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Newertech G3 Upgrades Review
(333-400MHz CPU Cards and ZIF Upgrade)
Bryan William Jones
Review date: 2/15/99

Hardware Features/Specifications

Intro | Benchmarks | Appl. Tests | Software/Controls | Documentation | Specifications | Summary

Hardware Features/Compatibility

The cards are well built with nice solders, clean designs, and massive (for the G3 chips) heat sinks. The heat sinks appear to be the same types that are originally on the 604e chips from Apple and are absolutely overkill for the low-power copper interconnect G3 chip, but then overengineering for heat management and heat tolerance is a good thing that will lead to fewer problems and longer life for the chip and other components that share the same neighborhood inside the case of your computer.
My only complaint here is that on the upgrade for the G3 desktop, the round heat sink was just slightly too large necessitating pulling the arm of the ZIF socket out a little bit. It would have been nice to either find a slightly smaller heat-sink, or one that is of a different shape.
Newertech takes a different approach to designing CPU upgrade cards than do other manufacturers. First, there is a bus timing issue with the G3 chip versus the 604e ROM chips. There is a timing incompatibility (tighter tolerances in timing in association with predictive processing) with the G3 chip and the motherboard ROMs from earlier Macs that will cause some problems with backup software such as Retrospect, and incompatibilities with PCI upgrade cards such as the Adaptec SCSI accelerator cards, and possibly video cards. Newer has addressed this issue by adding a hardware logic solution built into the upgrade cards intended for Macs with CPU daughter-cards. The other manufacturers have either addressed this issue in a software fix [Sonnet, XLR8] , or have ignored or been unaware of this issue, thus causing some of the problems that I have seen with other G3 upgrades.
[See the FAQ question 31 for a list of G3 compatibility issues as of this date. XLR8's latest control panel addresses the Adaptec SCSI/Wide drive mounting and the Retrospect backup issue. Vimage's cards reportedly never needed a fix, although I did see a problem in Retrospect 4.1 during the G3/233 revew in a 8600 Mach 5 system. Also note that 9600 Mach 5 owners (9600/300, 9600/350, 8600/250 and 300 models might also be affected) have reported issues with the first series of Newer Tech G3/400MHz cards, as reported by Darin Ames and at MacGurus Newer Tech Upgrades page.- Mike]
The problem with a software solution is that the fix does not come into effect until the software (usually an extension) loads. Newer's solution is always in effect and there will be no incompatibilities due to this timing issue, or potential problems with conflicting extensions or other inits because there is no software to load. This hardware solution costs Newer extra money and thus the cost is passed on to consumers resulting in cards that are a slightly more expensive than the competition, but their solution prevents you from running into any problems with Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle and I/O memory register accesses. In other words system crashes, and data loss, and data corruption. [Note: I've tested dozens of G3 cards other than the Adaptec SCSI card/Retrospect issue, I've have had no data corruption problems. Atto, Initio and Hammerstorage PCI SCSI cards are compatible with other G3 cards, Adaptec is the only SCSI card I've seen that has had problems.-Mike]
The second major difference between Newer and some of the other companies is that Newer does not support adjusting the CPU speed, but as discussed before this is not as big an issue for those who are interested in reliable performance that also happens to be extraordinarily fast. (Especially those with investments in hardware that might be incompatible.) I also suspect that not supporting CPU speed adjustments ultimately leads to lower support costs on Newer's part, and fewer product returns.
[There is some adjustment in many of their cards (a 4 position dip switch has limited bus/cpu speeds). No documented settings overclock the CPU but often there are undocumented settings that do run the CPU higher than the rated speeds (voids warranty).-Mike]

The next page contains a summary and final comments on the product.

Index of Newertech G3 CPU Review Pages
Intro | Benchmarks | Appl. Tests | Software/Controls | Documentation | Specifications | Summary
- or -
Back to WWW.XLR8YOURMAC.COM

Copyright © Michael Breeden, 1999.
No part of this sites content or images are to be reproduced or distributed in any form without written permission.
All brand or product names mentioned here are properties of their respective companies.
Users of the web site must read and are bound by the terms and conditions of use.


