[SpeedRacer]

Just a little FYI to all those contemplating modifying their Rev C/D iMac by adding the missing mezzanine connectors of the Rev A/B iMacs.

I just received my mezzanine connector from Digikey today and it is no where near the right connector. I don't know if there are multiple sizes of mezzanine connectors, but the one from Digikey is NOT the right size - only about 2/3 the size of the mezzanine on the Gamewizard.

And please don't tell me that i got the wrong one from Digikey - there are only two (1 male, 1 female). If they are designed to go together (as they should) then NEITHER is going to work. Again, It is the SIZE of the Digikey connector that is wrong. Besides i highly doubt the female connector from Digikey is going to interface with the female connector on the GW. Unless their lesbian connectors. And in that case i wouldn't know what to do with them anyway.

;-)

Sorry folks, it looks like the Microconversions modification used a different supplier and/or got their parts from scrapped Rev. A/B iMacs.

Speed

[The Godfather]

Good info, thanks Racer!

I don't get that of the female-female issue. I thought that the iMac MoBo had a female and the GW a male. In the Digikey catalog, they are referred to as "receptacle" and "plug".

Well, if Digikey doesn't have the right part, then, I guess, Ca$h has the answer for you.

[Ryan Reid]

Digikey's mezzanine could have more to do with PMC standards than anything, where there is like 2 or 4 of those connectors together when they are used.

The term mezzanine may be a little decieving, as it could be more like the perch (personality) slots of earlier G3s.
I think someone mentioned this before...

But if Ca$h has already purchased one and installed it?

r

Much thanks to Speedracer for putting his money where his mouth is and adding substance to all the speculation.

[The Godfather]

Yup!

CRAP! Oh well, dont be too worried. I'll find another source...

yeah, I need some $ before I can order parts... I just got ANOTHER speeding ticket.. Do any of you guys think going 70ish in a 55 in the middle of the country is that bad?!?!? Like $123 bad?!?! Argh... looks like Mezz-PCI gets pushed back. I'll jsut go cosmetics this week.

Ca$h

ok, here are some places to start looking....

http://www.us-epanorama.net/companies.html#connectors
http://www.aaa-mezzanine.co.uk/front.asp

Question... is the Mezzanine on the iMac a PMC card???? Or is it a different mezz?

Ca$h

http://macprof.macity.it/imace/archives/imacemezz.html

funny how OLD info can be useful.


bed time now...zzzz

I just got ANOTHER speeding ticket.. Do any of you guys think going 70ish in a 55 in the middle of the country is that bad?!?!? Like $123 bad?!?!
------------------------------------------------

Nothing wrong with that. I'm 10 to 15 over where ever I go. It's not my fault, it's this Cummins Turbo Diesel…I lived with a four banger for sooooo long.

[kokosnootje]

have a look here...
http://connect.amp.com/AMP/bin/AMP.C...1^I~13^N~1^G~G

I'll have to take a closer look at my Rev B board to see what kind we need.

[Ryan Reid]

Go here:
http://macweek.zdnet.com/1232/mezzanine.html

they posted a relatively clear picture of the mezz slot.

r

[Ryan Reid]

Double post, sorry. Carry on...

r


[This message has been edited by Ryan Reid (edited 08-08-2000).]

[kokosnootje]

Seems to mee that getting the connector should be no problem.
But a lot of the postings about the pin layout of this connector are based on speculation. Is there anybody who knows what each pin does? Or does anybody know how to find this out?
Only if we have this info we can start to think about making a mezz to pci connector.
Maybee sombody who used to work for Formac or Apple might have some info. I know that Apple is out hunting but still...

[The Godfather]

What? Has somebody posted pin-layouts of the Mezzannine? Where are they? I don't care if they are just speculations. Please share!!!!

Mezz = dinky wang PCI.

Electronically Identical.

Have a nice day!

Ca$h

[SpeedRacer]

Just a little reminder that there is another thread discussing the PCI-Mez connector. If anybody has a definitive answer on where to locate the actual Mezzanine connector for Rev C/D iMacs, please post it here.

Has anybody tried actually calling Apple parts directly?

For the time being, i have reverted to swapping the boards on a Rev A -> D iMac and the GW is working great. Totally amazing increase in gaming performance. 30+ fps average in UT - wow!

Speed

[This message has been edited by SpeedRacer (edited 08-09-2000).]

[TimmyDee51]

I have been thinking of swapping a rev A for a rev D board but was wondering if the two were comperable in other aspects. The ATi controller on the rev A, is that the same as the card in the rev D but with less VRAM. I thought I read this somewhere. If so, I'll take the other persons board and keep my VRAM so my ATi card will be the same AND I'll have a Voodoo 2. Answer anyone?

TimmyDee

PS Does anyone know if that OEM GW guy is still selling his excess cards. If so, let me know about that, too. I'll buy one now and hedge my bets for the mezz slot.

Sorry, the revA board carries a fabulous RageIIc (Yes! The C version! Wow!) w/2Megs, whereas the rev.D has the Rage Pro w/6Meg.
Does the rev.D have any room for more VRAM? Or did they just sell those with 4 megs in the upgrade slot?

Flipper

OutPost has a few hundred iMac GWs left.

[SpeedRacer]

Originally posted by TimmyDee51:
I have been thinking of swapping a rev A for a rev D board but was wondering if the two were comperable in other aspects.

Well after getting stiffed the mez connector, i went and swapped a Rev A mobo for my Rev D. (yes, they are both based on the exact same mobo)

Swapped the processor/RAM, VRAM, HD, CD, and modem over as well. I now have a Rev A w/GW and everything my D had plus IR, minus Rage Pro. Honestly the VRAM is still 6MB and i don't notice any difference in window redrawing and/or video redraws. Everything is peachy and i now get 30+ fps at 800x600 in UT.

