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Top stories of the day: |
| Voodoo5 in Pre-Beige G3 Macs - Single Chip Only?: |
| This weekend I updated the game tests page of my Voodoo5 preview with notes on further tests with the card in my 9500 (Genesis) system. As noted in the review originally, officially only Beige G3 and later Macs are warrantied/supported with the Voodoo5. It appears from game tests (visual and FPS) as well as temperature checks, that only one VSA100 chip is fully functional when the Voodoo5 is used in my 9500. (A 9600/350 owner reported similar results, so this may be common on any pre-Beige G3 Mac.)
I've asked 3dfx is this may be fixed in future updates (if that's possible). I just wanted to make readers aware that the 2nd chip currently doesn't seem to do anything in older Macs. Unless that's fixable, 3dfx fans with older Macs would be better off saving $$ by getting a Voodoo4 when they're available.
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| Iomega's new DVD/CDRW Combo Drive: |
While in the local Sam's Club here I spotted a new Iomega IDE DVD/CDRW drive (6x CDR, 4x CDRW, 24x CD, 4x DVD max). I'm wondering if this drive is based on the Ricoh mechanism (I suspect based on speeds), or the Toshiba (which I'd prefer). The price was $229.xx and included only PC software apparently. I didn't see any info on the drive at Iomega's web site this weekend. If any readers have tried this drive in a Mac or know what the drive is based on, please contact me.
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| Acard ATA/66 v3.07b Update Comments: |
Although the v3.07b firmware update addressed the ATTO 8MB benchmark test issue (see Friday's news), a firmware programmer for Firmtek notes that the update just bumped the IO size up a bit. (Note I have never seen an actual problem with the Acard in use even with Finder copies of over 400MB (single file) and complete disk copies of over 7GB.) I would like to see some example of where this limitation has caused an actual problem in use.
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"
Hello,
Following todays news [Friday -Mike] I downloaded the "new" ACard firmware 3.07 which
"fixes" the 8 MB transfer size bug. Knowing the nature of the bug I
assumed that Acard undertook a major work and the ENTIRE DMA/UDMA I/O
was re-done.
To my shock, all, what was done, is that the transfer limit size was
increased from mx. 8 MB to just 64 KB above the 8 MB (to be exact -
0x810000 hexadecimal or 8454144 decimal bytes)! This value is slightly
above what ATTO benchmark can handle and therefore the new firmware just
hides the problem from the user instead of solving it.
This fact is obvious to anybody who will look how the most crucial
Operating System (MacOS) routine - PrepareMemoryForIO() is handled by
Acard. If anybody is interested I can describe in the very detail the
nature of PrepareMemoryForIO() at a later time. Now I would just say
briefly, that this function is one of the functions which help the DMA
work correctly on the Macintosh (host) side and it is fairly difficult
to use correctly.
....
Gyoergy (George) Rath
FirmTek LLC
Remark:
The limit of 8 MB transfer size (or 8MB+64KB in the 3.07) is actually
not set as a memory size limit in the firmware. It is set as a limit in
the number of entries PrepareMemoryForIO() can handle. This limit was
earlier 0x800 (2048 decimally) entries. Now the limit is set to 0x810
(2064 decimally) entries. Each entry can correspond to as much as 4 KB
of memory. In a non-fragmented environment (no VM, no RAID, single
application, etc.) this yields the 4KB times 2048 or 8 MB. A caching
disk driver software which caches a lots of data and reads/writes it at
once to the disk (and uses a HUGE Scatter/Gather list of logical memory)
could REDUCE the 8 MB limit to a significantly smaller value. Further, I
don't remember, Apple ever made a statement, Finder doesn't ever issue a
> 8 MB request. ;--)
" |
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| New Drive Compatibility Database Reports |
| The Drive Compatibility database had 26 new entries on CDRWs, DVD/CDRW combo drives and hard drives.
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CDRW Drives:
- Plextor IDE PX-W1210TA (12x/10x/32x) in G4/AGP
(Raves about the drive)
- Lacie external SCSI 12x/4x/32x used w/new Dual G4 system
(Notes extension conflicts)
- Yamaha IDE CRW8424 (8x/4x/24x) in B&W G3
- Sony Firewire CRX145E/XI (10x/4x/32x)
(OS 8.6 Yikes user notes better luck with Discribe than Toast 4.1?)
