As you should know by now if you read all the pages of this review (you did didn't you?), I really liked this card. I was very impressed with the performance and range it displayed in the PowerTower Pro. In a moment of temporary insanity I actually wanted to buy it, but unfortunately the mail arrived and one look at it brought me back to reality. If I could afford it, the card would still be running in my PowerTower Pro.

XLR8 offers the same basic card in several versions ranging in speeds and cache sizes from 233 Mhz/512k to 300 Mhz/1MB. For more details check the XLR8 web site.

Price/Performance: I can't say if my experience will be typical of every XLR8 MACh G3/266, but considering the fact it ran 300/300, had great applications performance and a street price as low as $1099.99 - I can't give the card any less than a 10 on value.

Next week there may be something better, faster and cheaper but at the time of this review (March 98) the card is obviously an excellent value.

Note: The speeds documented here are for test purposes only and not a recommendation to others to overclock their card. XLR8 is said to honor the warrany regardless of the speeds run but verify that before you attempt settings over the rated CPU speed, Overclocking is risky and can result in loss of data or hardware failures.

Summary of Ratings:

• Benchmarks: 9
• Appl. Tests: 9
• SW/Controls: 8
• Documentation: 8
• Features/Specs: 9
• Price/Performance: 10
  ---------------------
  Total: 53 (of a possible 60)

Based on these scores, you can apply your own weighting of each category to determine if this card is right for your needs. As stated previously, I hesitate recommending the card to owners of non-removable L2 caches however (9500, 9600/200, 9600/233, UMax S900, etc.) since I had to remove the PTP L2 cache. Otherwise I don't know of a faster card for the money.

Where To Buy: According to the latest price page at XLR8, the 266/177/1MB card is no longer available, but there is a 512K cache version listed there. The original retail price at the time of this review (March 1998) was $1289.99 but prices have dropped dramatically over the last year. Check Bottom Line and MacGurus for current model availability and model pricing. You may also order direct from XLR8 by calling 1-888-957-8867. The product comes with a 30-day money back guarantee from XLR8.

While you're thinking of it, why not sign up for Bottom Line's XLR8YOURMAC specials mailing list

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, or the many other types of upgrades I review, see my Reviews/Features page.