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(333-400MHz CPU Cards and ZIF Upgrade) Bryan William Jones Review date: 2/15/99 |
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| Software | |
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The software included with the Newer cards consists of an extension and a control panel for proper card operation. In addition, as previously mentioned LibMoto is also included, although it is not required, and my guess is that you will have fewer problems without it. Newer also includes some rather nice utilities to examine CPU speed, cache size and memory performance. The Clockmeter gauge software that is included allows you to 1) Determine what CPU is present, 2) Determine the speed at which the processor is running, 3) examine the cache bus speed, and 4) examine the system bus speed all in one convenient window. The cleverly named Cache-22 utility also identifies the CPU type and bus speed, but in addition, it gives you information on the level 1 and level 2 cache. Finally the ramometer software allows you to test the integrity of your
memory. The only improvement I can see here would be to actually
combine the software products into one application. Information about
CPU temperature would also be nice, as well as an inclusion of the ability
to examine how fast your RAM is capable of running at. For instance,
if I did not know that my RAM was 70 ns capable, it would be nice to be
able to get that information from a utility.
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| Control Panel:
The control panel is well designed with adjustments for the backside cache speed, memory speed on pre-G3 machines, and the option to disable the motherboard cache on machines with cache soldered onto the motherboard. As previously noted, there are no adjustments for setting the actual speed of the CPU with this software and Newer does not support clock chipping of their cards to higher clock speeds either with software or by changing the DIP switches on the cards themselves. However, adjustments on the control panel do allow you to extract significantly more performance out of the card by decreasing the backside communication speed ratio from 2:1to 1.5:1. If the card is not able to function at a faster ratio, instead of crashing your system like with other cards, the software will automatically revert to the next fastest speed and notify you. I was able to take advantage of this faster ratio in all of the upgrade cards except the G3/333 upgrade card on the 9600. This card would not run at faster than a 2:1 backside ratio, however Newer does not advertise that their cards will run this fast. They do certify that it will run at the backside ration of 2:1. If your card runs faster, great. Additionally if you have fast enough RAM (70ns or 60ns) you may also make an adjustment in your control panel that will take advantage of this. (Worth anywhere from 1% to 5% increase in performance alone)
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| 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. | |
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Intro | Benchmarks | Appl. Tests | Software/Controls | Documentation | Specifications | Summary - or -
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