Performance testing the Sonnet Crescendo/PCI G3/500MHz-512k Cache PCI upgrade with comparisons to other upgrades in that price range.

When Sonnet announced their new Crescendo/PCI G3/500 with 512K 3:1 cache, it immediately caused discussion among our group here about how it would compare against Sonnet's own Crescendo/PCI G3/450MHz with 1MB 2:1 cache, as well as the PowerLogix G3/400MHz with 1MB. 500MHz is faster, but was that going to offset the smaller and slower cache on the card? I can say the results I've found in testing support the expectations we had.

The full list of systems that can take advantage of the Sonnet Crescendo/PCI G3 upgrades:

•   Power Macintosh
  • 7300, 7500, 7600, 8500, 8515, 8600, 9500, 9500/180MP, 9515, 9600, 9600/200MP
  • Workgroup Server 7350, 8550, 9650
• Daystar
  • Genesis and Millennium Series
• Mactell
  • XB-Pro
• Power Computing
  • PowerCenter, PowerCenter Pro, PowerCurve, PowerTower, PowerTower Pro, PowerWave
• UMAX
  • J700, S900

If you own a Power Computing PowerBase system, you can use the PowerLogix PowerForce G3/400 included in this round of testing with that system - but not the Sonnet processor upgrades tested, Sonnet offers their Crescendo/L2 line of processors to work with those systems.

For more information on the Sonnet Crescendo/PCI upgrades tested here, check out the Data Sheet (PDF, 170k, Adobe Acrobat required to view).

Other products tested in this article:
PowerLogix PowerForce G3/400-1M	Sonnet Crescendo/PCI G3/450-1M	ACARD AHARD 66 PCI ATA/66 Controller Card	ATI RADEON 7000 PCI Video Card
Click for more info	Click for more info	Click for more info	Click for more info

Other products we have available that are the "next step up" to a G4 processor are listed here. If you are planning on moving on to using Mac OS X, we highly recommend any G4 processor - it really makes a difference with that OS.

• XLR8 MachCarrier G4/400MHz 1MB L2 Cache@200MHz Processor w/AltiVec $175.99
• PowerLogix PowerForce G4/450MHz 1024k 2:1 Backside Cache $229.95
• Sonnet Crescendo/PCI G4/450 MHz w/1024k Backside Cache 2:1 $249.00

We have reviewed a large number of different processor upgrades for PCI based systems over the past few months, check out this review to see what kind of performance you can get out of your old system just from upgrading from the original 604 processor! And if you're really looking to get the most out of your PCI based Mac, definitely check out this review of the Sonnet Crescendo G4/800 processor card!

System Specifications for all tests:

• Power Macintosh 7300/200 desktop
• 12x Apple Original CD-ROM, SCSI
• 2 128MB 168 Pin DIMMS, installed in slot "A1" and "A2" - Non interleaved
• ATI RADEON 7000 PCI Video Upgrade - I consider this to be the very FIRST item you should upgrade to when using Mac OS X 10.2.
• 17" Monitor running 1024x768 resolution, millions of colors (except for SpeedRun test, it forces Thousands of Colors)
• ACARD AHARD 66 PCI ATA/66 Controller Card
• Western Digital Caviar 40GB 7200RPM ATA Hard Drive (3 partitions, Mac OS X 10.2, Mac OS 9.1, Scratch)

System Software:

• Mac OS X 10.2.1 "Jaguar" installed using Ryan Rempel's freeware XPostFacto 2.2.1.
• Mac OS 9.2.2 - Mac OS 9.2.2 installation modification courtesy of OS 9 Helper from OS9Forever.com.

Backside Cache Control:

• Sonnet's included cache control software for the Sonnet Crescendo/PCI cards.
• Ryan Rempel's L2CacheConfig 3.3 for the PowerLogix G3/400MHz card.

Performance Testing Scores - Click to continue