Dig this from xlr8yourmac.com:
</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Geneva, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif">quote:</font><hr /><font size="1" face="Geneva, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif">
Sonnet Announces G4/800 CPU Card Upgrade for Older PCI Macs - Including PowerCenter/Pros - The G4/800 CPU card upgrade for 7300-9600 Macs (and comparable clones) shown in recent magazine ads has been officially announced by Sonnet. Note that this is the first G4 upgrade claimed to work with the Catalyst based Macs such as the PowerCenter/Pro. Here's a clip from the press release:
" New York July 17, 2002. Sonnet Technologies...accomplishes tremendous technological breakthroughs with the announcement of the Crescendo/PCI G4 800 MHz processor upgrade for PCI Power Mac� machines. This highly-anticipated product is made possible by Sonnet's superior design, which utilizes a new 7455 AltiVec-enabled G4 chip, and 1MB of L3 backside cache.
While previous generations of the G4 were limited to operation at nine times the speed of the bus in the host system, these new chips allow for a much higher multiple, raising the theoretical maximum on a 50 MHz PCI platform bus from 450 MHz to 800 MHz and beyond. Through arduous testing and development, Sonnet engineers have fully addressed several challenges unique to this new generation of processors, including entirely new voltage requirements, signal compatibility and heat dissipation issues. As a result, the Crescendo/PCI G4 800 not only performs reliably at very high processor speeds, but also fully supports applications that leverage the AltiVec/Velocity Engine in both OS 9 and OS X (if the customer chooses to utilize Sonnet's PCI X Installer).
Additional design innovations have resolved G4 compatibility issues with heavily loaded six-slot machines, providing a reliable and powerful solution for the music and video professionals who rely on these systems. ..
The Crescendo/PCI G4 800 is also the first G4 processor upgrade to be compatible with certain Power Computing Macintosh clone models. Until now, some of these systems could only support G3 processor upgrades. [Note: actually the G4 issue with clones was related to the Catalyst based Macs like the PowerCenter/Pro - G4 upgrades have been available for Clones based on other motherboard designs with a CPU card slot like the Umax S900, PowerTower Pro, etc..-Mike]
The complete list of compatible Macintosh models is:
- Power Mac 7300, 7500, 7600, 85xx, 8600, 95xx, 9600
- Workgroup Server 7350, 8550, 9650
- Daystar Genesis
- PowerCenter, PowerCenter Pro, PowerCurve, PowerTower, PowerTower Pro, PowerWave
- UMAX J700/S900
OS X Compatibility
In June 2001, Sonnet offered owners of Crescendo/PCI G3 and G4 cards the option of downloading a Sonnet installer to run Mac� OS X on the PCI models mentioned above (Sonnet's OS X Installer is not compatible with PowerCenter, PowerCenter Pro, PowerCurve, PowerTower). Mac OS X's compatibility in these machines will match that in Power Macintosh G3 computers. This breakthrough solution is accessible from the Sonnet web site for a download fee of $29.95. For Sonnet's complete Mac OS X Statement as well as information on Sonnet PCI X Installer Updater please refer to the Sonnet web page at <a href="http://www.sonnettech.com/news/macosx_update.html." target="_blank">http://www.sonnettech.com/news/macosx_update.html.</a>
Pricing and Availability
The Crescendo/PCI G4 800 will be available in August and will have an estimated street price of $399.95. "</font><hr /></blockquote><font size="1" face="Geneva, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif">Hmmm.. Makes me wonder if putting $400 into my old 7300 is worth it as a backup...
<small>[ 07-17-2002, 08:35 AM: Message edited by: Dan Szwarc ]</small>
Top