The supplied Vimage software consisted of a non-adjustable cache enabling extension and a separate Vpower info utility that reports the CPU type, CPU speed and backside cache size and speed. Unlike many other G3 cards the cache speed was not adjustable. Just as the card was fixed in speed, I suspect Vimage chose to fix the cache speed for reliabilty and to eliminate the possibility of a user setting the cache speed to an incorrect (too high) speed which could cause lockups and stability problems.

Vpower Utility:

The supplied Vpower utility properly identified the card's configuration and speed as shown below.

CPU Temperature:
Since the Vpower utility does not report CPU junction temperature as does utilities from PowerLogix (Speedmeter) and XLR8 (Processor Info) I used Speedmeter to check the CPU temperature after two hours of use in the 8600. The temperature it reported was approximately twice as high as most CPU upgrade cards I've seen (running 24 to 36C in most cases, depending on CPU speed), but still lower than my PowerBook G3/250 CPU temperature (76-80C). The smaller heatsink is primarily responsible for this I believe. Note Vimage uses a fan on their faster CPU speed models. Regardless of the higher CPU temperature, there were no temperature related problems during the test even after running the card continiously all day.

SpeedMeter CPU Temperature

The fact the 8600 had 3 PCI cards could be partly responsible for the increased CPU temperature but the 8600 also has a large fan on the side cover that should help cool the PCI cards and to some extent the CPU.

I removed the heatsink from the card and saw that Vimage had used a conductive pad, (similar to those used on the PowerBook G3 heatsink). There was adequate compression on the heatsink/pad as shown by the impression on the pad. I wondered however is thermal paste instead of the pad would result in more efficient thermal transfer. On my Apple G3, I removed the thin gasket and used thermal paste directly on the heatsink which lowered temperatures a few degrees C, not a dramatic difference.

Software controls were easy to install and required no user settings at all (a plus) but were fixed in speed (a minus for tweakers). Since Vimage recommends removing the L2 cache (in Macs where it is removable) a cache disabling option in software (Newer Tech is the only company to offer this currently) would be nice, as would a CPU temperature reporting utility. Since the PowerLogix Speedmeter util is free this is not a big deal however. The software worked perfectly and was fool-proof as far as user mistakes which can be a plus in cases of inexperienced or careless owners who may create problems with adjustable software controls. Since the card is not adjustable for CPU speeds the lack of cache speed adjustment is far less important.

Deducting one point each for the lack of adjustable speeds, motherboard cache disable feature and CPU temperature readings I rated software controls a 7.

The next page describes the documentation and installation instructions supplied with the card. Or you may use the links below to jump to a specific page.