Accelerate Your Mac! - Railgun 466/233/1MB ZIF Review

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Review: BottomLine's Railgun G3/466/233/1MB ZIF
Published: 6/28/99

Adjustable CPU upgrade for AIO, Beige, B&W G3 & CarrierZIF

Intro | Benchmarks | Appl. Tests | Software Controls | Docs/Installation | Specs/Design | Summary

Introduction

Update: Mactell is now out of business. Their Upgrades are no longer available (Mactell made the Bottom Line Railgun CPU upgrades). Consider the date of publication when reading this review. The last source for Manuals and software for Railguns is listed in the CPU Upgrades section of the FAQ. For cache control software, Powerlogix.com's free cache profiler usually works also (but disable any existing Railgun extensions/controls before switching to a different cache enabler.)

At the date of this review (June 1999), BottomLine's Railgun G3/466 ZIF (Zero Insertion Force) socket upgrade is the lowest priced 466MHz G3 upgrade I've seen. This ZIF CPU upgrade is attractive to owners of lower speed Beige G3s (or AIO Macs) as well as Blue and White G3/300 owners. Actually new buyers of B&W G3s can save a few dollars and get an easier adjustable CPU by buying the 350MHz model and this $599 ZIF, resulting in a 450 to 500MHz G3 that doesn't require voiding the warranty to adjust speeds. In case you missed my review of the XLR8 CarrierZIF^TM, be aware the Railgun ZIF will also work in that base card.
I tested the Railgun ZIF in the Beige G3, B&W G3 and installed in the CarrierZIF for tests in my PowerCenter Pro. The PowerCenter Pro was chosen since it can run 60MHz bus speeds, which are needed to be able to run CPU speeds at or above the 466Mhz rating of this model. Until the 8x maximum bus speed to CPU speed ratio (multiplier) is changed in the next generation G3 CPU (due next month I hear), CPU speed is limited to 8 times the bus speed your Mac model is able to run. Therefore the maximum speed of most older Macs with the current G3 CPUs is 480MHz (8 times 60mhz bus). And 480Mhz is only possible if your Mac can run 60MHz bus speeds reliably.

Railgun ZIF module

Compatibility:

The Railgun ZIF is listed as compatible with the following Mac models:

Apple: All in One, Beige G3, Blue and White G3
Older Macs only if you use a XLR8 CarrierZIF card (see review for compat. models - requires a CPU Card slot based Mac)

I also verified that Retrospect 4.0 backups were error-free. Backup tests in the PowerCenter Pro using the OEM 2930B showed no problems (but I used XLR8's cache control with 'Speculative Processing' disabled for Retrospect backups). More information on compatibility issues with G3 CPU upgrades, see the CPU Upgrades area of my FAQ and CPU Reviews page articles.

OS X: Since the Railgun's backside cache was enabled without any software in the Apple G3 systems it should be OS X compatible in Apple G3 Macs. This makes 3 ZIFs I've seen that were compatible with the Apple ROM cache enabler - XLR8's and Vimage's ZIFs were the other models. Until OS X client is released nobody can guarantee compatibility with older Macs, and based on my insider sources, Apple may be removing the option to even install OS X on older Macs, despite the fact a developer reported it ran fine with a G3 CPU upgraded 8500 in the Dev 1 beta release. I didn't install OS X server on any older Macs as it is slower than the current MacOS in bluebox and has no video acceleration, etc. OS X server is not a mainstream OS for end users.

Review Tests/Ratings: I rated this upgrade on a scale of 1-10 in each of the following categories:

BenchMark Performance: MacBench 5.0 and Bytemark DR/3 scores of the card under test. Other system scores are shown for comparison.
Applications Performance: How the card did in several CPU intensive tests like Infini-D rendering, Bryce 2, etc.
Software Controls: Ease of use and features of the supplied software controls.
Docs/Installation: How clear and complete the installation and setup instructions are in the supplied manual. Includes general installation info.
Specs/Design: Features and details on the hardware design.
Summary: Final comments, ratings summary and pricing/availability.

Test Systems Hardware Summary:

Apple Beige G3 (rev 2)
160MB RAM (stock 32MB DIMM, one 128MB Dimm)
Stock 6GB IDE Hard Disk (80% full, not optimized)
Onboard ATI RagePro with 6MB SGRAM (driver v3.3)
OS 8.1, 4MB Disk Cache, VM off, QT 2.5, QD3D 1.5.3, [No Libmoto]

Apple Blue and White G3/350 (rev 2):
256MB RAM (mix of stock 64MB and Transintl 128MB Dimm [$97])
Stock 6GB IDE Hard Disk (70% full, not optimized)
Stock ATI Rage128 rev B graphics card (16MB)
OS 8.6, 4MB Disk Cache, VM off, QT 3.0, QD3D 1.5.6 [No Libmoto]

PowerComputing PowerCenter Pro:
80MB RAM
Stock 2GB IBM narrow UltraSCSI drive
OEM Adaptec 2930 PCI SCSI Card
ATI RagePro 3D PCI Graphics card w/4MB SGRAM (driver v3.3)
OS 8.1, 4MB Disk Cache, VM off, QT 2.5, QD3D 1.5.3, [No Libmoto]

You can follow my preferred path through the review by continuing to the next page, or use the links below to jump to a specific page.

Index of Railgun G3/466/233/1MB Review Pages
Intro | Benchmarks | Appl. Tests | Software Controls | Docs/Installation | Specs/Design | Summary

- or -
Back to WWW.XLR8YOURMAC.COM

Copyright © Mike, 1999.

No part of this sites content or images are to be reproduced or distributed in any form without written permission.
All brand or product names mentioned here are properties of their respective companies.

