The Sonnet card will work well, and one day look out for one of their later G4 700/800/1000 upgrades which also run well in the 9600, and reliably. It will feel like a new machine over the 200Mhz 604e.
I used to have Newertech G3 500, then a XLR8 ZIF card in my 9600 but both were sensitive little things which were promptly put to one side when I found a cheap Sonnet 1Ghz on eBay. I used to ignore Sonnet cards due to their lack of "tweakability" but they are better quality with more rigorous R&D having been carried out on them - it shows.
There aren't many MP aware applications apart from Photoshop, SoundJam and neither will produce huge gains even if the second CPU is used. This link details some performance differences using G4 dual upgrades in OS 9:
https://68kmla.org/forums/index.php?/topic/11832-dual-versus-single-cpu-in-mac-os-9-real-test/
Glad to hear your 9600 is up and running - they are my favourite Apple towers too. Even Apple stores didn't seem to have them in their stores when they were released, I never sighted one. Years later I bought a 9600/233 and made a good friend (literally - in the seller), later a 9650WGS I couldn't pass up - it was used for RIP printing for a high end fabric designer in Fitzroy, Melbourne.
JB
I used to have Newertech G3 500, then a XLR8 ZIF card in my 9600 but both were sensitive little things which were promptly put to one side when I found a cheap Sonnet 1Ghz on eBay. I used to ignore Sonnet cards due to their lack of "tweakability" but they are better quality with more rigorous R&D having been carried out on them - it shows.
There aren't many MP aware applications apart from Photoshop, SoundJam and neither will produce huge gains even if the second CPU is used. This link details some performance differences using G4 dual upgrades in OS 9:
https://68kmla.org/forums/index.php?/topic/11832-dual-versus-single-cpu-in-mac-os-9-real-test/
Glad to hear your 9600 is up and running - they are my favourite Apple towers too. Even Apple stores didn't seem to have them in their stores when they were released, I never sighted one. Years later I bought a 9600/233 and made a good friend (literally - in the seller), later a 9650WGS I couldn't pass up - it was used for RIP printing for a high end fabric designer in Fitzroy, Melbourne.
JB