Site Sponsor Other World Computing sent a note on lowered pricing on CPU Upgrades:

" SCG233 Sonnet 61/71/81 233mhz G3 with 512k Upgrade - $209
WC MercuryZA G3 400mhz/1mb was $265, now $249 Z400APL
OWC MercuryZA G3/350mhz/1mb was $209, now $195 Z350APL
XLR8 Carrier Bundle w/OWC Mercury also reduced
XGZM400 Carrier w/OWC G3 400mhz 1mb adjustable was $429, now $415.

Free Ground, $5 Fed Ex available for all of the above.
Best Regards,
Larry O'Connor
Other World Computing, Inc. "

(*Note* - Prices above were from 1999, for the latest pricing/availability see their specials page.) For a review of OWC's Mercury ZIFs (G3 and G4 versions), see my CPU upgrades page. Many owner ratings are also in the Rate Your CPU Upgrade database under both OWC and XLR8 CarrierZIF brands.

Christopher Dunn wrote that the register has an article on the 3dfx 'unsupported' mac drivers which also hints that they may be reserving space at the next MacWorld S.F. Regarding the speculation about announcement of Mac Voodoo4/5 drivers note that the new 3dfx cards will not be available at retail until March based on the current predictions. However I believe 3dfx's original FAQ on the new models earlier this month indicated there should be mac drivers available by the time the cards ship (at least that's the general understanding).
[Update: For reviews of the Mac Voodoo4 and Voodoo5 cards see the Video articles page, Graphics card section.]

Z-Force Bus Speed Tests: [Update - I've just been told the Z-Force card I tested was a prototype of a new mod, not the final shipping version. Sorry for any confusion this may have caused, as I originally was told this would be the final shipping version. Powerlogix also sent a reminder that the Z-Force is the only current ZIF socket card design that is PowerBase compatible (via a switch on the card) - but XLR8's CarrierZIF MPE version is also.] As promised over the weekend I tested the Powerlogix Z-Force ZIF socketed CPU upgrade card for maximum bus speeds in 3 Mac models here (Powercenter Pro, Genesis and 9600/350). I was very pleased to see the card ran 60MHz bus speeds in the PowerCenter Pro and the Genesis (9500 motherboard based) machine which has 512MB of interleaved RAM. The Z-Force in the 9600/350 with interleaved RAM ran 52.5 MHz bus speeds settings reliably (reported as 53MHz by the PL Cache Profiler). (I'm going to continue testing in the 9600/350 to see if I can determine why it didn't run faster bus speeds in that particular model.)

Remember that only a 50MHz bus speed is needed to run the fastest G3 CPU on the market today - the 10X ratio G3/500MHz rated version. However as faster CPUs are introduced, higher bus speed potential will be a bonus (since bus speed times bus/cpu ratio (multiplier setting) = CPU speed).

I've updated my Z-Force First Look article with this weekend's test results. I also retested the current design CarrierZIF card in those systems again to answer reader questions about how they compare and since I'd not explored max bus speeds possible since their first shipping revision of that card. (You can search the Rate your CPU Upgrade database for owner reports on the Zforce and its competitor - the XLR8 CarrierZIF and CarrierZIF MPe.)

Voodoo3 and Lightwave 3D Tip: Although Ken Dyke of 3dfx tells me he's fixed the Lightwave 3D/Voodoo3 OpenGL extension issue over the weekend (for the next driver update), Dan replied that my suggestion to disable 3dfx's OpenGL extension solved his Lightwave 3D problems noted in the weekend news:

" Followed your suggestion, and Lightwave again works fine. Since OpenGL is only loaded when called (I think) turning the extension on and off doesn't require a complete reboot. I turn the 3DFX OpenGL extension off for Lightwave, and it defaults to its software OpenGL display. I turn it back on for Quake3, and I take advantage of all of 3DFX's hard work. <G>
Dan Chichester "

RC5 Altivec Core: a reader notes there is now RC5 Altivec support for G4 macs which dramatically increase performance:

"Thought you might be interested in this:

---
Dan Oetting has developed an AltiVec RC5 core. Tester Joseph McLean, who has a Sawtooth machine, reported:

"Well now, it's working FINE and dandy on my G4/400. 4.5 Mkeys a second! I scored 1.3 before! I'm sitting here watching a 2^32 block get cracked right before my eyes..."
---

Here's the url:
http://n0cgi.distributed.net/cgi/dnet-finger.cgi?user=vetere
-Steve"

I believe the latest version of this beta as of today is available at:
http://nodezero.distributed.net/~vetere/dnetc-macos-beta.sit

