The MACh Velocity 66 G4 MPeXLR8 is now shipping from XLR8, the gang that makes Mac upgrade and expansion products.
The MACh Velocity 66 G4 MPe — the 66 refers to the bus speed of the beige systems — lets you convert a beige G3 Power Mac into a dual G4 multiprocessing system. Using the ZIF (zero insertion force) socket and now for the first time the similar LIF (low insertion force) socket, the architecture of the MACh Velocity 66 G4 MPe card means that XLR8 customers can, at a later date, upgrade one or both of the MACh Speed G4 MPe ZIFs that are shipped on the card, according to Chris Cooksey, director of engineering at XLR8.
Although shipped as matching pairs, the processors have no need to be balanced; in other words, it’s possible to have a 500 MHz processor and a 733 MHz processor running on the card. The only requirement is that the processor daughter cards be MPe enabled. Currently, MPe enabled ZIF processors are only available from XLR8, Cooksey said.
The ability to run different speed processors on MACh Velocity 66 G4 MPe makes it “future proof,” he added. If you want to increase the power of the system at a later date they need only to change one of the processors, and not the whole upgrade. The removed “old” G4 ZIF can then be used in any other ZIF-based system to increase its performance, or with the new MACh Carrier MPe in any 7300 – 9600 class machine or clone.
The XLR8 MACh Carrier G4 MPe will utilize the current range of MACh Speed G4 MPe ZIFs (identified by a yellow screen print on the PCB instead of white) with the velocity adapter and the previously announced MACh Carrier 2.0. Initially, XLR8 will offer the XLR8 MACh Carrier G4 MPe in single 350 MHz, 400 MHz and 450 MHz configurations.
The Carrier ZIF MPe is sold without a ZIF processor and is compatible with most third party ZIF processor upgrade cards. However, to maximize the performance of the forthcoming XLR8 Velocity multiprocessing adapter, customers will have to purchase PowerPC G4 ZIF processor upgrade cards that are MPe compatible (and currently only available from XLR8).
For maximum performance, the XLR8 MACh Speed G4 MPe ZIF and the MACh Velocity card all support the full MESI cache state identifiers, said David Marsden, National Sales Manager at XLR8. Customers who have XLR8 MACh Speed G3 processors, with or without Carriers, can take advantage of XLR8’s Trade-Up Program to upgrade to G4 MPe processors. At the XLR8 Web site, you can trade your existing product for up to a 20 percent discount on the cost of the MACh Carrier G4 MPe.
The G4 MPe Carrier continues the ability to upgrade two machines for the price of one. Users who buy the G4 Carrier MPe can use the G4 ZIF MPe that comes with the Carrier in a ZIF compatible machine (beige G3, Blue and White G3 and early graphite ZIF-based G4 systems), and then use the ZIF that has been removed from the system with the Carrier MPe to upgrade a 7300 to 9600 class machine.
“The MACh Velocity 66 G4 MPe solution has exceeded our highest expectations in all of our tests” Cooksey said in a press release. “The MACh Velocity G4 card has produced as high as 1.92x the equivalent single processor speeds — even under Mac OS 9.1. As more applications are Carbonized the greater the performance gains will be, even before Mac OS X is released.”
The XLR8 MACh Velocity 66 G4 MPe will support Mac OS X and future revisions of the MacOS while Apple supports the base platform, according to the XLR8 gang. The Mac OS X XLR8 MACh Control Panel will be released to the public shortly after OS X goes on sale (the new driver is required to run the second processor under Mac OS X). Configurations and prices are: