A600 Fast RAM Installation. Oh My Word...

[amigatime]

How on earth do you install these? I must have placed this over the top of my CPU 30 times by now with varying results, but mostly it just boots without registering the extra memory. I've tried cleaning the contacts on the expansion and the CPU with IPA, but no luck.

There was one time when it actually recognised the extra RAM, but crashed to a black screen after running the hardware speed test. I've never got anywhere close to that since.

[lesta_smsc]

They can be tricky. I've avoided it for this reason because I was worried I'd damage pins by forcing it. Others have found a little compression on top works with heat pads or something non conductive.

[Daedalus]

It needs to be *tight* on the CPU. Normally it requires a substantial amount of force to push these boards fully into position, but when they do, it's usually an obvious click. Also, when they're fitted correctly, the socket over the CPU should sit flush on the motherboard.

[amigatime]

Thanks guys. Do you think it's worth taking the motherboard out to do this? It seems to flex a bit when I try to fit it, which worries me and is probably stopping me from applying the force I need.

[Lemaru]

Alot of the problems are caused by the socket being used in a way for which it was not designed. Some sockets are better than others when used in this way. But I find that many can be made to be a better fit by modifying the socket slightly. Mainly using sandpaper to remove some of the surface of the socket so the pins sit lower on the CPU when it is attached. I do this with the parts I make, and get such a good fit I can lift the whole Amiga just by lifting the card.

Sukkoperra documented this on his GitHub using details that me and others provided. Might be worth a look

https://github.com/SukkoPera/OpenAmi...ocketRework.md

[amigatime]

Originally Posted by Lemaru

Alot of the problems are caused by the socket being used in a way for which it was not designed. Some sockets are better than others when used in this way. But I find that many can be made to be a better fit by modifying the socket slightly. Mainly using sandpaper to remove some of the surface of the socket so the pins sit lower on the CPU when it is attached. I do this with the parts I make, and get such a good fit I can lift the whole Amiga just by lifting the card.

Sukkoperra documented this on his GitHub using details that me and others provided. Might be worth a look

https://github.com/SukkoPera/OpenAmi...ocketRework.md

Looks useful, thanks. The one I bought already had the corner taken out, as it happens.

Anyway, I managed to get it to fit in the meantime without modifications, but I had to take the motherboard out of the case so that I could apply enough pressure without worrying about the flex. I'm happy to report that it works! Yay!

[Lemaru]

Yeah the corner cut is just to sit over the resistor near the CPU. If you sand down the surface of the socket until it is flush with the tip of the metal pins it grips the CPU much better.

For all the boards I have made I use a small sanding tool on my drill and just take a millimetre or so off the surface

[amigatime]

Originally Posted by Lemaru

Yeah the corner cut is just to sit over the resistor near the CPU. If you sand down the surface of the socket until it is flush with the tip of the metal pins it grips the CPU much better.

For all the boards I have made I use a small sanding tool on my drill and just take a millimetre or so off the surface

Oh, that's a good idea. I might try that when I remove the motherboard for recapping.

[OldAmigan]

Glad you got it on ok. What's the difference with the extra RAM?


Fred

[amigatime]

Originally Posted by OldAmigan

Glad you got it on ok. What's the difference with the extra RAM?


Fred

Well the main thing for me was being able to use WHDLoad. When the RAM wasn't installed, none of the games I tried would load, even with 2MB chip RAM. SysInfo reports that I'm getting 33% more MIPS than a regular A600 now -which is not insignificant- but I can't say that I've noticed any difference in real-world performance.

[Lord Aga]

Workbench feels a bit livelier. With CHIP RAM only, you really feel the nghh effort of the Amiga to close a window. With FAST RAM it's more fluid.

Also, your hard drive (transfer) will become faster. So loading times...

It wont help much with rendering though

[lesta_smsc]

Did you buy the same one Amigakit has posted for under £30?

[amigatime]

Originally Posted by lesta_smsc

Did you buy the same one Amigakit has posted for under £30?

That wasn't available when I wanted one, so I picked up a refurbished one on eBay for £25 with delivery. It looks a bit different.