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XLR8 intros multiprocessor upgrade cards

updated 11:01 am EST, Wed January 10, 2001


XLR8 today announced its MACh Velocity G4 MPe, a multiprocessing upgrade card that is expected to ship next month in dual 350-MHz, 400-MHz ($1050), 450-MHz ($1150) and 500 MHz ($1550) configurations. The upgrade will use the current range of MACh Speed G4 MPe ZIFs and the MACh Velocity adapter populated with either one or two ZIF processor cards. XLR8 customers can purchase the adapter with the second ZIF and the company claims that systems will work with "unbalanced" upgrades (i.e., ZIFs with different processor speeds). The release notes caveats for owners of competing ZIF upgrades:

Third party manufacturers of ZIFs, including Apple, do not connect all command lines on the ZIF, and therefore, the use of another manufacturer's non-MPe ZIF will restrict the performance of the XLR8 MACh Velocity G4 MPe to the MEI cache memory states and therefore, the overall performance.


by MacNN Staff

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  1. 0

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    01/10, 06:34pm | report spam | Reply | delete

    $1500 for an upgrade?

    What's up with the price? I'd rather just plunk down a little extra and get a new powermac with the UMA-2 motherboard. 133MHz bus, 4xAGP, write combining, and extra PCI slots make the new powermacs a no-brainer upgrade . Sorry XLR8, I'm not that stupid or rich.

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    01/11, 09:40am | report spam | Reply | delete

    not UMA-2

    I don't think that the new Macs are UMA-2 - they don't have DDR-SDRAM or a new northbrige (or any significant new chips). The RAM and FSB are clocked at 133 MHz because that's all the G4e chip supports.

  1. 0

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    01/11, 10:16am | report spam | Reply | delete

    Yes, UMA-2

    Yes, the new Macs are UMA-2, although there's forum debate whether that is a proper term.
    Northbridge and Southbridge are said to have been combined into new micro-module (called something like Pangea). Wait till some reviews come in of actual performance of new mo-boards: they may be screamers!

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    01/11, 10:26am | report spam | Reply | delete

    not too bad

    The price isn't that bad if you have already upgraded to an XLR8 G4 processor, or if you don't want to spend a lot of money, then buy a single G4 from them now, and purchase the dual card later on with one cpu. I think its still better than purchasing a new machine, since it will outperform the lowest two or three models Apple sells. BTW, write combining, otherwise known as store gathering, is something the G4 does, not the system. The only reason I see to upgrade to a new machine is if I wanted to blow a lot of money and get the DVD writer and a machine that would play Quake 3 at 90fps instead of 60fps(rough estimate of AGP benefit??). Is that really worth it?

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    01/11, 11:01am | report spam | Reply | delete

    not too bad

    The price isn't that bad if you have already upgraded to an XLR8 G4 processor, or if you don't want to spend a lot of money, then buy a single G4 from them now, and purchase the dual card later on with one cpu. I think its still better than purchasing a new machine, since it will outperform the lowest two or three models Apple sells. BTW, write combining, otherwise known as store gathering, is something the G4 does, not the system. The only reason I see to upgrade to a new machine is if I wanted to blow a lot of money and get the DVD writer and a machine that would play Quake 3 at 90fps instead of 60fps(rough estimate of AGP benefit??). Is that really worth it?

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    01/11, 12:27pm | report spam | Reply | delete

    'bout fps

    The new macs are UMA-2, that's the official term used by Apple to describe the new Mo-bos. I don't think there is Write-combining, but the pci bus'throughput is boosted by 115%. Having now an 4x AGP you probably can get more than 100 fps with the 733 G4 (no bench though).

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    01/11, 12:57pm | report spam | Reply | delete

    bout time

    Nice one XLR8, let's see $1,000 for a Dual 400 in my lovely B&W, thats a sight better than $3.5k for a shiny new one.

    way to go!

  1. 0

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    01/11, 01:04pm | report spam | Reply | delete

    Thank You!

    As an avid Photoshop user, I suspected I would be left out of the MP race until I'd fully depreciated my Blue&White in 12 months time. Now it looks like I can pay less than half the cost of a new machine, and be up and running in five minutes with a 500MP in there. And what's more I can just afford the $1449 they're asking.
    It's a great concept and not before time, where can I get one?

  1. 0

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    01/11, 01:04pm | report spam | Reply | delete

    bout time

    Nice one XLR8, let's see $1,000 for a Dual 400 in my lovely B&W, thats a sight better than $3.5k for a shiny new one.

    way to go!

  1. 0

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    01/11, 01:14pm | report spam | Reply | delete

    Sonnet

    Sonnet also introduced a dual 500 MHz card:

    http://www.sonnettech.com/news/press/pr2001/pr010901_duet.html

    However, theirs cost only $999. Big difference.

    ~EMan

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