brian@grebyn.com (Brian Bishop) (10/12/90)
If any of you out there have 2000 accelerator boards in use and can
send me some feedback, I'd appreciate it. I've recently come into a
slight windfall and am considering various configurations. I'm leaning
toward GVP, but all responses are welcome.
Things I am interested in:
1. How much of a difference does 32-bit memory make vs. 68030 speed?
i.e. are the bucks better spent on a faster processor,
or a slower one with 4 Meg of 32-bit memory (I think the latter)
2. How good is the built-in hard-drive option? Will a non-scsi hard
drive on the accelerator be noticebly faster than my scsi?
3. Any particular pitfalls to watch out for? I would like to speed up
my turbo-silver ray tracing, and also do even more multitasking
than I am able to now. Can I expect most of my favorite terminal
programs, compilers, etc. to work OK? (I know many of my games will
break)
4. Any other useful hints you can give me.
I am considering blowing the whole wad and getting the 50 Mhz
68030, with 4 Meg and an 80 Meg Quantum, and licking my chops for unix.
But, then again, a 33 Mhz 68030 with 4 Meg would probably be almost as
good, and is a LOT cheaper.
Hep me!
Brian Bishop (brian@grebyn.com)
----
"All that we are is the result of all that we have thought. It is
founded on thought. It is based on thought." - Buddha
I suppose, at times, I could be considered an agent of Zyga Corporation.daveh@cbmvax.commodore.com (Dave Haynie) (10/17/90)
In article <22581@grebyn.com> brian@grebyn.UUCP (Brian Bishop) writes: > If any of you out there have 2000 accelerator boards in use and can >send me some feedback, I'd appreciate it. >[...] I'm leaning toward GVP, but all responses are welcome. Well, so much for taste :-) But at least they have a decent reputation. > 1. How much of a difference does 32-bit memory make vs. 68030 speed? > i.e. are the bucks better spent on a faster processor, > or a slower one with 4 Meg of 32-bit memory (I think the latter) 32 bit memory makes all the difference in the world. Even a fast 68030 will not make a noticable improvement in system speed, other than via the floating point unit, without 32 bit memory. In fact, with the caches off, it'll probably run slower to 16 bit memory than a plain 68000. 32 bit memory is not only wider, but faster too. When I did the Commodore 680x0 boards, it was clear that a 68020/30 board without 32 bit memory is silly. Most of the 3rd parties sell them without 32 bit memory. That's kind of like when you used to buy a C64 without a disk drive -- sure, it worked, but it really didn't do what 99% of the buyers really wanted it to be doing for them. > 2. How good is the built-in hard-drive option? Will a non-scsi hard > drive on the accelerator be noticebly faster than my scsi? It'll be in the same ballpark as any other non-DMA controller, if you get a good drive with it. While GVP would like you think it's real fast because it's on the 32 bit card, the on-board disk controller is really a 16 bit IDE drive, otherwise known as an AT-bus drive. Basically, you have an imbedded PC-AT controller in the disk drive, and signals close enough to the AT bus to drive the thing. The main disadvatage over SCSI is that this only drives hard disks, not tape or other devices. But it cost GVP around $4.00, I estimate, to put the controller function on the board (you need three TTL buffers, LS will do, a ROM, and a PAL or two for Chip select and autoconfig). > 3. Any particular pitfalls to watch out for? I would like to speed up > my turbo-silver ray tracing, and also do even more multitasking > than I am able to now. Can I expect most of my favorite terminal > programs, compilers, etc. to work OK? (I know many of my games will > break) They say lots of games break, but I guess I don't have any of those games, cause all of mine (though a rather small collection) work just great. So do most programs. Forget about TextCraft if you haven't already. Not working on a 68020/30 board, by definition, is a BUG in Amiga parlance -- all the rules have been well known since before the A1000 shipped. > I am considering blowing the whole wad and getting the 50 Mhz >68030, with 4 Meg and an 80 Meg Quantum, and licking my chops for unix. >But, then again, a 33 Mhz 68030 with 4 Meg would probably be almost as >good, and is a LOT cheaper. True. I don't know just what kind of memory they put on the 50MHz board, but you're already getting so many wait states at 33MHz, I doubt the 50MHz board makes the kind of difference the clock speeds would indicate. You have to judge it by price, and any benchmarks you can find, to see which gives you more MIPS/Buck. > Brian Bishop (brian@grebyn.com) -- Dave Haynie Commodore-Amiga (Amiga 3000) "The Crew That Never Rests" {uunet|pyramid|rutgers}!cbmvax!daveh PLINK: hazy BIX: hazy Standing on the shoulders of giants leaves me cold -REM