drive RAID 0 array. Tests were run using OS 8.1. My Genesis page has more details on this system.

Test Systems Hardware Summary

Daystar Genesis (9500 Mb based):
512MB RAM (matched pairs of 64MB FPM Dimms)
Seagate Cheetah UW SCSI 4.5 GB HD (ST34501W)
ATTO PCI SCSI card (2 cards installed to drive boot Cheetah and a 4 HD raid stripe set)
ATI Rage128 Orion (driver v4.01)
Aurora Fuse Video Capture card (drivers disabled during tests)
OS 8.1, 4MB Disk Cache, VM off, QT 3.0, QD3D 1.5.6 [No Libmoto]
PowerComputing PowerCenter Pro:
160MB RAM
Stock 2GB IBM narrow UltraSCSI drive
OEM Adaptec 2930 PCI SCSI Card
3Dfx Voodoo3 (beta2 ROM/drivers)
OS 8.1, 4MB Disk Cache, VM off, QT 3.0, QD3D 1.5.6, [No Libmoto]

You can follow my preferred path through the review by continuing to the next page, or use the links below to jump to a specific page.

Index of XLR8 MAChCarrier450 Review Pages
Intro | Benchmarks | Appl. Tests | Software Controls | Docs/Installation | Specs/Design | Summary

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Copyright © Mike, 1999.

