XLR8, the makers of Mac upgrade and acceleration products, has updated MACh Speed Control, its processor control software. The company said MACh Speed Control 2.0.2 is a total rewrite that “prepares” for Mac OS X multiprocessing. But it’s not the finished X version; more on that in a sec.
The new version includes improved layout and usability features, improved “architecturally accurate” graphics, multiprocessing support, thermal monitoring, accurate memory interleaving displays, and enhanced AltiVec support for G4 processors, according to Jack Kolk, vice president and general manager of XLR8.
He added that Mac OS X users should be aware that this version of the software doesn’t support Mac OS X. It works with Mac OS 7.5.5 to 9.1.
If you want support for the next generation operating system, you should use XLR8 MACh Speed Control X software, which is also available as a free download from the XLR8 Web site. By using this software, the backside cache on all G3s and G4s, including beige Power Mac G3 and later machines, will be enabled at a processor to cache ratio of 2:1 with write through off, Kolk said.
The supported upgrades include the MACh Velocity MPe, MACh Speed G3 and G4, MACh Carrier and Carrier ZIF families of processor upgrade cards.
“There is tremendous immediate interest and demand to evaluate Mac OS X on all the platforms that Apple supports and beyond,” Kolk said. “We decided that nothing was gained by users experiencing extremely slow performance upon installing OS X in their machine simply because the cache was not being optimized. This software turns on the backside cache establishing normal operation. It’s that simple.”
To make use of the utility users must have already installed Mac OS X and be running the software when they launch the installer. The new XLR8 MACh Speed Control X utility will work with all third party processor upgrades providing they have at least 1MB of backside cache that is capable of running at a ratio of 2:1 (all XLR8 upgrades faster than a G3 300 with 1MB of backside cache are capable of running at 2:1).