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12/11/97 - Today's News and Updates: -Reader William Perez sent a note about a fix for the missing resolutions on some monitors (i.e. 1152x870) when using the Power3D game card. He writes: Until a new cable/adaptor combo arrives from Techworks, I found a temporary fix for the Power3D problem which makes certain monitor resolutions disappear. Particularly, at home I lost my original 1152x870 setting which this control strip called "multi-resolutions" restored. I found it at Info-Mac and it will force your monitor into whatever resolution you pick - even though it may not appear under the Monitors control panel. Although it still does not restore my AppleVision 'geometry' and 'color' panels, it's still cheaper than buying a new adaptor. It even works on my Power Computing VGA monitor at work which could never do 1152x870 before. This made my life a little happier so I hope it helps others too. URL is below. http://hyperarchive.lcs.mit.edu/cgi-bin/NewSearch?key=multi-resolutions Thanks William! -A G3 CPU card owner reported that SoftWindows 95 stopped working after installing the card. If there are any owners of G3/PPC750 CPU cards (or Apple G3 system owners) who are running Softwindows 95 please contact me with details. Virtual PC runs great with all the G3 cards I've tested ( the MaxPowr Pro/Pro+ and the PowerForce 250 ). -A Post in my video card forum by a 7200/75 owner with a ATI VR card notes that the new ATI drivers for Quake really improves performance, as long as shadows, etc. were off. A PCP owner reported minimal increases (he may have only had 2 Meg of Vram - read on) In the same thread - and Apple G3 owner reported the combination of upgrading the Vram to 6 Meg and the new drivers seemed to double his Quake framerate. As I stated yesterday, I've received similar notes that increasing the standard 2 Meg Vram to 6 Meg substantially improved Quake performance. BTW - the forum is really running slow - it may take several tries to post messages. I'm working now to improve things, but it's the silk purse out of a sow's ear thing here (I'm convinced the Sun Netra box houses a P75 pentium with no L2 cache). I trimmed older messages out of the Hardware Upgrades Forum - it was getting too large. -PowerLogix has released version 1.0 of the G3 Cache Utility, a freeware program for Apple G3 and Powerbook G3 owners that allows increasing the speed of the backside cache. Reports indicate most PowerBook G3s & PowerMac G3 233s can be accelerated, with the PowerMac G3 266 less likely than the others to tolerate the speed boost (although I have gotten a few positive reports). Full details are at the download page. -Just a note that MacMall has up to $250 instant rebate/discounts on selected Mac's and Powerbooks. Save $250 off list on a PowerBook G3 for example. -The Apple Store did $12 Million in sales the first 30 days. That puts Apple site at #3 on the Net in the first month! (Amazing combination of superior product AND ratings.) -I forgot to mention that MacGurus is also bundling a FREE Turbo TV card with each pre-order of the $579.99 IXMicro Ultimate Rez card! They've also thrown down the gauntlet again on Ram pricing - $140.99 their FPM and EDO 64Meg, 2k refresh, 60ns Dimms. Ask the Head Guru about their G3 SDRAM, which has just started to ship as well. -Do you ever wonder about all those Extensions running on your Mac, or at least living on your hard drive in the "disabled" folder? Then check out the Extension Overload (great name, btw) version 2.5. It might help your trim down your Mac - and boost it's speed in the bargain. Most extensions consume some cpu resources and memory - so if you don't need them, don't use them for best performance. The full Evangelist PR release is here. -MacMissionControl has a list of FPU scores for various Mac's and PC's. While you're at the Whetstone results page, download the benchmark and submit your own results. The 604e's seem to rule the FPU roost based on the results shown. FPU test results for the PowerForce 250 at 292mhz with *no extensions/libmoto* was 135135.14 double precision kilowhets/second. That puts the 292mhz PPC750 w/1:1 backside cache just behind the 300Mhz 604E in their list. Note that with all my normal extensions on (libMoto, Speed Doubler, QT, QD3D, etc.) the score was identical. I found it odd that running all those extensions (incl. LibMoto FPU lib) did not affect performance. Granted this is a very focused test/appl, testing FPU speed only. -Bottom Line still has some of the $219 Newer Tech MaxPowr 200's left, and has pricing on G3 Sdram and Vram upgrades as well. Details are here. -MacNetPro has teamed with Barnes and Nobles to add a Mac-related book listing. You can browse, read reviews and purchase online. Readers are encouraged to submit suggestions for book titles wanted, and reviews as well. Bare Feats has published a comparison of Quake fps scores between a Apple G3/266 and a 7500/233 with Power3D video card. Note that the tests used only 2MB of Vram on the G3 - reader reports I've gotten indicate the 6MB upgrade improved Quake preformance dramatically. I already knew the outcome of this compaison though, based on my Power3D tests. Nothing runs Quake like the Power3d, even on lesser machines it is THE card for Quake. Never tried Quake? Then download the demo at MacSoft's Demo software page. - Speaking of Quake - the aftershocks of Quake II's release are being felt 'round the world. Friends tell me it's awesome, and far exceeded their expectations based on the demo version. I hope MacSoft can bring the same tremors to the Mac soon. 12/10/97 - Yesterday's Updates: - Peter Bethke of Dax Media sends this URL with Windows Nightmare stories. - MacBase has some great deals on the last of the Power Computing PowerTower Pro's, PowerCenter Pro's and PowerWaves. Units are refurbished with 90 day warranties (4 year on-site is $199 extra). Get them while you can! (I think there is a typo on the PTP ad - I doubt that it comes with wide scsi.) - I've updated the Cheetah applications tests page for results with the 8500/120, with 1 meg L2 cache. - I've added a link to Quantum's Disk Storage Basics in the reference area. It's an excellent introduction to disk technologies and terms. - If you think we're pushing the limit at times, take a look at KryoTech. They've run the AMD K6 266mhz CPU chip at 375mhz, Pentium II's at 400mhz, and Alpha's at 767mhz by cooling the CPU to -40oC with Vapor Phase Refrigeration . Their insulated design avoids the problems of condensation (water on the motherboard is not good) and they claim their phase change design is 50 times more effective than forced air cooling, and 5 times more effective than liquid cooling. How does cooling help CMOS devices run faster? - I'll let them explain: "CMOS devices run faster at lower temperatures due to increased electron and hole mobilities and other second order effects. This is a fundamental property of CMOS materials. At -40oC, standard CMOS devices run 30 to 35% faster. This is an important benchmark because today's commodity vapor phase refrigeration technology can reach -40oC. Standard CMOS devices double in performance at approximately -120oC, a temperature to which KryoTech is evolving its technology through our partnership with MMR Technologies, Inc (http://www.mmr.com)..." For a mere $500 or so you too can have their case extension/compressor assembly. Icemaker optional. - MacGurus is taking advance orders on IXMicro's new Ultimate Rez 2D/3D PCI video card. IXMicro claims twice the 2D speed of the Twin Turbo. - Many readers have had trouble finding Imagine 128 Series 2 8meg cards (250mhz Ramdac version). Number Nine suggested trying NECX Direct (800-961-9209) and Insight Direct (800-848-9441), as well as the usual suspects - Micro Warehouse (800-551-3871) and Mac Connection (800-243-8088). The NECX link is direct to their page for the I128/Mac, which they show as in stock at $734.95, plus $3.95 shipping.

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