Newertech G3 Upgrades Review (333-400MHz CPU Cards and ZIF Upgrade) Bryan William Jones Review date: 2/15/99
Hardware Features/Specifications
Intro \| Benchmarks \| Appl. Tests \| Software/Controls \| Documentation \| Specifications \| Summary
Hardware Features/Compatibility
The cards are well built with nice solders, clean designs, and massive (for the G3 chips) heat sinks. The heat sinks appear to be the same types that are originally on the 604e chips from Apple and are absolutely overkill for the low-power copper interconnect G3 chip, but then overengineering for heat management and heat tolerance is a good thing that will lead to fewer problems and longer life for the chip and other components that share the same neighborhood inside the case of your computer. My only complaint here is that on the upgrade for the G3 desktop, the round heat sink was just slightly too large necessitating pulling the arm of the ZIF socket out a little bit. It would have been nice to either find a slightly smaller heat-sink, or one that is of a different shape. Newertech takes a different approach to designing CPU upgrade cards than do other manufacturers. First, there is a bus timing issue with the G3 chip versus the 604e ROM chips. There is a timing incompatibility (tighter tolerances in timing in association with predictive processing) with the G3 chip and the motherboard ROMs from earlier Macs that will cause some problems with backup software such as Retrospect, and incompatibilities with PCI upgrade cards such as the Adaptec SCSI accelerator cards, and possibly video cards. Newer has addressed this issue by adding a hardware logic solution built into the upgrade cards intended for Macs with CPU daughter-cards. The other manufacturers have either addressed this issue in a software fix [Sonnet, XLR8] , or have ignored or been unaware of this issue, thus causing some of the problems that I have seen with other G3 upgrades. [See the FAQ question 31 for a list of G3 compatibility issues as of this date. XLR8's latest control panel addresses the Adaptec SCSI/Wide drive mounting and the Retrospect backup issue. Vimage's cards reportedly never needed a fix, although I did see a problem in Retrospect 4.1 during the G3/233 revew in a 8600 Mach 5 system. Also note that 9600 Mach 5 owners (9600/300, 9600/350, 8600/250 and 300 models might also be affected) have reported issues with the first series of Newer Tech G3/400MHz cards, as reported by Darin Ames and at MacGurus Newer Tech Upgrades page.- Mike] The problem with a software solution is that the fix does not come into effect until the software (usually an extension) loads. Newer's solution is always in effect and there will be no incompatibilities due to this timing issue, or potential problems with conflicting extensions or other inits because there is no software to load. This hardware solution costs Newer extra money and thus the cost is passed on to consumers resulting in cards that are a slightly more expensive than the competition, but their solution prevents you from running into any problems with Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle and I/O memory register accesses. In other words system crashes, and data loss, and data corruption. [Note: I've tested dozens of G3 cards other than the Adaptec SCSI card/Retrospect issue, I've have had no data corruption problems. Atto, Initio and Hammerstorage PCI SCSI cards are compatible with other G3 cards, Adaptec is the only SCSI card I've seen that has had problems.-Mike] The second major difference between Newer and some of the other companies is that Newer does not support adjusting the CPU speed, but as discussed before this is not as big an issue for those who are interested in reliable performance that also happens to be extraordinarily fast. (Especially those with investments in hardware that might be incompatible.) I also suspect that not supporting CPU speed adjustments ultimately leads to lower support costs on Newer's part, and fewer product returns. [There is some adjustment in many of their cards (a 4 position dip switch has limited bus/cpu speeds). No documented settings overclock the CPU but often there are undocumented settings that do run the CPU higher than the rated speeds (voids warranty).-Mike]

The next page contains a summary and final comments on the product.

Index of Newertech G3 CPU Review Pages Intro \| Benchmarks \| Appl. Tests \| Software/Controls \| Documentation \| Specifications \| Summary - or - Back to WWW.XLR8YOURMAC.COM
Copyright © Michael Breeden, 1999. No part of this sites content or images are to be reproduced or distributed in any form without written permission. All brand or product names mentioned here are properties of their respective companies. Users of the web site must read and are bound by the terms and conditions of use.