"Purpose: Control application for MP series graphic cards Version: 3.1.1
Date: 1999-11-23
Comments: German and English program, but only preliminary German user doc. Fixes problem with NavigationLib and NameRegistryLib. Fixes crash with ATI cards (eg Rage128).
(As of Dec 1999 the file was at ftp://ftp.villagetronic.com/pub/mac/MonitorsPicasso.sit.hqx)"

Sawtooth Rev 2 Motherboard Changes? Philip Pitner said the Intel Ethernet chip was not present on his latest Sawtooth G4. The chip is directly behind the Ethernet port on my G4/450 AGP system.

"Hi Mike, ... I just received a G4 450Mhz direct from Apple (ordered with Cinema but that's a few weeks away) that also has the DVI Rage Pro board.

Upon opening the computer I found some suprises. While things more or less looked the same I noticed a major chip was missing! The Intel (DEC) 21143 PCI 10/100 Mbps ethernet controller chips was gone. The solder bumps on the board are there but no chip! Computers up to a week ago had it. It is the 1 inch square chip that sits an inch or so behind the ethernet jack.

Any ideas how ethernet is being done or have you heard anything about this design change? Couldn't find any other visible differences.
Regards,
Phil"

I was not aware of any changes in the design. If any readers have any additional info please contact me.

[Update The comments below are from Dec 1999. I later discovered that G4 CPU upgrades in 6 PCI slot macs have issues with controller cards, etc. in the lower PCI bus (lower 3 slots in Apple 95/9600, PTP, etc.). (See the G4 Reviews page for the link to the PF G4/350 review which notes this issue.) Newer Tech twice revised (modifications) a G4/400 that eventually worked in the Genesis, however they went out of business in early 2001. As of December 2001, only XLR8 has fully resolved this issue. I've run both a single G4/400 and Dual G4/450 XLR8 MAChCarrier MPe "SSE" (six slot edition) upgrade cards in my loaded Genesis with no problems seen.]
(Dec 1999 comments follow)
I'm sorry to report the 2MB cache G4 upgrade would not boot. Granted it was a modified experimental card, not a retail version but it's the first XLR8 card I've ever had that didn't work out of the box. (Note - a 2nd G4/350 2MB sample arrived that did work. See the G4 reviews page for performance tests comparing a 1MB vs 2MB Cache G4/350.) After picking up a copy of Virtual PC 3.0 and running several tests on the 1MB cache G4/350 XLR8 card for comparisons, I could not get the 2MB card to boot in either the 9600/350 test system or the Genesis.

The loaded Genesis seems problematic with every G4 card, as only the XLR8 and Powerlogix G4 cards will boot with it at all. *However* when you restart, it usually hangs with an hourglass cursor after loading the boot drive icon (during attempting to load the RAID array and onboard SCSI drive). Once this happens, it's a nightmare to get the system running again (I've had to reset the cuda, remove all dimms but one, then restart with a G3 card, then shut down and reinstall ram, etc.)
Surprisingly, the Newer Tech G4 card early sample doesn't fair as well as the other cards even though it has an on-card firmware for speculative processing. (Newer Tech later sent a revised card (mods made to the design) that solved this issue.) Their G4 ZIF ran great in the B&W G3 as noted in the Newer Tech G4/400 ZIF Review posted Friday.

I'll be testing the PowerLogix G4 in the 9600/350 machine soon. The PowerLogix G4 cards are the same size as their new line and Z-Force, very tiny. They include a fan on the heatsink in the G4 models.
[Update See the G4 Reviews page for the link to the PF G4/350 review, which notes an issue with G4 upgrades in 6 PCI slot macs depending on the installed PCI card type/slot locations.]

VPC and TurboMax/TrueX CDROM: Speaking of Virtual PC 3.0, the 9600/350 (OS 9) I installed it on had a TurboMax IDE card and IDE TrueX 52X drive. VPC hung at the Windows 98 screen after installation, so suspecting the TurboMax/TrueX drive as the culprit I removed them and put the original 24X SCSI CDrom drive back in the system. This solved the problem.

In case anyone has any dreams of running games on VPC, don't kid yourself. VPC is a great piece of software and works very well overall, but it is not suitable for running modern PC 3D games, regardless of your system or video card. Total software emulation is just too slow, even with a 3dfx Voodoo1 or Voodoo2 card and very fast CPU framerates are too slow to really be playable. It's still the best piece of software I've seen to amaze folks that Windows can run on the Mac. Several people I know refused to believe it was a standard Windows version running. VPC 3.0 is said to be substantially faster than v2.x and adds support for Applescript (a first).

