You are right as to its function. It allows G3/G4 ZIF cards to be used in the plug in CPU daughter card slot of a PCI Mac. The speed increase is fantastic, but limited by the 40-50 MHZ bus speed of the PCI Macs. A comparable CPU is faster in a G3/G4 Mac vs the PCI Mac by the difference in bus speeds, but usually not as much faster as would be assumed due to drive slowdowns, etc.
Stability is the same in all of my upgraded PCI Macs whether G3/G4 or OEM 60X PPC. The major drawback has been that the max bus multiplier available for the XLR8 ZIF Carrier in PPC machines has been 10x for G3s (max G3/500 CPU) and 9x for G4. (max G4/450 CPU) That speed barrier has been broken lately with G4/800 MHZ CPUs (18x CPU) being supported in the newest Sonnett upgrades. Hopefully, the ZIF Carriers will upgrade to the same levels. (G3/1 Gig @ 20x CPU speed and G4/800 @ 18x CPU Speed. A dual processor 8600/G4/800 MHZ!!! Oh yes!) The PCI Macs have long been touted as the most expandable Macs for this very reason. Add USB, Firewire, ATA and video card support, 1 Gig RAM support, etc and use the 7500/7600 desktop case or the 8600/9600 tower case with their easy to access parts and you've got a fantastic machine. David Allen [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > Hey PCI'ers, > > What excatly does a XLR8 ZIF carrier do? By reading e-mails mentioning it now > and again, it sounds like it allows a ZIF G3 card to be used in a PCI > machine, but I am not sure. > > I would also like to know how it performs in comparison to other G3 upgrades > for PCI machines as far as stability and speed, and when compared to the > original 604 PPC cards as far as stability. I figure it must be SOME kinda > tradeoff, since it seems like an ideal way to upgrade again & again PCI Macs > when compared to more expensive G3/G4 cards... > > Any info would be appreciated, > > Cwestions-a-plenty Craig W. -- PCI-PowerMacs is sponsored by <http://lowendmac.com/> and... Small Dog Electronics http://www.smalldog.com | Refurbished Drives | -- Sonnet & PowerLogix Upgrades - start at $169 | & CDRWs on Sale! | Support Low End Mac <http://lowendmac.com/lists/support.html> PCI-PowerMacs list info: <http://lowendmac.com/lists/pci-powermacs.shtml> --> AOL users, remove "mailto:"; Send list messages to: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To unsubscribe, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> For digest mode, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subscription questions: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Archive:<http://www.mail-archive.com/pci-powermacs%40mail.maclaunch.com/> Using a Mac? Free email & more at Applelinks! http://www.applelinks.com