Combo DVD/CDRW Drives:
- Toshiba SD-R1002 in B&W G3
CDrom Drives:
- Lite-on LTN-483 IDE CDROM in G4/PCI (Yikes)
Hard Drives:
- IBM 75GXP 15GB in 8500 w/Sonnett Tempo ATA/66 card
- IBM 75GXP 30GB in 7500 w/Sonnett Tempo ATA/66 card
(notes audio stuttering on QT movies)
- IBM 75GXP 15GB in B&W G3 rev 2
- IBM Deskstar 40gv 20GB (5400rpm) in iMac
- IBM Travelstar dara-212000 12GB in PB wallstreet2 (notes problems)
- IBM Travelstar 6GB in PowerBook 1400
- Quantum Fireball Plus LM 20GB in Beige G3
(notes problems using it as startup disk)
- (2) Barracuda 18xl 9GB SCSI in B&W G3
- Fujitsu IDE 20GB in B&W G3 rev 1
- Fujitsu SCSI 18GB in Beige G3
(notes having to change a jumper setting for startup)
- Maxtor 10GB in G4/AGP
- Maxtor 30GB in Beige G3 rev A
- Maxtor 20GB in Beige G3
(notes drive was replaced by Maxtor after it became noisy after 4 months)
- Maxtor 20GB in G4/AGP
(moved drive from Starmax to G4, problems noted)
- Maxtor 30GB in iMac rev D
- Maxtor 30GB in PowerCenter Pro with Sonnet IDE card
(notes the common older mac/PCI IDE card AV issues)
- Maxtor 20GB in Beige G3
- Maxtor 15GB in B&W G3
- Seagate ST52160N 2GB SCSI in 8100
- Western Digital AC313000R 13GB in G4/AGP (installed in ZIP bay)
If you've added a IDE, SCSI, Firewire or USB hard drive, CDRW, tape drive, etc. make sure you add a report to the database.
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| New Rate Your CPU Upgrade Database Reports |
| The Rate Your CPU Upgrade database has been updated with 21 new entries.
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- Formac G3/366 ZIF in Beige G3 (rated 9)
- Newer Tech G4/500 in BW G3 Rev. 1 (rated 9)
- Newer Tech G3/250 in PowerBook 1400 (rated 10)
- Newer Tech G3/500 in PowerCenter Pro 210 (rated 9)
- OWC G3/450 in Beige G3 (rated 6)
- OWC G3/450 in Beige G3 (rated 10)
(notes setting cache to 3:1 helped audio app issue)
- IBM OEM G3/450 ZIF in Beige G3 (rated 10)
(filed under 'other' brand category)
- Powerlogix G3/350 in Power Tower Pro 225 (rated 10)
- Powerlogix G3/400 in 8500/180 (rated 7)
(noted UT crash hosed a drive)
- Powerlogix G3/350 inPowerTower Pro 180 (rated 10)
- Powerlogix G3/250 in PowerCurve120 (rated 8)
- Powerlogix Zforce w/Apple G3/266 ZIF in 7500 (rated 10)
- Sonnet G3/300 in Starmax 5000/250 (rated 10)
- Sonnet G3/400 in 6500/250 (rated 10)
- Sonnet G3/300 in Umax C500/200 (rated 8)
(Includes many tips)
- XLR8 CarrierZIF w/G3 266 CPU in 7500 (rated 10)
- XLR8 CarrierZIF w/OWC G3/450 CPU in 7500 (rated 10)
- XLR8 CarrierZIF w/G3/400 CPU in PowerCenter Pro 210 (rated 7)
- Apple Beige G3/233 OC report (300mhz still running after 2 years he said)
- Apple G4/400 AGP OC report
- B&:W G3/350 OC report
You can find these full reports by searching the database selecting the indicated Mac model and upgrade card brand/type. If you've upgraded the CPU on your Mac, please post an entry in the database. Search the database of over 4200 entries from most every upgradable Mac model *before* you buy. |
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| New Mac Game/Video Card Framerates Database Reports |
Today's updates to the Mac Game FPS database included Voodoo3/Quake3 results and several Voodoo5 entries (Quake3 and UT game results) from Beige G3/400 and B&:W G3/400 owners. (As a search aid to see all Voodoo5 entires regardless of FSAA settings, select either 'Voodoo5 16bit' or 'Voodoo5 32bit' at the search page.)
If you're curious how a CPU upgrade or new Video card would help game performance, the search page options can help you find similar system/configurations to get an idea before you buy.
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