UK02728@ukpr.uky.edu (06/25/91)
I've got a few questions for all the Amiga hardware gurus and wannabes:
1) Lately, at least two companies have come out with modules that replace
the 286 chip in IBM AT compatible computers with either 16 or 20 mHz
386sx CPUs. These products use ram caches to compensate for accessing
the slower RAM on-board the ATs. Has anyone been daring enough to
remove the 286 chip from their AT Bridgeboard and replace it with one of
these modules. (Oh, yeah, the companies: Kingston Technologies markets
SX NOW, AOX makes the other. Intel also makes one, but it is only
warrantied in an IBM PS/2 model 50 or 60.)
2) Has anyone been even more daring and replaced the 286 from ATonce
replaced with one of these CPU upgrades?
3) Is the ECS (extended chip set) used in the A3000 available for the
A2000? If so, what are the going market prices for the upgrade?
Is it available for the A1000?
4) What are the differences between the A3000 and the A2000? and can the
2000 be upgraded to be completely compatibility to the 3000? if so,
how?
Thanks,
Nolan Whitaker
a/k/a LEGAL EAGLE
UK02728@ukpr.uky.edu
73030,427 CIS
CHBS63A Prodigyburkert1@platon.fmi.uni-passau.de (Klaus Burkert) (06/26/91)
In article <30310@know.pws.bull.com> UK02728@ukpr.uky.edu writes: >I've got a few questions for all the Amiga hardware gurus and wannabes: > >1) Lately, at least two companies have come out with modules that replace > the 286 chip in IBM AT compatible computers with either 16 or 20 mHz > 386sx CPUs. These products use ram caches to compensate for accessing > the slower RAM on-board the ATs. Has anyone been daring enough to > remove the 286 chip from their AT Bridgeboard and replace it with one of > these modules. (Oh, yeah, the companies: Kingston Technologies markets > SX NOW, AOX makes the other. Intel also makes one, but it is only > warrantied in an IBM PS/2 model 50 or 60.) No, first there is a room problem: typical addons don't fit in between the main- and the sandwich-board. Secondly, it's not too smart to clock an addin higher than the rest without cache. This leads to the third problem: Dual-Ported-RAM and caching doesn't like each other very much -> 680x0, DATA-Cache and BB :-(. There is a German company selling 386sx-Boards as AddOns for the A2088, but the boards are not too stable and you'll loose all the Janus-Stuff. >2) Has anyone been even more daring and replaced the 286 from ATonce > replaced with one of these CPU upgrades? This would be very difficult, because the timing is depending very close to the 68000 and the Vortex-Custom-Chip. >3) Is the ECS (extended chip set) used in the A3000 available for the > A2000? If so, what are the going market prices for the upgrade? > Is it available for the A1000? The ECS-Denise (8373) is available in Germany for 120-160 DM (1 US$ ~ 1,80 DM) The 2 Meg-Agnus (8372B) is used in the MegaChip-Board, which provides 2MB Chip-RAM. The VDE of the A3000s is availabe as A2320 FlickerFixer from C=. This was for the A2000b/c, I don't know for A500, A1000 and A2000a. >4) What are the differences between the A3000 and the A2000? and can the > 2000 be upgraded to be completely compatibility to the 3000? if so, > how? The A3000 comes with 32-Bit RAM (Chp and Fast), 68030 & MathCo, HD and VDE. The (stock) A2000 comes with 16-Bit RAM , 68000 and without HD or VDE. But the A2000 can be upgraded to the A3000, with one exception: The A3000 has 32-Bit-access to Chip-RAM, the A2000 always 16-Bit. Ciao, Klaus. ------------------------------------------------------------- Klaus Burkert email: burkert1@platon.fmi.uni-passau.de Brandweg 11 voice: +49-851/83993 D-W-8390 Passau / Federal Republic of Germany
mks@cbmvax.commodore.com (Michael Sinz) (06/26/91)
In article <1991Jun25.190346.18644@forwiss.uni-passau.de> burkert1@platon.fmi.uni-passau.de (Klaus Burkert) writes: >In article <30310@know.pws.bull.com> UK02728@ukpr.uky.edu writes: [stuff deleted] >>4) What are the differences between the A3000 and the A2000? and can the >> 2000 be upgraded to be completely compatibility to the 3000? if so, >> how? > >The A3000 comes with 32-Bit RAM (Chp and Fast), 68030 & MathCo, HD and VDE. >The (stock) A2000 comes with 16-Bit RAM , 68000 and without HD or VDE. >But the A2000 can be upgraded to the A3000, with one exception: > The A3000 has 32-Bit-access to Chip-RAM, the A2000 always 16-Bit. Also, the A3000 has Zorro-III bus which is a 32-bit bus design that can have more memory and *MUCH* higher speeds. It also has a 32-bit DMA harddrive controller that can DMA into all memory, including the memory above the 16-meg line (the old Zorro-II limitation due to 24-bit addressing) /----------------------------------------------------------------------\ | /// Michael Sinz - Amiga Software Engineer | | /// Operating System Development Group | | /// BIX: msinz UUNET: rutgers!cbmvax!mks | |\\\/// When people are free to do as they | | \XX/ please, they usually imitate each other. | \----------------------------------------------------------------------/