Hands-On Review: XLR8 CarrierZIF™ (Rev.1) In A PowerBase

By Bill Fox
July 6, 1999 (Updated Oct. 7, 1999)

XLR8, Inc. Price: $189 list

Pros: Rev. 1 worked perfectly in a PowerBase and a 9600 with complete stability, system bus speed can be optimized to increase CPU speed, cheaper to upgrade than a new daughtercard, excellent manual and software, assured to work with all XLR8 Carrier G3 and Apple Beige G3 ZIF CPU cards. (Addendum: OWC Mercury 350 G3 CPU ZIF works great.)

Cons: None evident with Rev. 1. Current XLR8 revision doesn't work with a PowerBase. However, a PowerBase compatible version is available from Star-Teck (770-564-5685).

Rating: Rev. 1 -- Outstanding, 5 out of 5 Exclamation Points: ! ! ! ! !

Brought to you by Macs Only! Copyright 1999 by Bill Fox

Bottom line! Great news, the venerable PowerComputing PowerBase lives on thanks to XLR8 by Interex.

[Update: October 7, 1999 -- XLR8's Gary Dailey informed me that XLR8 has revised their original CarrierZIF card to deal with some compatibility issues in certain PowerComputing PowerTower models. The revision in turn made the CarrierZIF incompatible with the PowerBase. However, all is not lost according to Gary, "Star-Teck can sell a card to these users that will work (770-564-5685)."]

Macs Only! was recently sent an XLR8 CarrierZIF™ (Rev.1) for evaluation. Also included was a 366 MHz XLR8 MACh Carrier G3™ CPU. The CarrierZIF is a card that fits into the CPU daughtercard slot in most PCI PowerMacs, i.e. those PowerMacs (7500-9600) and clones produced after the NuBus PowerMacs (6100-8100's) and before the beige G3 PowerMacs. The CarrierZIF converts the older daughtercard CPU slot to a current zero insertion force (ZIF) CPU slot used by beige and Blue & White PowerMac G3s and some UMAX clones allowing the faster, cheaper and more prevalent ZIF CPUs to be used in the older PowerMacs and clones. PowerLogix was the first to announce this technology at $149 but XLR8 by Interex beat PowerLogix to market at $189. The CarrierZIF and XLR8 MACh Carrier G3 CPUs are available from a number of online mail order stores.

Of course, first I wanted to see if it worked in my PowerComputing PowerBase. The PowerBase was one of the most popular Mac clones and one of the most inexpensive. Unfortunately, because of the Alchemy motherboard few G3 CPU cards run in a PowerBase. PowerLogix was the first to make G3 CPU upgrade cards that ran in the PowerBase and Macs Only! was the first to provide a confirming review. The 250 MHz G3 clocked to 292 MHz blew me away with MacBench 4.0 scores over 1,000. The PowerBase was so fast with the G3 that I skipped getting a Beige G3. A few other manufacturers made cards specially for the PowerBase but charged a premium. The special PowerBase G3 cards are hard to find and even PowerLogix began making two models, one of which was only for the PowerBase. I feared the PowerBase's days were numbered. But not so! I pressed the CarrierZIF with MACh Carrier G3 CPU into the PowerBase's daughtercard slot and hit the power key. Chime! It started right up and ran like a top. The PowerBase LIVES--read on. I also tried the CarrierZIF in my PowerMac 9600.

What You Get

My XLR8 CarrierZIF evaluation unit came with a 366 MHz MACh Carrier G3, software on a CD, a manual, an antistatic wrist strap, a bag of trail mix and a Maglite in a Y3K Survival Kit polyethylene case. I am sure that the retail version comes at least with a manual and wrist strap.

The assembled CarrierZIF with MACh Carrier G3 CPU is shown at right. Three quarters of the card is covered by a large black plate (slightly askew, sorry) that serves as the heatsink. I think the large plate, held on by a stainless steel clip, is a great idea as it minimizes clearance problems occasionally encountered with other much thicker finned-aluminum heatsinks. The card is short but with a black metal strip along the top that is held on by two bolts to fit deeper computer cases. The top plate may be removed for clearance in low profile computer cases, like the PowerBase. This gave me the idea that the CarrierZIF might run in a PowerBase. Near the right upper edge of the green card is a red switch bank. The white switches are used to set the system bus speed which may be set from 40 to 60 MHz. The MACh Carrier G3 CPU has jumpers to set the ratio of the CPU speed to the system bus from 4.5 to 8 (maybe 10 in future G3s) so the theoretical range in CPU speed depending on the bus setting is from 180 MHz (4.5 x 40) to 480 MHz (8 x 60).

