Warp Engine 3040 underclocking

[StompinSteve]

Hello folks,

I found a Warp Engine 3040 (A3000D version). It's the Rev 3 variant.
It needs some love (was sold as untested/unknown) and it came without any memory (but I found some and it's in the mail). I hope to put it into my 3000D in a week or so.

Question A:
It came without the red INT2 cable with the clip-thingy. But my 3000 Rev 9.1 Mobo has the INT2 mod done. So I guess I don't need that cable at all correct?

Question 2:
It has the 40Mhz 040. I don't like loud computers and if that CPU-fan sounds like a vacuumcleaner, could I underclock the CPU to say, 33Mhz or even 25Mhz by swapping the current 40Mhz oscillator to a 33 or 25 Mhz variant? Has anyone ever done this?
Reading up on this card, there where 3028 and a 3033 versions with 28Mhz (actually an overclocked 25Mhz) and 33Mhz 040's respectively. If all it takes is an oscillator-swap and nothing else, it's easy.

(There are people that underclocked A3640 cards from 40 to 25Mhz solving all heat issues)

[grelbfarlk]

Yes you can downclock that to 28MHz or 33MHz without worries. I have a couple WarpEngine 4040s that are downclocked to 33MHz to run an 060 at 66MHz in and they are fine. But the fan on the Warpengine is quite quiet unless yours is failing.

But I don't know what you are talking about with the A3640, they run at 25MHz, using a 50Mhz crystal. Yes, you could also put a 33MHz crystal in them and run them at 16.5MHz for some reason. Or put in a 66MHz crystal and run them at 33MHz at the risk of various instabilities.

[StompinSteve]

Originally Posted by grelbfarlk

But I don't know what you are talking about with the A3640

Doug from "10 minute Amiga Postcast which are never 10 minutes" has a video about his A3640 rev 3.2 with a 40Mhz 040 CPU that he now runs at 25Mhz in his 3000D (and thus stays really cool).
[ Show youtube player ]

[grelbfarlk]

I think you just misunderstood, he happened to have a 40MHz 040 in his 25MHz A3640. The 40MHz version just runs cooler than the 25MHz 040s usually found in an A3640. The A3640 does not normally function at 40MHz with an 040.

Now there are a couple exxxxtreeeeeme overclockers/modders/developers that might run an A3640 at 40MHz with an 040, and his name is Speedgeek, by modifying the A3640 significantly.

[jaesonk]

I would leave your Warp Engine 3040 running at 40mhz. If the fan is noisy, I'd replace it.

You could replace your noisy fan with something like this one:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/25576526801...item3b8ccc4632
Stick to your 040 chip with double-sided thermal tape.

I used one of these with my Warp Engine 4040 and it's a good fit and low-profile. You can look for 486 cooling options, but in an A3000, low-profile will be essential. The A4000 has more space for a taller option.

Downclocking is possible but you will reduce your system performance. You may need to add wait-states for RAM that you might install if you clock-down.

[StompinSteve]

The problem with the fan is that by itself, without the Floppy-tray directly over it, it's noise-level is acceptable.
But when the floppy-tray is in place, there is maybe 1-2mm space between the metal of the tray and the fan and this creates a kind of suction-noise which is much louder. The fan get's smothered basically. It can hardly suck in any air from above with such a small gap.

I'll figure something out. I would like to retain the 40MHz and there is no snowballs chance in hell that i'm gonna cut metal away in my floppy-tray to make room (there is also a floppy (Gotek as DF0) above it).

The SCSI is insanely fast by the way. It maxes out at a whopping 9.34 MB/s (raw-read in SysInfo and SysSpeed) with the ZuluSCSI and it's current firmware. It is smoooookinnn :-)

[StompinSteve]

Update: I removed the heatsink-with-fan and mounted a normal aluminium heatsink on the CPU which is only 9mm high, using "Artic Silver 5" thermal-compound in the middle and a small piece of proper thermal-adhesive-tape on the 4 corners of the CPU to hold it firmly onto the CPU (this thermal-compound cannot be relied on to keep the heatsink onto the CPU as it's not a glue, it's just very sticky).
With a height of 9mm, it leaves enough room between the CPU and the underside of the floppy-tray.