No part of this sites content or images are to be reproduced or distributed in any form without written permission.
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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: XLR8's MAChCarrier^TM 450 CPU Card CarrierZIF w/10X G3 CPU ZIF module Published: 8/31/99
XLR8 Ships 10X Bus/CPU Ratio G3 Bundle
Intro \| Benchmarks \| Appl. Tests \| Software Controls \| Docs/Installation \| Specs/Design \| Summary
Introduction
Update: Just after I wrote this review Apple announced their new G4 Systems at Seybold. XLR8 also has announced G4 CPU upgrades - see my First Look at the XLR8 G4. XLR8 was the first company to ship a ZIF socket based CPU card (and still is as of this date). They are also one of the first to ship a 10X ratio G3 CPU as part of their standard line. I'll explain in more detail in later pages of this review, but the bottom line is a 10X ratio CPU allows speeds of up to 10 times the Mac's system bus speed. Previous G3 designs were limited to 8X ratios maximum. Since the CarrierZIF design allows 50MHz or more bus speeds in many Macs (every one I've personally tested so far), the 10X ratio benefit will be more valuable when 500MHz and faster G3s are available. My original review of the CarrierZIF used a first production run model. Since then there have been several minor design changes to improve compatibility with certain Mac models such as the PowerTower Pro series. I was was glad to see that the changes did not have any negative effects (reduced bus speed tolerance, etc.) in any of the Macs here. As regular readers know from my past review and past comments from the front page news, I consider the XLR8 CarrierZIF^TM card the best G3 CPU Slot upgrade I've tested to date. It has been stable, reliable, runs at high bus speeds, has great control software and a ZIF socket feature to allow upgrading the CPU. XLR8 has even announced it is G4 CPU compatible and has a Trade-Up discount program for owners of XLR8 CPU cards. As mentioned in my First Look and previous CarrierZIF review , there are many advantages of a ZIF socketed card such as: Lower Cost Upgrades: Only the ZIF needs replacing so you don't pay for the base card over and over again. Choices: You can buy the best design base card and choose from anyone's ZIF upgrade to use with it. But as noted above, Apple or OEM (original equipment mfr) ZIFs and Adjustable ZIFs work best, not those that have fixed ratio (bus/CPU) on the ZIF itself) Recycle ZIFs: Own an Apple G3 or know someone who does? There's your source for future upgrades. Some real bargains are possible from those trading up to faster speeds. If you own both an older Mac and Apple G3 series, then it's easier to justify an upgrade when two systems could benefit by reusing the previous ZIF module. Easier to Repair: If the CPU or cache should ever fail, you don't need to replace the entire card. The reverse also applies of course. If you're confused about ZIF upgrades with the CarrierZIF see my Setup Guide. The motto of the CarrierZIF^TM is 'the Upgradeable upgrade' which means this is one CPU card that you'll not outgrow like the standard designs with soldered-in CPUs. The ZIF socket allows you to easily upgrade the CPU in the future. ZIF CPU upgrades often cost less due to reduced mfg. cost and the many offerings for the Apple G3 systems (and recycled ZIFs from those systems). With the release of 10X ratio (bus to CPU ratio) G3 CPUs like this one, older Mac owners with limited bus speeds will be able to attain higher CPU speeds (10 times the bus speed, up to the limit of the CPU's max reliable speed). Since the CarrierZIF design seems to be able to run 50MHz or better bus speeds in most macs, many older Macs will eventually be able to run 500MHz or more CPU speeds (with a 10X G3s CPU module) as faster 10X G3 CPUs are released. The base CarrierZIF card is also G4 compatilble. See my illustrated Setup Guide to the CarrierZIF for more info on replacing CPU modules. Since the test systems easily ran 50+ MHz bus speeds and this particular CPU was not able to run more than 480MHz reliably, the benefit of the 10X CPU was not really a factor for these systems, but would be for Macs that were limited to bus speeds under 50MHz . Remember that with standard 8X max ratio G3 CPUs your Mac has to run a 50MHz bus to be able to run a 400MHz CPU speed (50 x 8 = 400). With a 10X CPU, a 45MHz bus Mac can run 450MHz (with a 450MHz rated CPU of course). Compatibility: The CarrierZIF is listed as compatible with the following Mac models [updated 6/16/99]: Apple: 7300, 7500, 7600, 8500, 8600, 9500, 9600 DayStar Genesis, Millennium UMAX S900 & J700. Power Computing PowerWave, PowerTower Pro, PowerCenter, PowerCenter Pro, PowerTower Note: The early CarrierZIF cards were PowerBase compatible (based on a review at MacsOnly and owner reports in my Rate Your G3 Upgrade database) - however the latest CarrierZIF/MAChCarriers are said to NOT be PowerBase compatible. I recommend PowerTower Pro owners call to check compatibility with their logic board. Although XLR8 has revised the card design and this may be solved now but I suggest verifying before you buy. For many CarrierZIF owner reports check my Rate Your G3 Upgrade database for XLR8 CarrierZIF owner reports (selectable by Mac models) I also verified that Retrospect 4.0 backups were error-free. With 'Speculative Processing' disabled a complete backup of a 1.2GB boot volume in the Genesis completed without errors (including verification). The XLR8 control panel default setting for 'Speculative Processing' (often called Branch Prediction) is disabled and on the applications performance page you'll see in some cases that setting actually increased performance. Retrospect was the only application I saw that required it, but there could be others that I've not used. I have not tested Adaptec wide SCSI card compatibility but XLR8 has a Tech Note on how to use their software with these cards. The tests in the PowerCenter Pro using the OEM 2930B showed no problems. More information on compatibility issues with G3 CPU upgrades, see the comments in the First Look or in the CPU Upgrades area of my FAQ and CPU Reviews page. Review Tests/Ratings: BenchMark Performance: MacBench 5.0 and Bytemark DR/3 scores of the card under test. Other system scores are shown for comparison. Applications Performance: How the uprade performed in real world CPU intensive tests like Photoshop, Infini-D, After Effects, Bryce 2, and demanding games Software Controls: Ease of use and features of the supplied software controls. Docs/Installation: How clear and complete the installation and setup instructions are in the supplied manual. Includes general installation info. Specs/Design: Features and details on the hardware design. Includes compatibility information. Summary: Final comments, summary and pricing/availability. System Compatibility/Stability Tests: Here is a summary of my tests to see how the XLR8 MAChCarrier G3/450 performed in two systems here, each chosen for a particular reason: PowerCenter Pro - a good test of maximum bus speed since it was designed for 60MHz 604E bus speeds. The CarrierZIF ran 60MHz bus speeds with no problems in my system as long as the stock 1MB L2 Cache dimm was removed. The PowerCenter Pro has a 3Dfx Vodooo3 2000 graphics card installed, 160MB of RAM, running OS 8.1. Genesis - This 9500 motherboard (w/512K soldered-in cache) based system has always been picky about cards it likes especially at bus speeds over 45MHz. Only XLR8's cpu cards have ran at 50MHz or faster bus speeds in this system (see reviews). The CarrierZIF has run as high as 55MHz bus speeds fine in this machine. The Genesis system is loaded with dual ATTO SCSI cards (slots 1 and 4), ATI Rage128 Orion (slot 2), FUSE capture card (slot 5), boot UW Cheetah disk and 4-drive RAID 0 array. Tests were run using OS 8.1. My Genesis page has more details on this system. Test Systems Hardware Summary Daystar Genesis (9500 Mb based): 512MB RAM (matched pairs of 64MB FPM Dimms) Seagate Cheetah UW SCSI 4.5 GB HD (ST34501W) ATTO PCI SCSI card (2 cards installed to drive boot Cheetah and a 4 HD raid stripe set) ATI Rage128 Orion (driver v4.01) Aurora Fuse Video Capture card (drivers disabled during tests) OS 8.1, 4MB Disk Cache, VM off, QT 3.0, QD3D 1.5.6 [No Libmoto] PowerComputing PowerCenter Pro: 160MB RAM Stock 2GB IBM narrow UltraSCSI drive OEM Adaptec 2930 PCI SCSI Card 3Dfx Voodoo3 (beta2 ROM/drivers) OS 8.1, 4MB Disk Cache, VM off, QT 3.0, QD3D 1.5.6, [No Libmoto]

You can follow my preferred path through the review by continuing to the next page, or use the links below to jump to a specific page.

Index of XLR8 MAChCarrier450 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.