New products for C64 and Amiga from Individual Computers

[duga]

Why would like to use the expansion port? The A500 is already (too) large.

[TotO]

I would like nothing...
You have better to read the topic instead of asking for things already answered.

[Calabazam]

I would prefer "you are on your own" and experiment with A570/A590/GVP and others...
Not to mention the zorro adapter available for the side port.

[ikonsgr]

Originally Posted by TotO

But, in theory it's address compatible...
Just you will have physical problems to add both on your computer.

Hmmm, perhaps then, if you remove the aluminum case, maybe you can fit them both and give it a try,dont you think?
Remove the 68000,then plug kippers2k ram card, and on top of that, plug aca 500! In that case, fast ram will also comunicate directly with the aca 500's cpu at full speed of 14Mhz, isn't that right?
Man, we are talking about serious stuff here... Multi floor amiga 500!

[TotO]

I'm not sure, because it look that the new CMOS CPU, the IDE controller and the embedded RAM may be located on the riser card... (I don't see them on the main board shown on the first page)

Anybody can answer?

[Schoenfeld]

Originally Posted by ikonsgr

I just wondering: From what i unsderstand so far, the on board 2mb ram of aca 500 is not fast ram (it's not reside in the 8mb pooll starting at $200000 right?)

You (and others in this thread) are making a fundamental mistake: You are trying to infer the type of memory by it's address. That's plain wrong. The accelerator is a completely new CPU/memory subsystem, which can control all access speeds and address spaces on it's own. I'm using this to my (and thus the user's) advantage by re-mapping $c0.0000 memory to fastmem and even relocate Kickstart to the accelerator's memory.

Originally Posted by ikonsgr

Remove the 68000,then plug kippers2k ram card, and on top of that, plug aca 500! In that case, fast ram will also comunicate directly with the aca 500's cpu at full speed of 14Mhz, isn't that right?

Nope, the speed on the 68000 socket is 7MHz and can't be changed with a simple plugin-adapter. Trust me, any expansion that already exists doesn't make sense from a performance point of view. You need a faster bus to gain real performance. The ACA500 is not the fastest thing in the world, but adding 7MHz "fastmem" would slow it down to a point where you can't call it "accelerator" any more, because the 68000 does not have caches at all.

Jens

[ikonsgr]

Thanks for clearing this up!
So if i get this right, once installed aca 500 you CANT USE ANYTHING ELSE (add on memory cards like keeper2k's,possibly other cards pluged on 68000 socket, or anything on the 86pin connector) except from trapdoor ram
[YES] [NO] ?

Btw, have you tested whdload with aca 500? Can the 68000/14mhz with 2mb ram, really handle whdload games, without any speed penalty? I'm asking this because if i'm going to buy this card for my Amiga 500, will be EXACTLY for that! Having the ability to enjoy at last, many multi disk games through whdload, without the endless disk loading and swaping!

[TotO]

Originally Posted by Schoenfeld

The accelerator is a completely new CPU/memory subsystem, which can control all access speeds and address spaces on it's own. I'm using this to my (and thus the user's) advantage by re-mapping $c0.0000 memory to fastmem and even relocate Kickstart to the accelerator's memory.

That true.
Toni has explain that in the afternoon. It's not exclusive to Paula. Sorry.

[lurch]

Will be watching this space :-) Zeus68k / ACA500 very exciting times :-)

Hopefully will have enough saved for the release date, don't want to miss out :-/

[Methanoid]

Originally Posted by Schoenfeld

It's not software-selectable, but putting a wire link between two spots. This will change the CPU clock divisor from 3 to 2. The crystal on the board is 50MHz and remains in place. The design is fully async, meaning that the CPU runs async to the A1200 and the memory controller runs async to the CPU.

Could you do the same tests that I have made? I mean bustest and sysinfo. I'd like to know how much faster the Blizzard 1220 is.

Jens

http://ami603.amiga-projects.net/blizz3.jpg

In summary

B1220 default 28mhz = 4851
ACA1220 16.67mhz = 3321
ACA1220 25mhz OC = 4262

For me, I'd be happy with an OC ACA1220 with all that extra Ram!!

Would have been a nice feature if Jens had given us a jumper block rather than needing to solder a wire in place (mk2 maybe???)

[Lord Aga]

A1220 MK2 with 28MHz 020 and a heatsink would be top stuff.

[TotO]

Only 1/2 and 1/3 divider from the 50MHz clock...
What can you do better with 3 more MHz in true???

EDIT:
OK, reading the next post it's no more the case.

[Schoenfeld]

Thanks for those values. I have optimized chipmem access further, and I have found that I'm flushing the caches too often. The mass-produced board has a slightly different wiring for the logic chips, so I can precisely identify if I need to flush caches or not (to experts: Function code lines were pre-decoded in the other CPLD, and are now wired directly to the memory controller). This has already helped performance on the ACA620, and it'll bring the ACA1220 higher as well.

Further, I have decided to not use a canned oscillator, but a PLL to generate the main frequency. The PLL is kind-of programmable with SMD resistors (bridges). This will make overclocking easier, but I won't get tired to emphasize that overclocking is done at your own risk. Memory design is overclocking-friendly, but the CPU is rated 16MHz by Motorola, so that's the highest frequency I will guarantee

Jens

[TotO]

OK, now the clock change not the divider... So, not only the CPU will run faster but the memory too.

[duga]

So it looks like we'll have a ACA1232 card based on the ACA1220 design, that's nice.

[Mr B]

Originally Posted by Methanoid

Would have been a nice feature if Jens had given us a jumper block rather than needing to solder a wire in place (mk2 maybe???)

I'd say it's a good idea to leave it for hardware mods, rather then jumper blocks, as it means the step to voiding your warranty is slightly larger. Also, it's slightly easier to see if someone fiddled with the pads, when your getting a fried accelerator back, and the buyer claims warranty.

[TotO]

Originally Posted by duga

So it looks like we'll have a ACA1232 card based on the ACA1220 design, that's nice.

Sure, you can see that since the first day. The 68030 free space on the top left on the board.

[amigakit.com]

We have added the products to our website:


ACA 1220 128MB Accelerator

ACA 620 Accelerator

[Schoenfeld]

Originally Posted by TotO

OK, now the clock change not the divider... So, not only the CPU will run faster but the memory too.

The divider is a different thing, outside the PLL (different solderpads and cooler required).

Originally Posted by duga

So it looks like we'll have a ACA1232 card based on the ACA1220 design, that's nice.

Even if ACA1220 and ACA1232 are built on the same circuit board, they are substantially different designs. The CPLDs contain completely different code, because the two processors require different timing.

Jens

[TotO]

Originally Posted by Schoenfeld

The divider is a different thing, outside the PLL (different solderpads and cooler required).

I know that. What I said is the frequency table show that the 020 always use a 1/3 divider factor and now increase the speed of the CPU and the RAM by increasing the clock.

Sure, it's always possible to hack the divider to 1/2, but it's not interesting because the available range are close and the user will lose much memory speed and risk to permanently damage the CPU, using a wrong jumper setting.

But for the predicted ACA1232 Board, it may be interesting to switch it to 1/3 if it embed a 25Mhz certified CPU. Allowing to increase the RAM speed from 50MHz up to 80Mhz for a close frequency.