Shown at left is the CarrierZIF/G3 disassembled: the heatsink plate (top left), the MACh Carrier G3 CPU card (top right), the extender plate (middle) and the CarrierZIF (bottom). The gold lower edge of the CarrierZIF fits into the computer's daughtercard slot on the motherboard. The large white ZIF slot on the CarrierZIF is where a G3 ZIF CPU card is attached. The red switchbox is more easily seen. And, yes, I know I need a better camera than an Apple QuickTake 200--I should have listened to good advice to skip it.

The CD enclosed with the evaluation kit includes XLR8's new MACh Speed G3 Control Utility v1.3.2, a couple of useful utilities, PowerControl and PowerFrax, and several other utilities: Acrobat Reader, QuickTime, DiskCopy, etc. I assume the CD comes with the MACh Carrier G3 CPU card and not the CarrierZIF card alone.

The enclosed manual is a 90-page book covers both the CarrierZIF and MACh Carrier G3. The manual covers software installation, G3 ZIF CPU preparation and installation, CarrierZIF installation, speed optimization using the switches on the CarrierZF and the jumpers (if present) on the G3 ZIF CPU, backside cache optimization using the software, troubleshooting and technical support. XLR8 offers a two-year limited warranty printed in the manual. The manual is comprehensive, well-written and easily understood. I am sure, however, that it will appear a bit daunting to the complete novice. XLR8 thought of this too, so there is a Quick Start chapter in the beginning that covers the basics but skips all the optimization features. The manual is excellent.

Installation

First I removed the top plate extender as shown at right so the CarrierZIF would fit into the PowerBase. The system bus speed was set at 46 MHz when I opened the evaluation unit, so I set the CarrierZIF switches for 45 MHz since the PowerBase only has a 40 MHz system bus. I had learned from other G3 card installations that 45 MHz is the fastest that I could push the system bus with a G3 card and retain complete stability. Later, I tried 46 MHz and, as expected, it was a bit unstable. Then, all I had to do was to install the software by clicking on the installer, shut down, open the computer's case, remove the existing daughtercard and L2 cache in the PowerBase, press the CarrierZIF with the MACh Carrier G3 CPU attached into the daughtercard slot, close the case and startup. No problems were encountered. In this configuration, i.e. 45 MHz system bus, the 366 MHz ZIF CPU ran only at 360 MHz since its CPU/bus ratio is maximum at 8 to 1. The backside cache is standard at 2 to 1 so it ran at 180 MHz.

I also ran the rig in my 9600. So I put the settings back to the factory level of 46 MHz for the system bus which allowed the CPU to run at 368 MHz. Again, no problems were encountered.

Since this review is on the CarrierZIF, I spent no time trying to see how fast I could run the MACh Carrier G3 CPU with its various settings. I will post a note specifically on the MACh G3 CPU later.

Note that XLR8 states in the manual that while many G3 ZIF CPUs will run on the CarrierZIF, XLR8 only assures XLR8 and original Apple G3 ZIF CPUs will do so.

Use

The test computers are:

PowerComputing PowerBase 180, desktop model circa 12/96

• 180 MHz 603e CPU
• 512K L2 cache
• System bus 40 MHz
• 56 MB 5v EDO RAM
• MacPicasso 540 w/3D Overdrive 3Dfx Video
• Mac OS 8.5.1, Libmoto enabled, Virtual Memory off

Apple Power Macintosh 9600

• 250 MHz PowerLogix PowerForceG3 overclocked to 300 MHz
• 1 MB backside cache set to 200 MHz
• System bus 50 MHz
• 128 MB RAM
• ATi Xclaim Rage Pro VR w/MacMagic 3Dfx Voodoo1 Video
• Mac OS 8.6, Libmoto enabled, Virtual Memory off