In the gap between the daughterboard and the case, I put a 40x40x10mm Noctua fan at an angle so that it blows over the SIMMS as well as the CPU.
It's a quiet fan and the air it moves is limited but it is enough to keep the CPU at around 60 Degrees C (room temp = 25 C) and after a couple of hours of PovRay Stress-testing the machine, the temperature never came above 71 Degrees.

I measure the CPU temp with a transitor-based temperature-sensor connected to the "Temp1" header on the CPLDICY board I have in this system, attached to the CPU heatsink.
With this small Zorro board, I measure the air-temperature around the board itself, meaning it measures the "Zorro side" of the A3000's case.

From the board's Temp1 header, I have a cable with the sensor (a "2N3904" transistor) put in between the cooling-ribs on the heatsink, smack in the middle, so basically right above the CPU hottest part.
I "glued" it down with the same thermal-compound (which turns into a semi-hard, sticky gooo-blob, holding the sensor in place, all the while conducting heat from the heatsink to the sensor with little loss).
I then calibrated the sensor in the MAX31760 config-file using a professional laser-based temp-probe and the deviation between the probe and the values that SimpleSensor shows, lies around 1 Degree C. So it's accurate enough to be useful. I did the same with the onboard temp-sensor on the CPLDICY board.

The two fans, one 50x50x15mm blowing over the chip in the "Zorro area" and the other, 40x40x10 aimed towards the WarpEngine RAM and CPU, are powered via the PWM fan-headers. I don't use PWM but 3-Pin connectors. The 3rd wire being the RPM signal.
I can therefore not only see what temperatures the Zorro area is but also the CPU and how fast both Fans there are spinning.
The Noctua Fan inside the power-supply is not measured as the CPLDICY board only has 2 fan-headers.

Long story short: the CPU stays at or below 70 degrees C, no matter how I torture-test it for hours. The WarpEngine runs perfectly stable and the noise-level is more than acceptable this way, so no need to underclock :-)

Did I say the WarpEngine 3040 is fast? It is FAST !!
it feels faster than the Blizzard 1240T at the same speed.
The WE onboard SCSI is a beast too. It is faster than the same SCSI Chip that's in my 4000T and it's BFG9060 at 50Mhz and almost twice as fast as the SCSI Controller on the 1240T (I use the same ZuluSCSI firmware everywhere).

I am going to order a solid copper heatsink for the WE as to bring the CPU temp down a bit further.

Shameless plug: In case you want one of those CPLDICY boards yourself, EAB user salocinx makes them. You can contact him on his website: https://amiga68k.com

[thebajaguy]

If by chance you have an actual MC version of the 40MHz 68040, they will run cooler than the earlier XC masks. Similar to the 68060, they did go through errata corrections before they became MC-qualified, and also the die shrunk, lowering overall heat production.

[StompinSteve]

The WarpEngine has a XC @ 40MHz on it (with mask "02E31F"). I have an equivalent MC on stock but i'm not going to de-solder the XC (I don't have the skills for that).

You sure about the RC / MC thing? According to CPU-World, the XC ist simply the OEM/Tray version, as is the MC. Their specs are exactly the same: https://www.cpu-world.com/CPUs/68040...8040RC40M.html

[matt3k]

The warp engine is the best accelerator for the Amiga I have ever come across.

Do yourself a huge favor, upgrade to an 060 and clock it to 80-100 MHz. It will even perform better than the CS MKIII.

The best part about the WE is that it is a tank and is very durable. The CS MKIII is just too fragile to be worth any serious us imho. Yes the SCSI is faster on it, but memory access will be faster on the WE once you clock it up.

You will need a modern rom set to have the instructions.

Correct you don't need to run a wire from jp4 on the WE to CIA 20 for int2 if you already have the int set on the 3k.

[matt3k]

If you keep the 40MHz 040 or upgrade to the 060, a heatsink will be just fine. You don't need a fan.

There is an 040 one that goes well beyond the size of the 040 and is really flat, that one works great.

In case your interested:
http://www.amibay.com/threads/amiga-...d-refit.61492/

It feels faster than about ever accelerator, it is well engineered and is a dream in a 3k.

I just cut a hole (I know terrible right?) in the tray so it allowed me to put any heatsink/fan on it.