Users of the web site must read and are bound by the terms and conditions of use.

The Source for Mac Performance News and Reviews
Review: BottomLine's Railgun G3/466/233/1MB ZIF Published: 6/28/99
Adjustable CPU upgrade for AIO, Beige, B&W G3 & CarrierZIF
Intro \| Benchmarks \| Appl. Tests \| Software Controls \| Docs/Installation \| Specs/Design \| Summary
Introduction
Update: Mactell is now out of business. Their Upgrades are no longer available (Mactell made the Bottom Line Railgun CPU upgrades). Consider the date of publication when reading this review. The last source for Manuals and software for Railguns is listed in the CPU Upgrades section of the FAQ. For cache control software, Powerlogix.com's free cache profiler usually works also (but disable any existing Railgun extensions/controls before switching to a different cache enabler.) At the date of this review (June 1999), BottomLine's Railgun G3/466 ZIF (Zero Insertion Force) socket upgrade is the lowest priced 466MHz G3 upgrade I've seen. This ZIF CPU upgrade is attractive to owners of lower speed Beige G3s (or AIO Macs) as well as Blue and White G3/300 owners. Actually new buyers of B&W G3s can save a few dollars and get an easier adjustable CPU by buying the 350MHz model and this $599 ZIF, resulting in a 450 to 500MHz G3 that doesn't require voiding the warranty to adjust speeds. In case you missed my review of the XLR8 CarrierZIF^TM, be aware the Railgun ZIF will also work in that base card. I tested the Railgun ZIF in the Beige G3, B&W G3 and installed in the CarrierZIF for tests in my PowerCenter Pro. The PowerCenter Pro was chosen since it can run 60MHz bus speeds, which are needed to be able to run CPU speeds at or above the 466Mhz rating of this model. Until the 8x maximum bus speed to CPU speed ratio (multiplier) is changed in the next generation G3 CPU (due next month I hear), CPU speed is limited to 8 times the bus speed your Mac model is able to run. Therefore the maximum speed of most older Macs with the current G3 CPUs is 480MHz (8 times 60mhz bus). And 480Mhz is only possible if your Mac can run 60MHz bus speeds reliably. Compatibility: The Railgun ZIF is listed as compatible with the following Mac models: Apple: All in One, Beige G3, Blue and White G3 Older Macs only if you use a XLR8 CarrierZIF card (see review for compat. models - requires a CPU Card slot based Mac) I also verified that Retrospect 4.0 backups were error-free. Backup tests in the PowerCenter Pro using the OEM 2930B showed no problems (but I used XLR8's cache control with 'Speculative Processing' disabled for Retrospect backups). More information on compatibility issues with G3 CPU upgrades, see the CPU Upgrades area of my FAQ and CPU Reviews page articles. OS X: Since the Railgun's backside cache was enabled without any software in the Apple G3 systems it should be OS X compatible in Apple G3 Macs. This makes 3 ZIFs I've seen that were compatible with the Apple ROM cache enabler - XLR8's and Vimage's ZIFs were the other models. Until OS X client is released nobody can guarantee compatibility with older Macs, and based on my insider sources, Apple may be removing the option to even install OS X on older Macs, despite the fact a developer reported it ran fine with a G3 CPU upgraded 8500 in the Dev 1 beta release. I didn't install OS X server on any older Macs as it is slower than the current MacOS in bluebox and has no video acceleration, etc. OS X server is not a mainstream OS for end users. Review Tests/Ratings: I rated this upgrade on a scale of 1-10 in each of the following categories: BenchMark Performance: MacBench 5.0 and Bytemark DR/3 scores of the card under test. Other system scores are shown for comparison. Applications Performance: How the card did in several CPU intensive tests like Infini-D rendering, Bryce 2, etc. Software Controls: Ease of use and features of the supplied software controls. Docs/Installation: How clear and complete the installation and setup instructions are in the supplied manual. Includes general installation info. Specs/Design: Features and details on the hardware design. Summary: Final comments, ratings summary and pricing/availability. Test Systems Hardware Summary: Apple Beige G3 (rev 2) 160MB RAM (stock 32MB DIMM, one 128MB Dimm) Stock 6GB IDE Hard Disk (80% full, not optimized) Onboard ATI RagePro with 6MB SGRAM (driver v3.3) OS 8.1, 4MB Disk Cache, VM off, QT 2.5, QD3D 1.5.3, [No Libmoto] Apple Blue and White G3/350 (rev 2): 256MB RAM (mix of stock 64MB and Transintl 128MB Dimm [$97]) Stock 6GB IDE Hard Disk (70% full, not optimized) Stock ATI Rage128 rev B graphics card (16MB) OS 8.6, 4MB Disk Cache, VM off, QT 3.0, QD3D 1.5.6 [No Libmoto] PowerComputing PowerCenter Pro: 80MB RAM Stock 2GB IBM narrow UltraSCSI drive OEM Adaptec 2930 PCI SCSI Card ATI RagePro 3D PCI Graphics card w/4MB SGRAM (driver v3.3) OS 8.1, 4MB Disk Cache, VM off, QT 2.5, QD3D 1.5.3, [No Libmoto]

You can follow my preferred path through the review by continuing to the next page, or use the links below to jump to a specific page.

Index of Railgun G3/466/233/1MB Review Pages Intro \| Benchmarks \| Appl. Tests \| Software Controls \| Docs/Installation \| Specs/Design \| Summary - or - Back to WWW.XLR8YOURMAC.COM
Copyright © Mike, 1999. No part of this sites content or images are to be reproduced or distributed in any form without written permission. All brand or product names mentioned here are properties of their respective companies. Users of the web site must read and are bound by the terms and conditions of use.