Power Macintosh 9600: IMS Twin Turbo 128 M4A Video Card

The IMS Twin Turbo 128 M4A video card is made exclusively for Apple's Power Macintosh 9600. The "A" designation differentiates this card from the "Twin Turbo 128 M4" card sold by IMS. Although the names of the cards are similar, the Apple card has been optimized for the Macintosh environment. As a result it does not support certain resolutions, video timing options, and a few other features available on the IMS version of the card. These features are meant for the Wintel platform and do not apply to the Macintosh platform.

This article deals with the differences between the Apple and IMS versions of the card.

Apple IMS Twin Turbo 128 M4A	IMS Twin Turbo 128 M4
Optimized for Macintosh environment	Cross-platform card, Mac and Wintel
4 MB VRAM, not upgradable	4 MB VRAM, upgradable
Video Connector: DB-15	Video Connectors: DB-15, Mini DB-15
Adjust using Macintosh Monitors and Sound control panel	Adjust using IMS control panel software
Supported by Apple	Supported by IMS

The following features of the IMS Twin Turbo 128 M4 were not included in the Apple IMS Twin Turbo 128 M4A for the reasons listed below:

*Resolutions 1920 x 1080, 1360 x 1024: These resolutions are not compatible with any Apple product.

*85 Hz vertical refresh: Not compatible with Apple products.

*Control panel: IMS control panel software does not apply to (and should not be used with) the Apple version of the card. Customers attempting to install and use the IMS control panel software with the Apple version of the Twin Turbo card may encounter difficulties for which Apple is not responsible.

Customers should use the standard Macintosh Monitors and Sound control panel to control video displays connected to this card.

*Text acceleration: The IMS control panel includes a "text acceleration switch" that users may ask about. Text acceleration is always "on" in the Apple card, so no such switch is needed.

*Sync on green: No longer supported in Macintosh video hardware.

*Pan and Zoom: A feature that Apple chose not to incorporate.

Apple is not responsible for inaccurate statements about these cards that may appear in the trade publications.

Please note: Integrated Micro Solutions has recently changed its name to ixMicro.


This article was published in the 6 June 1997 "Information Alley".