SONNET EXPANDS OFFERINGS IN NEW
POWER MAC 7200 UPGRADE SERIES
IRVINE, CALIFORNIA October 30, 2000. Sonnet Technologies, the worldwide
market share leader in processor upgrade cards for Apple Macintosh
computers, announces two additional configurations to its
recently-announced Crescendo line for the Power Mac 7200. The new Crescendo
G3 400MHz offers 512K backside cache with a 3:1 cache ratio. The new
Crescendo G4 400 MHz offers 1M backside cache with a 2:1 cache ratio. Now
7200 owners will have a choice among three speeds instead of one.
Once considered impossible to upgrade, the best-selling Power Mac 7200 has
a new future due to the unprecedented achievement of Sonnet’s engineering
team. The first product in this new line of Crescendo upgrades was the
Crescendo G3 400 MHz/1M model announced in September. The new series of
Power Mac 7200 upgrades will boost performance up to thirteen times that of
the original system.
Determining where the 7200 upgrade would be installed was one of the great
challenges to this product line. Since the original PowerPC 601 processor
in the 7200 is soldered onto the logic board, there is no available
processor slot. The cache slot in this system does not carry the necessary
signals, so this was not an option either. As a result, the 7200 upgrade
card is installed into an available PCI slot. With the new G3 or G4
processor working on the PCI bus, truly top-tier performance is attained by
adding local RAM to the same bus. To achieve this, Sonnet has provided 3
DIMM sockets to the card, where at least 50% of the total available memory
must be located. While one small DIMM must remain on the motherboard to
handle initial start-up duties, the remaining memory can be moved to the
Crescendo card to minimize the need for incremental RAM purchases. In
addition, the combined memory from both the motherboard and the card are
fully utilized to allow greater total RAM capacity than previously
possible, so users can opt for additional or larger DIMMs as desired.
The next hurdle to overcome was to surpass the maximum performance
available on the 7200s motherboard, which runs at bus speeds starting at
37.5 MHz. Sonnet felt it imperative that users be able to upgrade to truly
modern performance levels, and this too has been achieved. Using design
elements from Sonnets recently announced Fortissimo technology, Sonnet
created an independent bus to run on the new processor card. This bus runs
at a speed of 66 MHz, which allows the Crescendo 7200 to take full
advantage of 400 MHz processors and beyond.
We are very pleased to provide options for users who thought that their
systems were impossible to upgrade, says Robert Farnsworth, Sonnets
president and CEO. With these new speed options, 7200 owners can choose
the configuration to best suit their budget and computing needs.
Pricing and Availability
The Crescendo G3 and G4 7200 upgrades will be available in November, 2000:
Crescendo G3/7200 400/1M $499.95
Crescendo G3/7200 400/512K $399.95
Crescendo G4/7200 400/1M $599.95
Sonnets Crescendo 7200 G3 and G4 upgrade cards are compatible with the
following 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 libraries included in
Mac OS 9. Other Altivec-enabled software titles include Adobe Photoshop
5.5 Altivec Plug-ins and After Effects; Apple Computer Final Cut Pro 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 Kais Power Tools and Bryce; QDesign Qdesign; Sonic
Solutions Sonic DVD Fusion, Sonic DVD Transcoder, Sonic DVD Creator; as
well as many other Altivec-enabled software applications. Scientific and
audio/video authoring applications will benefit significantly from a Sonnet
G4 upgrade.
Simply Fast
Sonnet products are guaranteed to operate reliably over variations of
machine, time and temperature. The Sonnet Presto, Crescendo, Encore, Tempo,
and Tango cards work in every compatible Macintosh without the need for the
antiquated methods of configuration. The ability to move an upgrade card
from one machine to another without the need to tweak any jumpers or
control panels is a significant advantage to resellers and organizations
that want to maximize their flexibility, while minimizing the long term
technical support requirements. Sonnet cards have unequaled ease-of
installation and reliability, and are Simply Fast.
About Sonnet Technologies, Inc.
Sonnet Technologies, Inc., headquartered in Irvine, California, is the
worldwide market share leader in processor upgrade cards and enhancement
products for Apple Macintosh computers. Founded in 1986, Sonnet upgrades
more 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 Sonnet
Technologies web site at (http://www.sonnettech.com), or call the company
at 1-800-786-6260 (USA and Canada) or 1-949-587-3500.