Help Save Opcode's OMS (Open Music System):

" Mike,
First, a word of thanks on providing XLR8YOURMAC. It's been of tremendous help to me and your efforts are appreciated - and inspiring. I'd like to bring an item to your attention that perhaps Thad Brown will address in his regular Audio Column - another tremendous feature at XLR8YOURMAC. [Thad says this will be covered in his next column-Mile]

There was a posting this morning at Harmony Central regarding a petition which has been initiated to convince Gibson Musical Instruments to allow OMS (Open Music System) from Opcode to become Open Source. This is effort has been undertaken to ensure that OMS survives the transition to Apple OS X next year. Many Macintosh software developers, and subsequently - end users, would continue to benefit from the integration OMS affords us today should OMS become Open Source.

You can read the latest updates on the legal front here:
http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Monitor/6454/

Things look really bleak for Opcode :-(
You can read the open letter to Gibson and sign the OMS petition (if you're inclined) here:
http://sonosphere.dyndns.org/Petition

My thanks in advance for taking the time to review this information.
Regards,
Jon "

I encourage all OMS users and developers to go sign the petition.

More Mac Audio/CPU Upgrade Feedback: More on the recent thread of Audio software/hardware compatibility with G3 CPU upgrades in older Macs:

"I Have been using the Audiowerk8/Logic platinum 4.0.1 in a PM7600 with Newertech 333/166 G3 card and also PM9600 Pro Tools setup with 275/275 G3 card. Both systems work great and are very stable. You will need lots of ram and very fast hard drives. Beware... I have known other studios to have problems with other brand G3 cards when they where first released (last year models). Later models may be more stable. My main Logic rig is: 7600- Newertech333/166 G3,OS 8.6 & 8.5.1, 384mg Ram, 18gig IBM ZX drives. Hope that helps!"

I think many G3 card compat. issues were solved by later software updates (this year) that disabled speculative processing on Macs without 'G3 clean' ROMs. (My FAQ CPU Upgrades topic area has listed past compatibility issues since 1997.) So far the only general audio issues reported are related to SCSI and IDE controller cards used in older macs (a common issue even without a CPU upgrade - noted in the FAQ audio topic area).

Voodoo3 AGP Card Reminder: Lately I've received several mails asking which PC 3dfx AGP card models work in the new Sawtooth (AGP slot) G4 Macs. As noted in my www.mac3dfx.com site last month and in my Mac 3D card roundup, I used a Voodoo3 3000 AGP in my G4/AGP fine- but I'd not recommend it as you lose DVD playback if you remove the Rage128 AGP card. The Apple DVD player on that model requires a Rage128 card to work, however as I noted here last month, a Rage128 PCI card will also work. If you have 2 monitors a Voodoo3 PCI card may be the better choice and as shown in my Mac 3D card roundup - AGP is not much faster and the Voodoo3 2000 PCI cards are often 1/2 price of the 3000 cards and run almost as fast so they're a better value.

With only a single monitor on my G4 system, I use a Voodoo2 (dual Voodoo2 SLI Obsidian X24) with my sawtooth G4/450. This allows the Rage128 to work with DVD, etc. and still have 3dfx support for games. Rainbow Six does not work with the Voodoo2 however. See my www.mac3dfx.com site for other Voodoo2/3/4/5 reviews linked in the sidebar.

OS 9/RealPC Compatibility: A reader reports RealPC had some problems with OS 9 (the clock seemed to be running many times too fast he noted). I suggested he check FWB.com for updates since they bought the product from Insignia recently and he replied they are working on a fix.

Apple 250/300/350MHz 604e CPU Cards: Regular readers are getting tired of me saying this, but since I continue to receive about half a dozen mails a week asking this question I'll repeat it here again. As noted in my FAQ and Systems page 'Mach5/9600' page and noted a many times here in the news, the Apple 250MHz and faster 604e CPU cards won't even boot in any other system than the kansas motherboard based ones they came from (8600/250 and up, 9600/300 and up).

More PC IDE CDROM Recorder in Macs Feedback: [Update - in 2000 we added a searchable Drive Compatibility Database for readers to post reports on using various brands of CD/DVD/CDRW/DVD-R/Hard Drives, etc. in Macs. There's over 6,000 reports and growing daily now.]

"Hey Mike,
We had two HP CD-Writers in out office, so I decided to test them in my Blue & White G3. An HP CD-Writer 8100i Plus, I believe. I removed the stock Apple DVD drive, connected the writer, booted the Mac and inserted a CD. Not only did the HP CD-RW read my Mac CD without any extra drivers, it also booted from my custom boot CD AND wrote several Mac boot CDs.

