Sonnet, which seems to have a G3 or G4 upgrade card for almost every Mac out there, has come out with two more upgrades for the previously non-upgradeable 7200 series of Power Macs. These upgrades fit into one of the PCI slots of your machine and contain 3 memory slots into which you will install memory you previously had installed in the slots on the machine's motherboard (if any). The reason for this is that the upgrade card provides a 66MHz bus between the memory on the card and the processor (the bus on the 7200s run from only 37 - 45MHz, depending on Machine) thus allowing for greater processor speeds. Sonnet calls this piece of technology "Fortissimo". You, however, have to have one DIMM in a motherboard slot to handle the boot process. Both the RAM slots on the upgrade card and the ones on the motherboard can be used, thus allowing you to expand the total amount of memory your machine can carry. All around a pretty clever idea for upgrading and giving new life to the popular 7200 machines - at a price!

Below we explore what performance gain you will see with these cards installed in the machines they are made for. We also take a comparative look at the price/performance equation of each card.

New Prices and the Machines The Cards Are Intended For

Note: This upgrade is due sometime between now and the end of the year - Sonnet was not more specific.

Previous Sonnet Prices

What kind of performance gain are you getting for the money you'll be shelling out for the various cards?......

Scores marked in Red indicate this information was provided by Sonnet. Scores Marked in Blue indicate that this information was independently verified by MacSpeedZone.

** Note that MacBench does not take advantage of the Velocity Engine (AltiVec instructions) of the G4. For AltiVec accelerated applications you can see a 2 to 4 times performance improvement over the G3, depending on the application and the functions you are trying to perform.

And how much do you pay per performance point (price divided by performance score) ....

Previous Sonnet Price/Performance Numbers

For Great Prices On Upgrades Check The Vendors Below
Processor Upgrades	Graphics Cards	Hard Drives & Optical Drives
PowerMax	PowerMax	4AllMemory	PowerMax
Small Dog	Small Dog	Small Dog
SCSI, Firewire USB Cards	RAM	Closeout, Used & Refurbished Macs
MacConnection	4AllMemory	AppleSmall Dog
Get your store listed!		PowerMax (refurb)	PowerMax (used)

Press Release

SONNET EXPANDS OFFERINGS IN NEW POWER MAC 7200 UPGRADE SERIESIRVINE, CALIFORNIA Ø October 30, 2000. Sonnet Technologies, the worldwidemarket share leader in processor upgrade cards for Apple Macintosh€computers, announces two additional  configurations to itsrecently-announced Crescendo line for the Power Mac 7200. The new  CrescendoG3 400MHz offers 512K backside cache with a 3:1 cache ratio. The newCrescendo G4 400 MHz offers 1M backside cache with a 2:1 cache ratio. Now7200 owners will have a choice among three speeds instead of one.Once considered impossible to upgrade, the best-selling Power Mac 7200 has anew future due to the unprecedented achievement of Sonnet's engineeringteam. The first product in this new line of  Crescendo upgrades was theCrescendo G3 400 MHz/1M model announced in September. The new series ofPower Mac 7200 upgrades will boost performance up to thirteen times that ofthe original system.Determining where the 7200 upgrade would be installed was one of the greatchallenges to this product line. Since the original PowerPC 601 processor inthe 7200 is soldered onto the logic board, there is no available processorslot. The cache slot in this system does not carry the necessary signals, sothis was not an option either. As a result, the 7200 upgrade card isinstalled into an available PCI slot. With the new G3 or G4 processorworking on the PCI bus, truly top-tier performance is attained by addinglocal RAM to the same bus. To achieve this, Sonnet has provided 3 DIMMsockets to the card, where at least 50% of the total available memory mustbe located. While one small DIMM must remain on the motherboard to handleinitial start-up duties, the remaining memory can be moved to the Crescendocard to minimize the need for incremental RAM purchases. In addition, thecombined memory from both the motherboard and the card are fully utilized toallow greater total RAM capacity than previously possible, so users can optfor additional or larger DIMMs as desired.The next hurdle to overcome was to surpass the maximum performance availableon the 7200¹s  motherboard, which runs at bus speeds starting at 37.5 MHz.Sonnet felt it imperative that users be able to upgrade to truly modernperformance levels, and this too has been achieved. Using design elementsfrom Sonnet¹s recently announced Fortissimo€ technology, Sonnet created anindependent bus to run on the new processor card. This bus runs at a speedof 66 MHz, which allows the Crescendo 7200 to take full advantage of 400 MHzprocessors and beyond.èWe are very pleased to provide options for users who thought that theirsystems were impossible to upgrade,î says Robert Farnsworth, Sonnet¹spresident and CEO. èWith these new speed options, 7200 owners can choose theconfiguration to best suit their budget and computing needs.îPricing and AvailabilityThe Crescendo G3 and G4 7200 upgrades will be available in November, 2000:Crescendo G3/7200 400/1M                $499.95Crescendo G3/7200 400/512K              $399.95Crescendo G4/7200 400/1M                $599.95Sonnet¹s Crescendo 7200 G3 and G4 upgrade cards are compatible with thefollowing Macintosh models:- Power Mac 7200, 7215- Workgroup Server 7250- Power Mac 8200        Mac OS 9 Velocity Engine and Adobe Photoshop AltiVec Compatibility Sonnet G4 Enabler fully supports the Apple Velocity Engine€ librariesincluded in Mac€ OS 9. Other AltiVec-enabled software titles include AdobePhotoshop 5.5 AltiVec Plug-ins and After Effects; Apple Computer Final CutPro 1.2; Astarte Software AG Mpack 3.5.1; Casady & Greene Sound JAM;Connectix Corporation Virtual PC; Deneba Canvas 7; Macromedia Flash,Dreamweaver, and Director; MetaCreations Kai¹s Power Tools and Bryce;QDesign Qdesign; Sonic Solutions Sonic DVD Fusion, Sonic DVD Transcoder,Sonic DVD Creator; as well as many other AltiVec-enabled softwareapplications. Scientific and audio/video authoring applications will benefitsignificantly from a Sonnet G4 upgrade.Simply Fast€Sonnet products are guaranteed to operate reliably over variations ofmachine, time and temperature.   The Sonnet Presto, Crescendo, Encore,Tempo, and Tango cards work in every compatible Macintosh without the needfor the antiquated methods of configuration. The ability to move an upgradecard from one machine to another without the need to tweak any jumpers orcontrol panels is a significant advantage to resellers and organizationsthat want to maximize their flexibility, while minimizing the long term
technical support requirements. Sonnet cards have unequaled ease-ofinstallation and reliability, and are Simply Fast€. About Sonnet Technologies, Inc.Sonnet Technologies, Inc., headquartered in Irvine, California, is theworldwide market share leader in processor upgrade cards and enhancementproducts for Apple Macintosh€ computers. Founded in 1986, Sonnet upgradesmore Macintosh models with processor upgrade cards than any other company.Sonnet products are easy to install, are backed by a three-year warranty,include free technical support, and require no jumpers, or control panels.To locate an authorized reseller or purchase product, visit the SonnetTechnologies web site at <http://www.sonnettech.com>, or call the company at1-800-786-6260 (USA and Canada) or 1-949-587-3500.