This upgrade/swap is HIGHLY recommended. I've used the new DVSEs w/128MB RAM running UT as well and i can't run at 800x600 w/nearly the fps that i can w/this V2. And this is "only" w/333mHz/190RAM/GW. Running at 640x480 puts the fps above 40.

PS Does anyone know if that OEM GW guy is still selling his excess cards. If so, let me know about that, too. I'll buy one now and hedge my bets for the mezz slot.

And yes, Michael (the guy w/the GWs) has plenty of boards left. He had mine shipped the very day i requested it. I recommend contacting him directly - 100% recommended!

Speed

[This message has been edited by SpeedRacer (edited 08-11-2000).]

[TimmyDee51]

Thanks Speed. Those were the questions I needed answered. I can't wait to do that now. I'm looking to get a 128 MB upgrade for RAM and I just installed my new DiamondMax 30 GB. Having a V2 would just be sweet. Thanks again.

SpeedRacer,

At what settings and with what method did you determine fps in UT?

[SpeedRacer]

Originally posted by bluesea:
SpeedRacer,

At what settings and with what method did you determine fps in UT?

This is running the UT DEMO. Therefore the CityIntro method used by AccelerateYourMac is not possible. This is simply running a 30 frag 6+ player game and taking the fps average at game's end.

I also use 2 different tweaked versions of the .ini file. One for performance, one for eye-candy. Both will perform over 30fps at 800x600 non-networked, only the perf one will in network play.

Either way, the performance of the GW is simply incomparable to the stock 1st gen iMacs. It's like using an entirely different computer.

Speed

yeah, how did you get 40 fps? We have similar computers (mine is a rev A mobo, 333 mhz G3, 192 megs RAM, 12 gig HD, bla bla), and I only pull 30-35 fps...

Ca$h

PS: Rev A iMac (Rage IIC, 2 megs VRAM, upgradable to 6 megs)
Rev B (Rage pro?)
Rev C&D (Rage Pro 6 meg VRAM)

[SpeedRacer]

Originally posted by Ca$hieboy:
yeah, how did you get 40 fps? We have similar computers (mine is a rev A mobo, 333 mhz G3, 192 megs RAM, 12 gig HD, bla bla), and I only pull 30-35 fps...

Recipe for Maximum UTFPS

Ingredients:

1 highly optimized .ini file
190 MB RAM w/out VM
150 MB allocated to UT
2 HD partitions (1 system, 1 apps)
3+ years working on MacOS installations & optimization

I'd be more than happy to email my .ini file and/or extension set list if anyone is really that interested. Don't know what to say other than that. OS optimization can make a BIG difference in overall performance, but other than that it's pretty much standard fare mods. The .ini file mod itself can raise perf by anywhere from 5-10 fps.

And again, this is with UT DEMO (ie: no files loading from a CDROM).

Speed

I can't comment on framerates but I know that the Demo runs smoother than the retail ver. (disk image/no CD).

you said:
"Recipe for Maximum UTFPS

Ingredients:

1 highly optimized .ini file
190 MB RAM w/out VM
150 MB allocated to UT
2 HD partitions (1 system, 1 apps)
3+ years working on MacOS installations & optimization"

Ok, this still doesnt make sense... check this:

1.I have an ini file that makes UT look NICE, but if I turn everything all the way down or off, I only gain 3 FPS, so who cares...
2. I have 192 megs of RAM as well as you.
3. Allocated 155 megs to UT
4. I have 2 partitions as well, same as you, but I doubt this increases game performance...
5. So what is the secret ingredient?

We have the same setup, and yours gets almost 10 FPS more than me. How? Are you running in the lowest res possible?

And about the UT Demo running faster due to disk image... uh, no that isnt quite true. If you install UT, you can than make a 1.4 meg disk image that has the folder "Textures" in it, copy Pallets.utx into the texutures folder, and name it "Unreal Tournament"

BAM! Now you dont need the CD, and it plays just as fast.

So whats the secret? If you are merely exxagerating your FPS, please tell me.

Ca$h

Ca$h, check his post above to see that your test method is the same as his. He is using the Demo with the Turbine map. The comparisons are not entirely valid if you are using the retail ver. The way the both of you are determining fps is not accurate enough to answer your questions.

[SpeedRacer]

Originally posted by Ca$hieboy:

So whats the secret?
Ca$h

Cash...

I play CtF a lot and these settings are from the CtF board. I don't know what else to tell you beyond that. Have you reduced your extension set down to the bare min? Have you disabled VM? What speed HD are you using? Have you swapped out your Rev D 6MB video RAM w/your Rev A's 2MB? Are you playing the demo or retail? STOCK (w/out any disk image mods) i have been told that the demo is faster. Whether or not it is faster due to having less file overhead to load than the retail is a question to which i don't have an answer.

I tried this again last night to check and playing in a 6 person CtF network game i got an average of 39 fps at 640x480. I took a couple screen shots but for some reason they look like something out of the sixties.

I am not sure what else to tell you. These are the results i am getting. If this is really an interesting issue for folks maybe we should move the issue to another topic.

Speed

[This message has been edited by SpeedRacer (edited 08-13-2000).]

See, thats still screwed up. I have a gamewizard voodoo2. which is faster than ATI crap.. My hd is 5400, but that shouldnt impact perf much. VM is off, although I here if you have enough physical ram, you get about 1 fps faster if you have it on. Weird. Anyway.... how cna you use the turbine level to timedemo? I dont get it. And I already said, I dont use the UT cd because I cracked it... so the CD isnt slowing it down...

[SpeedRacer]

For the sake of the original topic i have moved the Gamewizard FPS stuff to the Mac Games forum.

Speed