Will we ever see power pc cards again?.

JACK98 · 14 May 2011, 19:11

Will we ever see the likes of phase 5 power pc cards again?.Or does cost and copyright issues prohibit the case?.

Hewitson · 14 May 2011, 19:26

Considering we haven't even seen 040 or 060 cards made for 15 odd years, the chances of new PPC cards being made is very low, unfortunately.

source · 14 May 2011, 20:41

The gvp 4060 cards are a new batch. The run them last year or the year before. The last I was talking to joe at software hut there may be a possibility if there is enough interest to do noth batch. I think they were seeing hoe the 060 cards sold.

mech · 14 May 2011, 23:02

Quote:

Originally Posted by JACK98

Will we ever see the likes of phase 5 power pc cards again,or does cost and copyright issues prohibit the case?.

Of course i see the one in my A4000 and 4000T everyday

Reynolds · 15 May 2011, 22:31

I'd like to see, would be cool for all of my miggies... time to wake up....

Ffin · 17 May 2011, 09:38

A new batch based on the original design will probably never happen, but a purely PPC card with 68k emulation might be feasible, similar to the AmiJoe concept. That's assuming that you can still get connectors for the A1200 and A4000 cpu slot.

wXR · 17 May 2011, 11:00

PS, are we at the point yet where PPC could be emulated in FPGA?

S0ulA55a551n · 17 May 2011, 15:22

Not on cheap enough hardware at a decent speed

digiflip · 23 May 2011, 01:13

dont think this will happen only power pc cpus being produced are for wii , xbox 360 xenon and the cell for ps3.

AmigaDave · 23 May 2011, 01:50

Quote:

Originally Posted by JACK98

Will we ever see the likes of phase 5 power pc cards again,or does cost and copyright issues prohibit the case?.

There are still a few industrial PPC SOC chips being developed, mostly used in automotive industry that could possibly be used on a new PPC card for Classic Amiga computers, but the people with the knowledge of how it was done at Phase5 are all gone, or working on other projects and most likely would not be interested in spending their time to design a new accelerator card when the return on investment of time and money to produce a new accelerator would be next to zero. They would have to sell such an accelerator at a price like the X1000 motherboard to make any money on the project.

Plus, most of the industrial chips are weak compared to any desktop CPU that has been used within the last 10 years. They would probably be faster than an old 604e @233MHz, but still light years behind even the notebooks and tablet CPU's of today.

No, I don't think we will be seeing any new PPC accelerator cards for Classic Amiga computers ever again.

alexh · 23 May 2011, 10:04

Quote:

Originally Posted by digiflip

dont think this will happen only power pc cpus being produced are for wii , xbox 360 xenon and the cell for ps3.

Erm, embedded PPC is in everything from your phone to your washing machine to your Set-top-box. They are not quite as prolific as ARM but believe me they are everywhere.

Quote:

Originally Posted by AmigaDave

There are still a few industrial PPC SOC chips being developed. Plus, most of the industrial chips are weak compared to any desktop CPU that has been used within the last 10 years.

Erm the high end PPC (Power7) kicks most intel desktop CPU's in the arse even though they are 3 years old. Why do you think they are the CPU of choice for servers? They power the top worlds supercomputers. They just cost a fortune.

gilgamesh · 23 May 2011, 10:28

Quote:

Originally Posted by alexh

Erm, embedded PPC is in everything from your phone to your washing machine to your Set-top-box. They are not quite as prolific as ARM but believe me they are everywhere.

Supercomputers anyone? E.g. IBM Roadrunner is a hybrid Opteron, Cell design.

alexh · 23 May 2011, 10:56

JUGENE was PPC. Still 9th fastest supercomputer despite being based on chips which are more than 5 years old.

AmigaDave · 23 May 2011, 13:18

@alexh,

I thought I was clear enough when I wrote industrial (should have used the word "embedded") SOC, PPC chips were weak? I was not referring to the super-computing chips in that group, because, since they are soooo expensive (as you noted), they are not suitable for the Amiga market.

alexh · 23 May 2011, 13:53

My bad, I thought you were saying there are only industrial PPC chips being developed.

Still these embedded CPU's are probably many times more powerful than a 330MHz PPC 604e.

You've got the e5500 PowerPC coming up soon and the A2 both Desktop capable PPC chips.

Still I dont think we'll see a PPC in the near future. Only possibility would be for an emulated one, but that is not Toni's interest so probably not.

delshay · 23 May 2011, 21:11

we can modify old PPC cards to go faster.

CyberStorm PPC possible top end speed 450Mhz-500Mhz with a little overclocking. (this is not a 604e).

Blizzard PPC posssible 350Mhz-550Mhz.... NOTE: Blizzard card has been pre-tested by me at 350Mhz but this chip is not a 603e project never completed but for sure will restart late this year.

both cards for sure will problely need at least a flashrom update.

TheBilgeRat · 24 May 2011, 03:11

Quote:

Originally Posted by delshay

we can modify old PPC cards to go faster.

CyberStorm PPC possible top end speed 450Mhz-500Mhz with a little overclocking. (this is not a 604e).

Blizzard PPC posssible 350Mhz-550Mhz.... NOTE: Blizzard card has been pre-tested by me at 350Mhz but this chip is not a 603e project never completed but for sure will restart late this year.

both cards for sure will problely need at least a flashrom update.

At a grand a pop to buy very rare used boards? This is the price point where I emulate.

