Sonnet 7200 PCI programming

[spudje]

Just considering to re-enter the arena. Mainly to try my setup without the CSPPC and with a different PPC, so really get down to the root cause.

How troublesome is such an Apocalypse card in an A4000? The notes in the wiki aren't really helping to convince me. And what would the 256 MB version give me over the 128MB version, apart from the 128 extra MegaBytes, I mean what can I do with 256MB what I can't with the 128MB version.

[fitzsteve]

Originally Posted by spudje

Just considering to re-enter the arena. Mainly to try my setup without the CSPPC and with a different PPC, so really get down to the root cause.

How troublesome is such an Apocalypse card in an A4000? The notes in the wiki aren't really helping to convince me. And what would the 256 MB version give me over the 128MB version, apart from the 128 extra MegaBytes, I mean what can I do with 256MB what I can't with the 128MB version.

Quake 3 needs 256mb (I know the original minimum requirement was 64mb but the Amiga port allocates 256mb, presumably for the swap file?)

[spudje]

That's the only game needing that?

And if I would opt for a killer NIC, is that slower than a CSPPC? And what more than just Quake 3 would its 64MB disallow me to play?

[Hedeon]

I think all the cards are faster than CSPPC. There are benchmarks somewhere in this thread. Maybe I should copy them to the wiki. I am not sure about modified (400MHz) CSPPCs. The PCI PPC cards have faster access to PCI VGA cards and faster memory.

Diablo needs a full 64MB which the killer NIC cannot provide. The powerpc.library reserves around 5MB for own use.

EDIT:

See http://eab.abime.net/showthread.php?t=93729 for some benchmarks. It is missing CSPPC benchmarks for the 3D games, however. Maybe you can fill those in :-)

[spudje]

If only it would run stable....

Anyone has a Killer NIC M1 for sale?

The Apocalypse seems to much hit or miss again.

[Timtheloon]

I find the Apocalypse very stable in my 4000

The hardest part is getting it setup but I had a lot of help from the guys on this thread

I’m hoping Hedeon will revisit 1200 support maybe I can bribe him with a 1200 mobo haha

[grelbfarlk]

Originally Posted by spudje

That's the only game needing that?

And if I would opt for a killer NIC, is that slower than a CSPPC? And what more than just Quake 3 would its 64MB disallow me to play?

DOSBox can just barely run with 64MB and that's with a tiny amount of RAM for DOS, like 2MB, but it's not really useful on KillerNIC or CSPPC@200MHz so that's out. Cowcat's other releases from the last couple years are not likely to run either, like RTCW, and the Western Q3 game.


But I don't necessarily think that the KillerNIC is going to be more stable than the Sonnet. With a little bit of work if a system can run a KillerNIC it should run a Sonnet, and with a little bit more work if it can run a Sonnet then it should be able to run an Apocalypse.

[spudje]

The big difference I think of doing now is, remove the CSPPC (and put a A3630 in) and a PPC PCI card. Back when I had a Sonnet I also had the CSPPC fitted.

The whole let it warm up for 10 mins and only working in some PCI slots turns me off of getting the Apocalypse.

[fitzsteve]

Originally Posted by spudje

The big difference I think of doing now is, remove the CSPPC (and put a A3630 in) and a PPC PCI card. Back when I had a Sonnet I also had the CSPPC fitted.

The whole let it warm up for 10 mins and only working in some PCI slots turns me off of getting the Apocalypse.

You need an 040 or higher to use the sonnet library

[spudje]

Nice

Well, I could temporarily use the CSMK2 060 of my A3000 then to test. Before I go spend even more...

[Hedeon]

Originally Posted by spudje

The whole let it warm up for 10 mins turns me off of getting the Apocalypse.

Never fun to have unreliable Amiga hardware. Reading all the stories I am happy with my A3000 and A4000T working flawlessly.

[spudje]

With a PCI PPC card you mean?

Well if the sonnet library ends up running on prometheus PCI card, I can have it in my (upcoming) AA3000+.

Will any of the PPC PCI cards work with an A3640 3.1 in my A4000D?

[Hedeon]

Anything that draws a bit more power than an average amiga with 1 or 2 Z3 cards. Stabilization time is indicative of faulty hardware. I mean it is not that the software needs to warm up.

[spudje]

With the warming up stuff etc, I'm referring to this https://github.com/Sakura-IT/SonnetA...iki/Apocalypse

[grelbfarlk]

Originally Posted by spudje

With the warming up stuff etc, I'm referring to this https://github.com/Sakura-IT/SonnetA...iki/Apocalypse

Yes that was just what was initially reported on that particular A4000. Some or any of that may not apply to everyone equally.
On my towerized A4000D the Apocalypse w/256MB just works™ on the first boot.
Because everything has to turn back around to the cornvid-19, some people say they had a mild cold and just sat around for a few days. Still others say it was a nasty flu that laid them up for a week and others still need hospitalization or it killed them dead.
Even if you think you have a perfectly healthy person or A4000 you may be surprised to find that the introduction of one small external element makes it fall on its face. Not sure which I'm talking about now, I'll stop.

[johnnybarker]

I am going to try and give upgrading the ram my apocalypse card to 256mb. Just looking at buying MT48LC32M8A2TG-75 chips and the prices seem to vary wildly. You can buy genuine new ones for about £5 a piece or get ones from Aliexpress for 30p a piece.

I appreciate the Aliexpress ones are probably fake or reclaimed but I am just wondering if any one has tried them or had positive experience buying similar stuff? It is sooo much cheaper!

[grelbfarlk]

They may very well be functional reclaimed units or NOS unused, no way to know. No way to know whether what you're getting is going to work, it might though. If you don't mind removing all of the RAM again to try a different set then go ahead. You could buy a couple DIMMs and remove the memory yourself after testing them in something you could just plug the DIMM in, test thoroughly to convince yourself that all of the chips are good and transplant them.
Or you could buy brand new units at a much higher price and be relatively confident that any problems you have are due to your own soldering failures(like mine were).
It just depends on how much time you want to spend to save $40-50.

[johnnybarker]

Hmmm. Thanks for the advice. I will look at the options and make a decision. Need to get it all working with 128mb first! Just trying to find time to setup a clean wb.

[grelbfarlk]

An update to the warming up issue on the A4000d I was talking about. I reinstalled the drive power connector that was originally on the A4091 and plugged a drive power cable into it. This connector was originally there to use the A4091 as a hard card which I don't want to do anyway because this space is where the Ramix fan exhausts to and an HDD would block that. We'll see tomorrow if the required warmup time is eliminated.

[Timtheloon]

Now I know A1200 is not supported but I have a question

So if I use the Sonnet in my A4000 it doesn’t see all the memory which I mentioned before. Which I believe is due to the Zorro 512mb limit. i.e 128mb on CSMKII, 256mb Radeon, and the rest filled with the Sonnet memory upto 512mb

But when I use it in the A1200 all the memory get allocated pushing the memory to 550mb. I.e 256mb on B1260, 128mb Radeon, 16mb Voodoo, and 192 mb on the Sonnet minus what the system uses leaving roughly 550-557mb

I also filled the ram drive to see if it would give an error but no error and it fill all the memory

Any ideas?