Getting more performance out of my A1200

Devlin · 17 December 2013, 06:20

Right now I have my A1200 and I want to squeeze more performance out of it.
For hardware I have stock KS3.0 roms, a Blizzard Mk IV 030/FPU (32MB) and a good old fashioned 2GB HDD and for file transfers I have a PCMCIA CF card reader.

For Software, I'm running a stock WB3.1 install with no special software installed - there's an up-to-date SetPatch and that's pretty much it.
My startup sequence has a couple assigns and that's the extent of it's modification.

I'm looking to make it faster through software mainly, as being broke prevents me from doing much else - I am planning to get KS 3.1 roms at some point though!

Leffmann · 17 December 2013, 08:58

I would install either BetterWB or ClassicWB, update the file system to PFS3, and then get BlizKick from Aminet to install some patches and bug-fixes and map KS 3.1 to your Blizzard's fastram, saving you the trouble of buying and installing new ROM chips.

Devlin · 17 December 2013, 22:33

There's no trouble in me getting new KS3.1 roms. I wanted to avoid remapping but I'll look into it.

What kind of speed increase is installing BetterWB or ClassicWB going to get me? I have avoided them in the past because of it sounding more like eyecandy fluff than actual speed improvements and patches.

What's the advantage of PFS3 over what I have currently? I think I have FFS(Int) - Will it require me to re-install WB? (re-installing isn't much hassle as it sounds but i'd rather not)

Amiga1992 · 17 December 2013, 22:40

They have some patches like fBlit which will surely increase your performance. Even if you just install fBlit you'll notice a change. It loads stuff commonly put in Chip RAM on your Fast RAM. With this it also frees up some of your precious Chip RAM.
http://aminet.net/package/util/boot/fblit

There was also a patch called BlazeWCP which does something regarding C2P... not sure what the speed improvement was but supposedly it did something. Mybe it's only good for gfx cards but I am not sure.
http://aminet.net/package/util/boot/Blazewcp

I Think having a Blizzard you can put the ROM in shadow so it will be much, much faster. So use Blitzkick, even if you don't change your ROMs, if only to shadow your actual ROM. It will work much faster from 32 bit Fast RAM.

Leffmann · 18 December 2013, 18:17

ClassicWB has a lot of eye-candy, but most importantly it does have bugfixes and upgrades like the ones Akira mentioned.

Also, PFS3 is much faster than the old FFS, and yes selection of file system has to be done during partitioning, so you will have to reinstall. While you're partitioning, increase the number of disk buffers for your partitions. Adding buffers eats up fastram quickly, but 100 to 200 buffers should be enough and gives a good speed-up. This together with the SpeedyIDE patch in BlizKick should result in a huge improvement in file operations.

17 December 2013, 06:20	#1
Devlin Bane of Magic Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Bradford, UK Age: 38 Posts: 335	Getting more performance out of my A1200 Right now I have my A1200 and I want to squeeze more performance out of it. For hardware I have stock KS3.0 roms, a Blizzard Mk IV 030/FPU (32MB) and a good old fashioned 2GB HDD and for file transfers I have a PCMCIA CF card reader. For Software, I'm running a stock WB3.1 install with no special software installed - there's an up-to-date SetPatch and that's pretty much it. My startup sequence has a couple assigns and that's the extent of it's modification. I'm looking to make it faster through software mainly, as being broke prevents me from doing much else - I am planning to get KS 3.1 roms at some point though!

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17 December 2013, 08:58	#2
Leffmann Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: Sweden Posts: 2,269	I would install either BetterWB or ClassicWB, update the file system to PFS3, and then get BlizKick from Aminet to install some patches and bug-fixes and map KS 3.1 to your Blizzard's fastram, saving you the trouble of buying and installing new ROM chips.

17 December 2013, 22:33	#3
Devlin Bane of Magic Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Bradford, UK Age: 38 Posts: 335	There's no trouble in me getting new KS3.1 roms. I wanted to avoid remapping but I'll look into it. What kind of speed increase is installing BetterWB or ClassicWB going to get me? I have avoided them in the past because of it sounding more like eyecandy fluff than actual speed improvements and patches. What's the advantage of PFS3 over what I have currently? I think I have FFS(Int) - Will it require me to re-install WB? (re-installing isn't much hassle as it sounds but i'd rather not)

17 December 2013, 22:40	#4
Amiga1992 Registered User Join Date: May 2001 Location: ? Posts: 19,646	They have some patches like fBlit which will surely increase your performance. Even if you just install fBlit you'll notice a change. It loads stuff commonly put in Chip RAM on your Fast RAM. With this it also frees up some of your precious Chip RAM. http://aminet.net/package/util/boot/fblit There was also a patch called BlazeWCP which does something regarding C2P... not sure what the speed improvement was but supposedly it did something. Mybe it's only good for gfx cards but I am not sure. http://aminet.net/package/util/boot/Blazewcp I Think having a Blizzard you can put the ROM in shadow so it will be much, much faster. So use Blitzkick, even if you don't change your ROMs, if only to shadow your actual ROM. It will work much faster from 32 bit Fast RAM.

18 December 2013, 18:17	#5
Leffmann Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: Sweden Posts: 2,269	ClassicWB has a lot of eye-candy, but most importantly it does have bugfixes and upgrades like the ones Akira mentioned. Also, PFS3 is much faster than the old FFS, and yes selection of file system has to be done during partitioning, so you will have to reinstall. While you're partitioning, increase the number of disk buffers for your partitions. Adding buffers eats up fastram quickly, but 100 to 200 buffers should be enough and gives a good speed-up. This together with the SpeedyIDE patch in BlizKick should result in a huge improvement in file operations.

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