Champagne Performance at Beer Prices

G. Armour Van Horn

What a difference a faster system bus makes. With its PowerCenter Pro 210, Power Computing (Round Rock, TX, 512-246-7807; http://www.powercc.com ) sets a new standard in Mac-compatible pricing. The 210-MHz 604e-based system ($2444 in the configuration we tested) approaches the performance of the company's flagship PowerTower Pro 250 (which would cost about $3700 if available in a similar configuration as the 210) and paces the Pentium II at 266 MHz. Although the CPU itself runs at only 210 MHz, compared to the PowerTower Pro's 250-MHz 604e, the PowerCenter's overall per formance is boosted by a 60-MHz processor-to-main-memory (i.e., system) bus. (The PowerTower Pro's system bus runs at 50 MHz.)

The PowerCenter Pro is the only 604e system we've seen with a system bus running at that speed. The system comes s tandard with 1 MB of Level 2 cache and 2-MB ATI Mach64/3-D GT video.

Available in both low-profile and minitower formats, the $2395 base system includes 64 MB of RAM (expandable to 512 MB with four DIMM slots) and a 2-GB IBM DCAS-32160 5400-rpm fast (20-MBps), but not wide, SCSI hard drive. It also has a Teac 16X CD-ROM drive, AAUI and RJ-45 10Base-T ports, a second 5-MBps external SCSI port for an additional seven devices, sound support, and bundled software. Three PCI slots are available for AV, SCSI, or networking upgrades. The CPU is on a daughtercard for upgrading, but the Catalyst system board does not support a second processor. The 4-MB video upgrade in our test system adds another $49 to the price . Power Computing also sells a 180-MHz version.

Although they don't have support for interleaved memory or as many PCI slots or expansion bays as the PowerTower Pro, these PowerCenter models bring excellent performance to the market, without the higher price of the fastest Mac OS clones.

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Faster Bus Yields Better Performance

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The PowerCenter Pro 210 delivers high-end performance at mid-range prices.