Add a faster ATA Controller to just about any Mac with a PCI Slot!
Tests performed with PowerMac G3 Beige, cards tested also compatible with 72/73/75/76/85/86/95/9600s, Compatible Clones, All PowerMac G3 and PowerMac G4 Models.

by Jamie Dresser

Back in April we did a thorough series of performance tests (click here to read) using the Power Macintosh G3 "Beige" systems. That comprehensive series of tests included hard drive performance as one of the criteria profiled. In that test, we proved that you could substantially upgrade your Beige G3 with just the simple addition of a fast ATA controller card and hard drive.

Since that test was performed, IDE drives have increased their performance significantly - especially in terms of write cache size. Western Digital has been selling their "Special Edition" drives for quite a few months now, and those drives brought to the market the first 8MB write cache buffer for IDE drive mechanisms. IBM has recently begun shipping their latest & greatest ATA drive to date - the 180GXP line. Both of these drives are incredible performers, but which is the fastest overall?

In this test, we are concentrating on just the controller cards and the drives - nothing out of the ordinary has been upgraded in this Beige G3 used for the test, it's main components are as follows:

Power Macintosh G3 "Beige" Desktop

• G3/350MHz Processor
• 128MB PC-100 SDRAM (one chip)
• Stock 5x DVD/CD Drive
• Stock ATA-2 IDE Bus

We specifically did not upgrade the processor faster than the G3/350 it has in it to show that even mildly upgraded systems can seriously benefit from the addition of this drive / controller card combination.