ZIP Optional On Rev.B Power Mac G4's

from The Apple Store allowing the mid-level G4 to come in at $2299 because, as noted yesterday, the modem is also now optional. [Mike Wallace]

-- TGIF, Dec. 3, 1999 --

First Look--PowerLogix Z-Force In A PowerBase: PowerLogix's Z-Force ZIF CPU card is the $149 (list) competitor to XLR8's more expensive (list) CarrierZIF. The Z-Force card fits into the CPU daughtercard slot of PCI Power Macs and clones and converts them to accept the modern and cheaper G3 and G4 ZIF-socketed CPU cards. PowerLogix makes its G3 and G4 CPU upgrade cards to be compatible with the PowerComputing PowerBase, one of best selling PCI Mac or clones in its time. No other CPU upgrade manufacturer does that. The initial CarrierZIF was compatible with the PowerBase but a subsequent revision made it incompatible. The Z-Force has a switch which allows it to use special circuitry needed by the PowerBase on each and every card. Other manufacturers make a special CPU card for the PowerBase that is usually more expensive.

I installed an Apple 350 MHz G3 ZIF CPU card and set the Z-Force to run the system bus at 50 MHz (originally 40 MHz), the CPU to run at 400 MHz and the backside cache to run at 200 MHz, the same speed as I have been running PowerLogix's G4 CPU upgrade card (see First Look 11/22). The flexibility to optimize the CPU/cache/bus speeds for the highest possible performance has always been a key feature of PowerLogix's products. Here are the MacBench 5.0 and BYTEmark scores:

PowerBase CPU Upgrade Performance Comparisons*

Test	Z-Force w/G3	PowerLogix G4
400/200/50	400/200/50
MacBench 5 CPU	1239	1211
MacBench 5 FPU	1312	1477
MacBench 5 Disk	1000	1093
MacBench 5 Graphics	1400	n/a
BYTEmark CPU	12.3	12.2
BYTEmark FPU	8.5	10.0

As expected, the G4 does significantly better on the FPU tests as but otherwise the G4 and G3 in the Z-Force are very comparable. The Z-Force lists for $149 and the test Apple 350 MHz G3 ZIF CPU is sold by Other World Computing (as a Mercury) for just $195. That's a real bargain for 400 MHz capability in a PowerBase.