Buffee - 68030 at 3.2 GHz - Will it work on Amiga and worth it?

[drHirudo]

I just saw this article about the Buffee

https://amitopia.com/buffee-68030-at...uction-update/

The Buffee supports everything your Amiga can do right now:

There is a claim that it will be a version of 68030 at 3.2 GHz along with
Autoconfig and Zorro-II
In-socket expansions
All 2MB of chip RAM
Any fast RAM you might have
Any “ranger” RAM you might have
The original OCS all the way to ECS
Floppy drives
Mice
Joysticks
Custom ROMs
CDTV expansion ROMs …

My questions is:
Is it worth to have such fast CPU when the memory, the custom chips and everything else in the Amiga is still slower, thus limiting it's capabilities?

Compared to other accelerators and the Vampire, which is the better choice?
Will the 68030/3200 MHz blow away the competition, or custom made hardware with SuperAGA and similar like the Vampire are still the best classic Amiga choice?

[Retro-Nerd]

Strange project for sure. Reads like you have to config a lot if you want full compatiblilty with old games or demos. If that's even possible.

[Amiga1992]

Preposterous.

[grond]

Originally Posted by drHirudo

The Buffee supports everything your Amiga can do right now

Right now? In present tense?

[drHirudo]

Originally Posted by grond

Right now? In present tense?

That's a quote from the article. May be Michal has some inside info or asked the devs.

[kipper2k]

check here for current status...
https://www.buffee.ca/production-update/

also here

https://amitopia.com/buffee-68030-at...uction-update/

[ross]

Originally Posted by Akira

Preposterous.

I learned a new word.
It certainly derives from Latin because it is understandable somehow in Italian (but I'm pretty sure it doesn't exist!).
Breaking it down are prefix-(prefix|adjective)-subject, pre-post|er-ous
before-(after|coming)-it

So like something totally reversed -> freaking absurd
Right?

Thanks

[dreadnought]

I like this project a lot. Lots of oomph, fast development, and a decent price. I'm just not sure what I, a strictly classic Amiga gamer, would do with 3.2Ghz, so it's probably not for me.

[nikosidis]

This is a easy way to get some extra speed out of your A500, A2000.
Take out the CPU on socket and replace with Buffee.
There are quite some games that will benefit from that.
Only in that regard it is a cheap accelerator that is very easy to install.
Only problem is if it is not compatible enough. That remains to be seen.

It is for sure a big limitation in ECS gfx, busses etc. etc. so yes, the use is limited.
At least there will be no problem to play MP3, FLAC, internet radio or decode other compressed formats.
I guess maybe emulators could be very fast with this too. If you are into legacy programs and spes. raytracers it will for sure fly and set a totally new standard on the Amiga.

As seen with NG Amigas, Vampires or whatever it is not going to be done a lot of games, demos or software for it.

I like this project. It is cool and fun. I will for sure support it.

I need more power for my A500

[drHirudo]

Originally Posted by dreadnought

I like this project a lot. Lots of oomph, fast development, and a decent price. I'm just not sure what I, a strictly classic Amiga gamer, would do with 3.2Ghz, so it's probably not for me.

I don't think it will add much if it is only the CPU at 3.2 GHz. You still have the old memory bus speed, and the Amiga chipset is still at it's own speed. All the CPU instructions will be executed almost instantly (compared to 7,14 MHz 68000 CPU), but then it have to wait for the memory to finish it's cycles, waiting for interrupts coming from the hardware etc..

[dreadnought]

I should have said that I already have ACA500+, so I already have some acceleration and enough RAM for WHDLoad and WB.

Perhaps Buffee could be an alternative to ACA, coz it's a bit cheaper, so even if you have to buy some extras it could be worth it, especially for people who want to utilise its super-speed. But yes, compatibility is a big question.

[ross]

I totally agree with Niko.

If there were 'speed' compatibility problems they could be solved with WHDLoad.
Fast access is for local RAM only, so I don't see any insurmountable issues.

[Amiga1992]

Originally Posted by nikosidis

This is a easy way to get some extra speed out of your A500, A2000.

To do what with it?

[rothers]

Cool new Amiga project... this forum: 'this is stupid garbage'.

Sigh.

[drHirudo]

Originally Posted by Akira

To do what with it?

UnLHA to RAM: with the speed of single click?

[alexh]

I don't understand what people are moaning about. It's a very fast 680x0 accelerator with integrated FastRAM and MAPROM. It's probably going to be faster than any A500/A2000 accelerator ever made. It's relatively inexpensive.

The PiSTorm which is a similar project I think is more interesting as it has RTG, fast bootable storage and could soon have AHI, Ethernet/Wifi. It will never be as fast as Buffee in raw CPU numbers but makes up for it with peripherals.

[Tigerskunk]

Originally Posted by Akira

To do what with it?

See above what Niko wrote..

[fl@sh]

If you recompile amiga roms to arm or use aros roms, you’ll have first amiga native arm experience.
This could be the most interesting part of project.

[malko]

Whaou ! On paper, it simply looks mega interesting .

[cugar124]

This is just really nice if it is as good as promised well who knows but will need to be available in numbers

Sent from my Pixel 4a (5G) using Tapatalk