G4 Upgrade Virtual PC 3 Benchmarks: While running the XLR8 G4/350 on the 9600 I ran Norton's System Info benchmark (VPC 3.0 had 128MB Ram allocated, 800x600 16bit color mode in windows 98, 4MB VRAM config, G4/350/175/1MB CPU). The system score was somewhat disappointing, indicating performance of less than 1/2 the speed of a Pentium 166 which scores 37.2. The disk used was a Cheetah U2 SCSI 4.5GB driven by an ATTO U2 PCI SCSI card.

The 604e/350MHz felt very sluggish compared to the G4, in Virtual PC and OS 9. The 9600/350 with the stock CPU card seemed to feel a lot more responsive under OS 8.1. [Update: For more Virtual PC performance tests/comparisons - see the Software section of the Misc. articles page.]

Notes on Altivec App. Switching: Michiro Isobe wrote with a note regarding running two Altivec applications simultaneously:

"AltiVec software needs OS support. When two or more AltiVec applications run simultaneously, AltiVec registers must be saved and restored correctly during application switch. If it is not performed correctly, AltiVec registers are corrupted. When only one AltiVec application exists; this problem does not come into the open. "

I tested the Newer Tech G4/400 ZIF in my B&W G3 by running Soundjam MP 1.1.1 playing a MP3 audio file and then running G4Timedemo. I saw no problems, but I'm not sure Soundjam playback uses Altivec, perhaps only encoding.

More Tech Info on AIWA Tape Drives: Another reader sent a source of info on the AIWA tape drives being sold at auctions recently:

"Mike,
Anyone needing help setting up their bargain Aiwa NS20 drives can find a pdf of the Configuration Guide at the link below:

http://www.compgeeks.com/cgi-bin/driver_disp.asp [Link expired as of 2001]

You have to scroll pretty far down the "Drivers" page until you get to the "Documents/Utilities" section. There you will see "Installation and Setup Instructions for the AIWA TD-8000 Tape Backup Drive (1/1 Adobe PDF Format)". The download link is labeled "ns20.pdf". This is the configuration guide for the NS20, but it also applies to the NS8 drive.

My first NS20 is working great so far. I got a second one installed in an external enclosure today. If you use a 5.25" enclosure for it, you get extra cooling if you want it--there's a fan mounted on the drive bracket, and of course there is a fan in the enclosure as well. However, it also seems to perform just fine in a smaller case for 3.5" drives.
Kathryn Jenkins

p.s. Thanks for posting that link to the Egghead auctions! I'd been dying to get a replacement for the ancient DAT I was using at work, and this was a deal my bosses couldn't refuse. "

$1499 Yikes G4/400: Corey Mouer wrote he bought a new Yikes G4/400 for $1499 from Outpost.com, down from $1599 last week he said. The Yikes doesn't have the AGP/Rage128 Pro, internal FireWire, Airport support, etc. of the Sawtooth, but it is reported to be more compatible with some PCI cards. And a G4/350 model costs $1599 now. Some SCSI cards need a firmware update for the Sawtooth (AGP slot) G4 as noted here previously (i.e. All Initio models).

The new Rage128 Pro AGP graphics card in the latest G4 models has a faster clock speed and promises up to 50% 3D performance improvement, as well as digital LCD display port. The Yikes has a standard ZIF socket so currently your upgrade options are more assured. There will be a wide selection of G4 ZIF upgrades and although I hear there are plans, there's no formally announced Sawtooth CPU upgrades yet, partly due to lack of demand (not many owners of a new G4 would pay $700 or so for a 50MHz faster G4). When faster G4s are available this may change.

See the FAQ's Apple G4 section for more info on the differences in the two systems and I posted a Yikes vs Sawtooth Pros/Cons in the Dec 4th, 1999 news page.

PPC Checker Updated: Michiro Isobe recently sent an update to PPC Checker (v1.3) that now supports G4 CPUs up to stepping 2.7. PPC Checker will report if your CPU is copper or aluminum. See the PPC Checker page for more details.

Y2K Software Updates: Insider Software has a special until Dec. 31, 1999 on their Update Agent:

"December 13, 1999 [Carlsbad, California] Insider Software today announced a promotion running through December 31 during which users can subscribe to the Insider UpdateAgent Internet service, making their Macintosh systems Y2K-ready and keeping them up-to-date all the way through the year 2000 for only $29.95 US.

