After my review of the Vimage G3 card a few months ago, I have had a steady stream of emails with questions on how this works, is there any ill effects, ect… When I found this FAQ page on the G3 upgrade card I reviewed, I asked Vimage if it would be okay to reprint this here in My Mac for all of you who have asked the questions. They agreed, so I am happy to share this information with you here.
54xx/55xx/64xx/65xx/TAM G3 upgrade FAQ
Q: Who developed the Level 2 cache slot upgrade path?
A: The Vimage Corporation’s engineers developed this upgrade path. It is entirely fair to say that if it weren’t for Vimage, countless users of “dead-end” machines would never have been able to upgrade. As long ago as last summer, people with “un-upgradeable” machines have been able to join the G3 party, thanks to Vimage. (At this writing, there is still no other company in the US to have accomplished a similar feat.)
Q:Why doesn’t Vimage offer a 300-MHz card for the machines mentioned in the title of this FAQ?
A: The cooling requirements of the x4xx/x5xx are such that a silicon-300 MHz CPU (without a fan) will run hotter than the machine can comfortably tolerate. This especially holds true for the Twentieth Anniversary Mac, whose internal design makes even a 240-MHz silicon chip inappropriate
By using too hot a CPU, you may upgrade your computer’s performance in the short term; but, as the weeks and months go by, you can expect to find your machine’s health in increasingly sharp decline.
Although somewhat more expensive, a copper CPU will run much cooler, and not cause long-term damage to your computer that may not be apparent over the first couple of weeks or months of use.
The market right now is such that copper CPU upgrade cards are somewhat over a thousand dollars. It is extremely likely that anyone who tries selling you a “much cheaper card that is made of copper” is either (better case) misinformed, or (worse case) being “economical” with the truth.
With technology, perhaps more than most other things, you really do get what you pay for.
Q: I’ve heard from another manufacturer of these upgrades that Vimage’s design is shoddy. Why do they say this?
A: Vimage constantly and carefully monitors all the venues where customers’ voices may be heard: print and electronically published reviews; user groups; and, of course, our own phone lines and e-mail. If a customer suffered a problem as the result of faulty construction, we would certainly have heard about it.
Nothing of the sort is true. Accusations of “shoddy design” are deliberately vague, precisely because there is no real evidence, only irresponsible, biased–and just plain untrue–speculation.
Q: How reliable is Vimage’s information on this topic?
A: Again, we invented this upgrade path. We know the technology better than anyone else on earth. We know what it can do, and what it can’t. This isn’t bragging; it’s just the facts.
We’re happy to make money, but we’re not going to do it by selling a product that may, down the pike, leave you and your computer in a very unhappy position.
When you want to know about upgrading your Power Mac/Performa through its L2 cache slot, there’s only one reliable source for information: the people who made it possible in the first place.
Thanks to Vimage for allowing us to reprint this FAQ page here. No, Vimage is not a My Mac sponsor (Though we hope they become one!) but I felt this was information which would be of service to our readers. Hope it helped!
Vimage is the company that brought G3 upgrades to the rest of the Mac families: the Power Mac 4400 series, StarMax 3000/4000, Performa 5400/6400 6500 and PowerBook 1400.
http://www.vimagestore.com
Tim Robertson
publisher@mymac.com
Websites mentioned:
http://www.vimagestore.com
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