Hewitson · 24 May 2011, 05:10

I'd rather pay a grand than use an emulator. Having said that I believe it'll only be a few years before an FPGA solution is available.

AmigaDave · 27 May 2011, 08:32

Quote:

Originally Posted by delshay

we can modify old PPC cards to go faster.

CyberStorm PPC possible top end speed 450Mhz-500Mhz with a little overclocking. (this is not a 604e).

Blizzard PPC posssible 350Mhz-550Mhz.... NOTE: Blizzard card has been pre-tested by me at 350Mhz but this chip is not a 603e project never completed but for sure will restart late this year.

both cards for sure will problely need at least a flashrom update.

If you have the knowledge and talent to make a Cyberstorm capable of running at up to 500MHz and a Blizzard PPC running up to 550MHz, I would think that you might also be able to create a new PPC accelerator boards for Classic Amiga computers (with, or without the assistance of other hardware/software designers). If you ever finish your project and figure out how to reliably get these old 68k & PPC boards to run as fast as you think you can, I would probably be interested in getting my Cyberstorm upgraded, but you should consider creating a new accelerator for Classic Amigas using one of the newer embedded PPC chips.

Unknown_K · 27 May 2011, 15:46

Why can't somebody just hack an old Apple Powermac Quicksilvers Openfirmware and turn a $50 PPC Mac into an Amiga?

14 May 2011, 19:11	#1
JACK98 Registered User Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: N/A Posts: 420	Will we ever see power pc cards again?. Will we ever see the likes of phase 5 power pc cards again?.Or does cost and copyright issues prohibit the case?. Last edited by JACK98; 15 November 2013 at 18:40.

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14 May 2011, 19:26	#2
Hewitson Registered User Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: Melbourne, Australia Age: 38 Posts: 3,747	Considering we haven't even seen 040 or 060 cards made for 15 odd years, the chances of new PPC cards being made is very low, unfortunately.

14 May 2011, 20:41	#3
source Zone Friend Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: Toronto, Canada Posts: 708	The gvp 4060 cards are a new batch. The run them last year or the year before. The last I was talking to joe at software hut there may be a possibility if there is enough interest to do noth batch. I think they were seeing hoe the 060 cards sold.

15 May 2011, 22:31	#5
Reynolds Alien Breeder Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Szigetszentmiklos / Hungary Age: 43 Posts: 572	I'd like to see, would be cool for all of my miggies... time to wake up....

17 May 2011, 09:38	#6
Ffin Registered User Join Date: Apr 2011 Location: Stoke on Trent Age: 48 Posts: 54	A new batch based on the original design will probably never happen, but a purely PPC card with 68k emulation might be feasible, similar to the AmiJoe concept. That's assuming that you can still get connectors for the A1200 and A4000 cpu slot.

17 May 2011, 11:00	#7
wXR Registered User Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: New York Posts: 552	PS, are we at the point yet where PPC could be emulated in FPGA?

17 May 2011, 15:22	#8
S0ulA55a551n Registered User Join Date: Nov 2010 Location: Rhondda, Wales Age: 43 Posts: 685	Not on cheap enough hardware at a decent speed

23 May 2011, 01:13	#9
digiflip Registered User Join Date: Apr 2011 Location: Nottingham, United Kingdom Posts: 119	dont think this will happen only power pc cpus being produced are for wii , xbox 360 xenon and the cell for ps3.

23 May 2011, 10:56	#13
alexh Thalion Webshrine Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Oxford Posts: 12,589	JUGENE was PPC. Still 9th fastest supercomputer despite being based on chips which are more than 5 years old.

23 May 2011, 13:18	#14
AmigaDave Registered User Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: California/USA Posts: 112	@alexh, I thought I was clear enough when I wrote industrial (should have used the word "embedded") SOC, PPC chips were weak? I was not referring to the super-computing chips in that group, because, since they are soooo expensive (as you noted), they are not suitable for the Amiga market.

23 May 2011, 13:53	#15
alexh Thalion Webshrine Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Oxford Posts: 12,589	My bad, I thought you were saying there are only industrial PPC chips being developed. Still these embedded CPU's are probably many times more powerful than a 330MHz PPC 604e. You've got the e5500 PowerPC coming up soon and the A2 both Desktop capable PPC chips. Still I dont think we'll see a PPC in the near future. Only possibility would be for an emulated one, but that is not Toni's interest so probably not.

23 May 2011, 21:11	#16
delshay Registered User Join Date: Jan 2011 Location: uk Posts: 245	we can modify old PPC cards to go faster. CyberStorm PPC possible top end speed 450Mhz-500Mhz with a little overclocking. (this is not a 604e). Blizzard PPC posssible 350Mhz-550Mhz.... NOTE: Blizzard card has been pre-tested by me at 350Mhz but this chip is not a 603e project never completed but for sure will restart late this year. both cards for sure will problely need at least a flashrom update.

24 May 2011, 05:10	#18
Hewitson Registered User Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: Melbourne, Australia Age: 38 Posts: 3,747	I'd rather pay a grand than use an emulator. Having said that I believe it'll only be a few years before an FPGA solution is available.

27 May 2011, 15:46	#20
Unknown_K Registered User Join Date: May 2002 Location: Ohio/USA Age: 52 Posts: 1,379	Why can't somebody just hack an old Apple Powermac Quicksilvers Openfirmware and turn a $50 PPC Mac into an Amiga?

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