Within seconds of signing up, users can download all application updaters needed to bring the software on their Macintosh system up-to-date, including all Y2K bug fixes. Then, for the remainder of the year, they can update their system as often as they wish with new bug fixes, updaters and drivers as they become available."

For more information visit http://www.insidersoftware.com/.

For a blast from the past see what was on the front page news here one year ago.

Friday's News Summary

• Newer Tech G4/400 ZIF Review
• Updated Adobe PS 5.5. Altivec extensions performance
• Powerlogix updates PF G4 page with Altivec PS 5.5 tests
• Ram timing reported by ASP on Sawtooth, new iMacs
• XLR8 G4/350 2MB Cache Prototype arrives
• Photoshop Altivec Plugins Updated
• More TurboMax/OS 9 Reports
• Another Yikes G4/400 Overclocking Failure
• Support Info for AIWA Tape Drives
• CVGS on iBook Report
• USB Switch Box
• iMovie on Beige G3 w/o Firewire
• FWB HDT/OS 9 Reminder
• Lucasart's POD Racer Raves
• Quake III (retail) Review
• More on ORB disk price increases
• Other Net News

Thursday's News Summary

• Proformance 3 GA 5.7 (non-Beta) OpenGL Drivers released
• Creamware releases Pulsar Audio card Mac Beta Drivers
• G4 CPU Named "Component of the Year"
• Higher ORB Drive/Disk Prices
• Airport wireless networking/cable modem problem report
• Mac IE Security Issue
• iMovie on PB G3
• TurboMax Price Increase?
• IE 4.5 Browser Tip Feedback (much faster)
• Another Overclocking Failure Report
• Motherboard Jumper Block Kits
• Voodoo3 ROM Tweaker
• Korg 1212 Driver v1.3.1 Update
• iMate USB/ADB Adapter Update
• Alternative Modem Scripts
• Other Net News

Wednesday's News Summary

• More on PresoCard PCMCIA TV Out (compatibility)
• Apple posts Mac Games page
• Game News page has a note on Thrustmaster USB steering wheels at Sam's Club for under $70.
• Focus i.TView for iMac DV w/Free PCMCIA TV Card Offer
• Speculative Processing Disabled on Sawtooth G4s?
• New Sawtooths have G4 CPU Stepping 2.7
• Overclocking Warning (reader Yikes failure report)
• AIWA USB Tape Drive
• Sam's Club iMacs - A Good Deal? (why it isn't)
• CPU Review, Game Review and Game/Video Card Framerates databases were updated including new entries from Rage128 Pro and Voodoo3 beta 10 drivers.
• ATI Rage128 Pro Press Release/DVD/RAM Notes
• L2 Cache Slot G3 Upgrades Feedback
• More on Mac Browser Speedup Tips
• Mac QuakeIII Retail Soon? (linux version available)
• IBM ViaVoice for Mac

Tuesday's News Summary

• L2 Cache Slot G3 Upgrade owner feedback w/video cards
• Mac Audio Gear Buyer's Guide
• More OS9/B&W G3 Rev 1 Feedback
• Reminder on 8X G3 CPU Speed Limits in older Macs
• ATI Driver Tip for 9500/9600 Owners
• B&W G3 Rev 1 Maxtor HD Sleep Problem Tip
• More on ATI 4.2 Drivers/Audio Issues
• Mac Browser Speedup Tips for IE and Netscape
• IDE Raid Feedback page updated with tips/comments from Softraid
• Reminder: Initio Cards and Sawtooth G4
• More Apple DVD 2.0 Player Comments
• Airport/Lucent Wavelan Tip
• Voodoo2/PowerCenter Pro Tip
• Reminder on 3dfx's Voodoo2 b4/Voodoo3 b10 drivers
• Other Net News

For links to older news pages see the Archives page.

The recent features page has a lists reviews/articles you may have missed.

For a guide to finding answers to questions - see my Site Guide page.

Considering a CPU Upgrade? Check the CPU Upgrade Owner's Survey results and search for owner reports by Mac model and/or card brand. Readers post new entries daily and the database is updated several times a week. I urge any owners that have had problems to report this via the Survey Form. Always give the most weight to recent owner reports (dated in the listing) as in many cases problems are later found to be due to settings errors, slow L2 cache, etc.

-Freq Asked Questions