On Aug 14, 2005, at 1:19 PM, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
I have the opportunity to acquire both a PowerTower Pro and/or a 9600
with
the intent to upgrade with G3/400 or better; added RAM; improved
video card;
added HD's - all of which I have on hand - just needing the right box.
Appreciate comments as to pros and cons of each.
Power Tower Pro - nice machine for what is basically an ATX case with
an
8-slot (RAM) 1.0 GB max 9500-typw motherboard stuffed in it.
The primary physical differences are the Power Tower Pro has only the 8
RAM slots and was designed in ATX format(extended ATX specifically).
The former is not a serious hindrance in most situations (even running
OS X); the latter is nice if you want to try a case change, as you can
use a number of nice PC/ATX cases without modifications. If the power
supply gets fried it is easier to replace as most standard ATX ones
will work(take the original with you to a store you trust if you're not
certain what you need to get). The PTP has removable L2 cache, but the
L2 on the 9500/9600 can also be physically disabled by clipping a
resistor if it is necessary to go that far. The Mach 5 9600 motherboard
has no L2 cache, it's on the CPU card(more on that version of the 9600
further down).
I have two, and they are reliable machines.
9600 - arguably the very best case Apple ever made.
If a 250 or faster, then the ROM update to allow speculative processing
is already in the ROM, so any G3 or G4 card should work; if a 233 or
slower, then the ROM will be the older ROM, and your selection of cards
will be more limited.
I've never known the ROM to affect what cards I can use. I've stuffed
all sorts into the PTP, which actually has the older ROM versions, but
never really had any compatibility problems that were related to the
ROMs or system itself. I haven't played around with my 9600 as much,
but the same has applied thus far for it.
The speculative processing fix is a plus for the Mach 5 systems as it
adds 10%-15% or so performance; the downside is they have a slightly
lower memory and PCI performance, which is about 10%-15% performance
drop, thus negating what gains are made from speculative processing.
Someone looked over the circuitry a while back as I recall, and figured
Apple 'borrowed' a few lines from memory/PCI to interface with the
on-card cache these systems originally shipped with.
If you're running OS X, it's win-win for speculative processing
regardless of the system; OS X seems to handle it right, and things run
quite stable with it turned on.
Case-wise, the PTP is likely better-cooled(I've never done real test
before) and does have more room for internal drive expansion. The 9600
case looks nicer and is a little simpler to access. For my personal
preference, it's a draw. I own and have used both quite happily. There
is also a considerable amount of experience and help available for
either one.
- Alan
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