Apollo 1260 or Blizzard 1260?

[Zetr0]

although Barry.... an 80+ MHz 060 is a delight to have!

[BarryB]

Do I really need 80Mhz+? Cooling will be a pain in a desktop, raising it so a fan/heatsink can be attached to the 060! Also, does the SCSI kit and RAM not play nicely with OC'd 1260's?

[Damion]

Originally Posted by BarryB

Do I really need 80Mhz+? Cooling will be a pain in a desktop, raising it so a fan/heatsink can be attached to the 060! Also, does the SCSI kit and RAM not play nicely with OC'd 1260's?

Well, the Blizzard's SCSI timing is broken above 50MHz, some few get lucky and it seems to work (my experience, it was a no-go above 57MHz). RAM is another issue, depends on the tolerances of the CPU revision, the card itself, and the SIMM(s). In general, 64-66MHz is almost always doable, and appears to be "safe" long term (remember, with the Blizz, you're overclocking everything, not just the CPU).

The Apollo *might* be a little better in a desktop case, depending on what you're willing to tolerate. The CPU faces up, so with a low-profile heatsink and a single SIMM (32MB) you might even get the trapdoor closed. Overclocking the Blizz, you'll probably want the trapdoor off or modified and the machine raised a bit so there's room for cooling.

If you decide *not* to overclock - keep in mind the Blizzard's chipram access is a little weak at 50MHz, this might not be ideal for WHDLoad. 64-66MHz however (no SCSI) with some cooling would be golden.

[crazyc]

I am running my B1260 at 60 currently with SCSI kit being used just for additional ram (havent got anything to plug into the SCSI) and I had to raise the a1200 anyway as the ram slot was angled. I also have a fan on a modified trapdoor, but used the extra space underneath the other side for a slimline DVD drive.

[BarryB]

@Damion: Is the oscillator soldered to the board on all 1260's? Otherwise I'll have to solder in a socket for the oscillator if I want to experiment with overclocking!

@crazyc: fitzy has a nice [ Show youtube player ] showing his fan cooled BPPC + A1200 on some rubber feet he got from Wilko!

[roy bates]

all blizzards have soldered oscillators,apollos dont mostly from what ive seen or even have sockets..but an apollos oscillator faces down and can and have fallen off the board while in use in a desktop case due to this.
hence the reason you see some with tape over the oscillator and machs over the sockets

i have both cards,and have to say the build quality of the blizzards is streets ahead of the act cards no matter what anyone says for durability,there are lots of flaws on the apollos even if they work fine.
either card will be fine if thats what your after and you look after them,but both do have there quirks as i call them.
its a bad idea for me to look at both with rose coloured glasses if i only had one,but if i had the choice i would go for the blizzard and only because of the better memory bus and memory capacity.(although the apollo will hands down beat the blizzard for pure brute speed no matter how fast the memory bus is,trust me i know)

the choice you make should be based on,what you want to use it for.and if the cost is really worth it..
i would,but then again,i like 060 cards alot for pure brute force computing power over 030 and 040 cards.

just thought i would mention this.

[BarryB]

Obviously Phase5 didn't want naughty people overclocking so they soldered everything in sight to the damn board! I gather OC'ing is just a case of swapping oscillators on the 1260?

[roy bates]

phase5 built the card to run at 50mhz and last,soldering the oscillator down was a good move reliability and connectivity wise by phase5 and showed good engineering,i dont think overclocking even entered the designers minds,act on the other hand had cards overclocked from stock lots of their cards failed due to this (some were even recalled or sent back,i jest you not along with a few other card makers at the time because it was common place)

anyway...yes,but bare in mind it will depend on how fast you want to go..overclocking as a bit of luck mixed with common sense.
a revision 1 060 will probably only go 14-17%(reliably) over stock speed before it needs active cooling if it works at all.(they run warm at stock speeds)
a revision 5 was made to go at 60mhz and can go over 70mhz
and a revision 6 stock speed is between 50 and 60mhz and can go to 80-100+mhz,if your lucky

first obstacle is cpu revision after that memory bus limitations.(if the card works at 75-80mhz youll probably need a 50ns simm)
if its only a few mhz its just a oscillator swap and some cooling if your lucky.

[BarryB]

Did stumble on this page: http://xoomer.virgilio.it/dario.manzoni2/overclock.html

That has a bit more info on overclocking, doesn't mention CPU revision though, so which one is the holy grail?

[crazyc]

Originally Posted by BarryB

@Damion: Is the oscillator soldered to the board on all 1260's? Otherwise I'll have to solder in a socket for the oscillator if I want to experiment with overclocking!

@crazyc: fitzy has a nice [ Show youtube player ] showing his fan cooled BPPC + A1200 on some rubber feet he got from Wilko!

Yeah - Steve gave me a lot of advice with mine

Here is mine: http://www.amibay.com/entry.php?42-Almost-there

[BarryB]

Nice big feet, you'll have it on yoghurt pots next

[roy bates]

Originally Posted by BarryB

Did stumble on this page: http://xoomer.virgilio.it/dario.manzoni2/overclock.html

That has a bit more info on overclocking, doesn't mention CPU revision though, so which one is the holy grail?

holy grail?

in my opinion its the revision 6,its the best of the best of the best and nothing else comes close...with added wings and a jet on the back
its the must have at any damn cost,cuz its yummy to overclock,

[crazyc]

Gave me room for the DVD drive though, and also a little space left for the next project.

[BarryB]

@roy: Don't tell me you never heard of the Holy Grail, ever see Monty Python and the quest for holy 060?

@crazyc: Next project? Yeah, looks like a 200mm case fan will fit under there

[NovaCoder]

I'm going to raise my desktop which is something I've always avoided but I really need the extra airflow. Not going to go quite that high though

baby feet

[AlfaRomeo]

Originally Posted by NovaCoder

For a start, are you sure you really need an 060? You can run 95% of the games without one, you just need a fast 030 (don't buy an 040 though!).

What is the reason for did not buy a 040??
The 040 isn't a better bet than 030?

[NovaCoder]

Originally Posted by AlfaRomeo

What is the reason for did not buy a 040??
The 040 isn't a better bet than 030?

Really not worth it in my opinion, if you are going to move beyond a fast 030 then do it properly and go for an overclocked 060.

[AlfaRomeo]

It´s possible to overclock a Blizzard 1240-T/ERC @ 40Mhz?
What is faster, an ACA 030/56Mhz or a Blizzard 040/40Mhz?

[fitzsteve]

Originally Posted by AlfaRomeo

It´s possible to overclock a Blizzard 1240-T/ERC @ 40Mhz?
What is faster, an ACA 030/56Mhz or a Blizzard 040/40Mhz?

Yes it's possible to overclock the Blizzard 1240 and even upgrade to 060. Mileage might vary if you have a 25mhz CPU it might not go to 40mhz, maybe only 33, you will need active cooling. You can also replace the CPU with 40mhz L88M version which runs cooler.

Better though put the money towards upgrading it to 060 IMHO.

040@40mhz is significantly faster than 030@56 about 2x (30MIPS)

I think you get about 14MIPS from the ACA1230/56

[AlfaRomeo]

Originally Posted by fitzsteve

Better though put the money towards upgrading it to 060 IMHO.

I already have a Apollo 1260/66

Originally Posted by fitzsteve

040@40mhz is significantly faster than 030@56 about 2x (30MIPS)

I think you get about 14MIPS from the ACA1230/56

So it´s better don´t change my Blizzard 1240/40 by a ACA 1230/056