Also to note, Toast 4.0 supports most, if not all, of the current HP CD Writers.
Regards,
Quinn "

See the recent news summary below for last week's news pages that had other reports of PC IDE CDRom recorders working in Macs. The FAQ's CDrom and DVD topic areas also have this info.

More on OS 9/PCMCIA Card Compatibility: I've asked this Nikon Coolpix user if the recent 950 Firmware update helped with this problem:

" Mike,
I just want to second the problem that you mentioned with os9/pcmcia. I have a ptp G3 400 with a Minolta scsi pcmcia reader (for my Coolpix 950). When I insert the compact flash card into the reader, my machine just hangs with a watch cursor. The reader came with a driver, Mac-PC Manager Lite v 3.0.4, that may be the culprit. Can't use the reader without it and can't find an update. Fortunately, I have a 8.6 partition.
Anthony "

As noted here recently, the Coolpix 100 PCcard based camera does not work in OS 9 and there are no workarounds known other than booting with a previous OS version.

More Voodoo3 Dual Monitor Setup Feedback: Although most dual monitor setups seem to work fine based on reader reports (see www.mac3dfx.com for tips from Ken Dyke of 3dfx), this reader notes an odd workaround he needed to use:

"Mike, I tested the fix for the problem with the new OpenGL drivers from 3dfx which was that with dual monitors attached, my G4 450 wouldn't go higher than 10fps on the settings that MESA had taken full advantage of, (102fps!!) only a short while earlier in Q3DemoTEST. I contacted Ken at 3DFX and he said that the problem might be that my built in Rage 128 was rendering the OpenGL textures and were feeding them through the 3DFX card. (damn wierd) And he said to unplug the monitor connected to the ATI card, which I did. Then I restarted and enabled the 3DFX openGl stuff and voila. Just as you and many people reported, the drivers worked like a charm. -Eli"

For a blast from the past see what was on the front page news here one year ago.

Weekend's News Summary

• Bargain TR5 SCSI Internal Tape Drives
• Voodoo3 and Strata StudioPro
• Voodoo3 and Lightwave 3D 5.6
• G3 Upgrades and Audio Feedback
• Rate Your CPU Upgrade Database Reaches 2,700 Entries
• Mac Game/Video Card Performance Database Updated

Friday's News Summary

• Voodoo3 and Hash Animation OpenGL
• $100 USB Travan TR4 Tape Drives
• MS office 98 OS 9 Update Installer Fixed
• PC IDE CDRrom Recorders in Macs (owner reports)
• 3Dfx driver tips from Ken Dyke at www.Mac3dfx.com
• SCSI ORB Drive Benchmarks/Driver Tests
• 780MHz/1GHz PowerPCs
• MacOS Altivec Extensions Info (reminder on past info and new source)
• USB Speakers Tip from reader post in my G4 Forum
• Reader Request: Audiowerks/Logic Discovery and G3 upgrades
• 512MB RAM in Wallstreet PB G3 (reader report on trip to Transintl.com dealer)
• Top 500 SuperComputers
• German reader tip on printer drivers
• Reminder on HP OS 9 printer driver updates
• Sonnet Cresendo v1.4 Update Feedback
• Revised Z-Force card arrives.

Wednesday's News Summary

• Unreal Tournament Rave Updater
• Problems w/MS Office 98 OS 9 Updates (updater revised now)
• Game News page updated with new 3dfx driver test results
• New Proformance3 Beta Drivers
• DV Tips for Older Macs (PCPro owner reports OS 8.1 best)
• Reader Request: Bootable IDE CDRs?
• OS 9/PCMCIA Card Compatibility
• New 3Dfx Voodoo2/Voodoo3 Driver Feedback
• Sonnet updates G3 Cresendo software to v1.4 for OS 9
• Glidehack 1.2 update for Voodoo3 screenshot capability
• Other Net News

For links to older news pages see the Archives page.

The recent features page has a lists reviews/articles you may have missed.

For a guide to finding answers to questions - see my Site Guide page.

Considering a G3 Upgrade? Check the CPU Upgrade Owner's Survey results and search for owner reports by Mac model and/or card brand. Readers post new entries daily and the database is updated several times a week. I urge any owners that have had problems to report this via the Survey Form. Always give the most weight to recent owner reports (dated in the listing) as in many cases problems are later found to be due to settings errors, slow L2 cache, etc.

-Freq Asked Questions

Check Apple's Software Updates
(especially their Recent Updates)

Apple TIL Updates

Apple Forums