Eric, I think you are under the misapprehension that those chips were like older G4 upgrades for PCI machines only having a chip capable of acceleration to 9x system bus. The new G4 chips (#7455) in the Sonnet G4800/PCI upgrade are capable of 16x.
Assuming a 50MHz system bus for our machines: 9 x 50 = 450MHz 16 x 50 = 800 MHz Some S900/J700s will not go much past 50MHz, while others are capable of close to 60MHz. While the Sonnet chips do not tend to be as overclockable or adjustable as the other upgrade makers cards, there is a Japanese thrill seeker who got his S900 to run one of these Sonnet G4800/PCI upgrades close to 1Ghz by running the system bus at 60 MHz <http://www.sevencolors.net/mocw/cpu/cpu02.htm>. He used extra cooling, and claims it was stable, but of course such overclocking runs the risk of doing damage to the CPU chip and Sonnet wouldn't warranty such thrill seeking. However, the point is that once the prices come down on these upgrades, then there is no reason that an S900/J700 owner couldn't squeeze a few more years worth out of their machines. Admittedly system bus, PCI, memory, and ATA controller speeds in newer machines mean that you are not going to get the exact same speed as a newer machine, but for a fraction of the cost of one of the newer machines you still get CPU speed that is not too shabby that should be able to handle the demands of most new OSs and applications. I just wish Powerlogix would manufacture a similar G4 upgrade for the PCI Macs, as they tend to make chips that are much more overclockable with greater range of setting possibilities, however in recent press releases they have stated that for PCI Macs they will only be making G3 upgrades at those higher speeds, as there is not much difference in real world speed increase between G3 and G4 CPUs for these machines, and they also say that there is some insurmountable problem about getting these speeds for G4 in PCI Macs. If Sonnet can do it then not quite sure why Powerlogix can't, but there you go. If in the next year or so the Sonnet upgrades come down $100 to $150, then one or both of my S900s is likely to get either the Sonnet G4 700 (bit cheaper than the 800) or the 800 MHz upgrade. Cheers, Pete. <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Date: Fri, 24 Jan 2003 11:35:52 -0500 > From: "Eric B. Haulenbeek" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > > The Sonnet G4/800 upgrade is fine as long as you understand that that S900 > can't run anything much faster than 450mH through it's small system bus... > your better off spending less money and staying in that 400 to 450 mH range, > which really 'aint too shabby! -- SuperMacs is sponsored by <http://lowendmac.com/> and... Small Dog Electronics http://www.smalldog.com | Refurbished Drives | Service & Replacement Parts [EMAIL PROTECTED] | & CDRWs on Sale! | Support Low End Mac <http://lowendmac.com/lists/support.html> SuperMacs list info: <http://lowendmac.com/supermacs/list.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/supermacs%40mail.maclaunch.com/> --------------------------------------------------------------- >The Think Different Store http://www.ThinkDifferentStore.com ---------------------------------------------------------------