For the PowerBase tests, the CarrierZIF/MACh Carrier G3 were set at 45 MHz for the system bus speed using the switches and an 8:1 CPU ratio yielding a 360 MHz G3 CPU speed with 180 MHz backside cache. Since MacBench 5.0 crashes my PowerBase for some unresolved reason, I used MacBench 4.0. I also tested the CPU with ByteMark (DR3). The Walker atrium spin tests QuickDraw 3D speed. Quake tests 3D rendering with software and the 3Dfx Voodoo chipset in games. Tomb Raider III tests Connectix Virtual Game Station. Launching a 120 MB graphics intensive file (Macs Only!'s CompUSA Watch) in CyberStudio 3.1.1 tests performance on something I do a lot that normally takes a while. Here are the results:

The PowerMac 9600 tests were run with the CarrierZIF/MACh Carrier G3 set at the factory defaults of 46 MHz for the system bus and an 8:1 CPU ratio giving 368 MHz for the CPU and 184 MHz for the backside cache. The tests were the same except MacBench 5.0 was used (MacBench 5.0 gives about 10% lower scores than 4.0 for the same machine), Quake RAVE was used instead of software rendering, the Unreal castle flyby was added and the CVGS test was dropped since it already runs fast and smoothly with the PowerLogix card.

The CarrierZIF performed as expected for the speed of the G3 CPU that it was carrying. In addition, the CarrierZIF was used for two week each in each computer for normal daily tasks and run 24 hours continuously with Newer Technology's RAM test. The CarrierZIF did not miss a beat in the tests nor during the 2-weeks use nor the RAM test. Not one crash or freeze was experienced.

Before concluding, I installed the 300 MHz G3 ZIF CPU from my Blue & White PowerMac G3 in the CarrierZIF. However, I couldn't get either the PowerBase or the 9600 to boot. The B&W has a system bus of 100 MHz and perhaps the CPU has a fixed ratio of 3:1--there were no jumpers on the CPU board. At that low ratio, the CarrierZIF would only run it at 120 to 180 MHz, below the CarrierZIF specs and too slow to be useful anyway. This should serve as a warning that not any G3 ZIF CPU will run in the CarrierZIF.

Conclusions

The CarrierZIF is a great idea and Rev.1 works perfectly in a PowerBase 180 and Apple Power Macintosh 9600. It breathes longer life into the venerable 1996-era PowerBase, especially one equipped with the latest video card. Most likely it is the last daughtercard that you will need to buy in the pursuit of the latest speed. G3 CPUs, probably as ZIF cards, are expected to reach a 10:1 ratio giving a PowerBase the possibility of reaching 450 MHz or more. For PowerMacs or clones that can be run at a system bus speed of 60 MHz, the 10:1 ratio offers the possibility of a terrific 600 MHz.

The CarrierZIF can be purchased alone or as a CarrierZIF/G3 bundle at speeds from 233 MHz to 400 MHz from major on line mail order firms. The bundle runs a little over $200 to $700, making it cost not much more than a daughtercard CPU but much more upgradable.

XLR8 has done a terrific job with the CarrierZIF, the MACh Carrier G3 ZIF CPU, the software and the manual. Macs Only! gives the Rev.1 CarrierZIF a perfect score!

[Update: October 7, 1999 -- XLR8's Gary Dailey informed me that XLR8 has revised their original CarrierZIF card to deal with some compatibility issues in certain PowerComputing PowerTower models. The revision in turn made the CarrierZIF incompatible with the PowerBase. However, all is not lost according to Gary, "Star-Teck can sell a card to these (PowerBase) users that will work (770-564-5685)."]

Addendum--The Jumperless OWC Mercury 350 G3 CPU ZIF In A PowerBase:

[Update: October 7, 1999 -- XLR8's Gary Dailey informed me that XLR8 has revised their original CarrierZIF card to deal with some compatibility issues in certain PowerComputing PowerTower models. The revision in turn made the CarrierZIF incompatible with the PowerBase. However, all is not lost according to Gary, "Star-Teck can sell a card to these users that will work (770-564-5685)."]

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