giovin@medr0.ecs.umass.edu (Rocky J Giovinazzo) (06/02/91)
Sorry about not following the Zip GS chip vs AE's accelerator on the newsgroup, but I'm planning on buying one of these soon. Could any current owners of the above tell me why they like one better than the other? Thanks, Rocky Giovinazzo
PKBRANDON@MSUS1.MSUS.EDU (06/03/91)
I've got a ZIP GS (8/32), my son has a TranswarpGS. Performance of the base units seems to be roughly equivalent. I'd vote for the ZIP on the basis of: 1) price 2) lower power consumption 3) ease of upgrading 4) price. ------------------------------------------------------------------ --- Paul Brandon Psychology Dept Mankato State Univ --- --- PKBRANDON@MSUS1.MSUS.EDU Mankato, MN 56001 --- ------------------------------------------------------------------
giovin@medr0.ecs.umass.edu (Rocky J Giovinazzo) (06/03/91)
In article <706DEEC2200101B1@MSUS1.MSUS.EDU> PKBRANDON@MSUS1.MSUS.EDU writes: >I've got a ZIP GS (8/32), my son has a TranswarpGS. Performance of the >base units seems to be roughly equivalent. I'd vote for the ZIP on the >basis of: 1) price 2) lower power consumption > 3) ease of upgrading 4) price. How about compatability? Have there been any problems? Also, I thought that TWGS was supposed to be easier to upgrade. How do you upgrade the Zip GS without replacing the whole thing? Do the ZIP people have a good (cheap) upgrade policy or something? Thanks for the info, Rocky Giovinazzo
PKBRANDON@MSUS1.MSUS.EDU (06/03/91)
ZIP TECH's stated policy on upgrades is that they'll do it with a 48hr turnaround; their prices are reasonable. In addition, I was told over the phone by a customer service technician that the cache chips could be added by a user (they're standard static RAMs). To increase the cache on the TWGS you have to buy a "piggyback" board for $85-90; I haven't seen anything about a CPU upgrade. At any rate, the memory cache seems to be the most cost-effective way of upgrading an accelerator. As far as compatibility, I haven't had any problems yet. ------------------------------------------------------------------ --- Paul Brandon Psychology Dept Mankato State Univ --- --- PKBRANDON@MSUS1.MSUS.EDU Mankato, MN 56001 --- ------------------------------------------------------------------
geniusman@pro-hindugods.cts.com (Chris Moylan) (06/04/91)
In-Reply-To: message from giovin@medr0.ecs.umass.edu >How about compatability? Have there been any problems? Also, I >thought that TWGS was supposed to be easier to upgrade. How do you >upgrade the Zip GS without replacing the whole thing? Do the >ZIP people have a good (cheap) upgrade policy or something? I have a TransWarp GS and have been VERY happy with it. I believe to upgrade the processor, all you do is pull off the piggyback chips that are mounted on a seperate PC board, and plug in the new processor. Also, there is a 32k ram upgrade available now for TWGS which I believe requires you to pop out your old RAM chips and put in new ones. As for compatibility, I have yet to have ANY piece of software not run correctly, from and DOS. Chris Chris Moylan | ProLine: geniusman@pro-hindugods CoSysop: Hindu Love Gods BBS | Internet: geniusman@pro-hindugods.cts.com 313/644-0481 | UUCP: crash!pro-hindugods!geniusman 300-9600 bps, v.32/v.42/v.42bis | ARPA: crash!pro-hindugods!geniusman@nosc.mil
giovin@medr3.ecs.umass.edu (Rocky J Giovinazzo) (06/04/91)
In article <1DDD4EB00000DD40@MSUS1.MSUS.EDU> PKBRANDON@MSUS1.MSUS.EDU writes: >In addition, I was told over >the phone by a customer service technician that the cache chips could be >added by a user (they're standard static RAMs). To increase the cache on >the TWGS you have to buy a "piggyback" board for $85-90; I haven't seen >anything about a CPU upgrade. At any rate, the memory cache seems to be >the most cost-effective way of upgrading an accelerator. I think I have a bunch of these chips sitting in my closet (and I plan to soon purchase a zip gs). How many do I need to fill up the board? I assume that they have to be added in groups of something (like groups of 4 or something). Thanks, Rocky Giovinazzo
PKBRANDON@MSUS1.MSUS.EDU (06/05/91)
The ZIP GS has four sockets for cache RAM. The chips go in in pairs. The size of the chips determines whether you get 8/16K or 32/64K (2 or 4 chips) of cache. I didn't get precise specs on the chips; you'd have to check with ZIP TECH. The _speed_ of the chips would be crucial; that's why you need the cache in the first place! Paul Brandon
bigd@pro-gsplus.cts.com (Dave Adams) (06/09/91)
In-Reply-To: message from geniusman@pro-hindugods.cts.com As for the Transwarp 32k Cache update it takes a bit more than replacing chips. You have to remove the old cache (the whole piggyback board) and put on the new one. You also have to cut some bowtie traces with something like a knife ( I used a Gerber mark II but an Xacto knife or a razor blade would probably be better). It's something of a pain in the fourth point of caontact.....that's the posterior for all of you nasty legs out there.... Big Dave Adams | There are many times in life when you BigD@pro-gsplus.cts.com | just have to suck it up and drive on. America Online: Theodorick | So quit sniveling.--SFC Canfield