#ADSPEED Accellerator
17 messages in this thread
Has anyone purchased the ADSPEED accellerator? If so, is it worth the
money? Where is a good place to buy it? How easy was it to install? Of
all the accellerators (for the 500), the ADSPEED seems like the best deal.
My opinion may be a little biased, but here goes: AdSpeed just about
doubles the speed on computational things, like fractal generation, ray
tracing, Pagestream screen redraws and printing, etc. Moving large amounts
of data into chip ram, like running animations, will not be improved as
much (only about 35%). It is VERY easy to install. Just open the
computer, remove the (socketed) CPU chip, and plug the AdSpeed board into
this socket. AdSpeed is shipping, be we are horrendously back ordered.
Should be cleared up in two or three weeks. We've hired almost 10 new
people in production, but it takes a while to get them trained enough to
put AdSpeeds together.
Craig,
How much does ADSpeed go for? I currently have a Mega Midget Racer for my
Amiga, and love the speed increase. My girlfriend has an Amiga 2000 (Mine
is an a500) and she uses Pagestream constantly. She has seen how my 030
speeds up Pagestream, and loves it. But she can not afford a MMR, how in
your biased opinion will the ADSpeed speed increase compare with the MMR?
Joe
Can't give you a comparison, but my tests with pagestream, though not
extensive, show a halving of screen redraw time and printing calculation
(if you leave out the disk access times). List price for AdSpeed is
$349.95.
Craig
What's the difference between the ADspeed and the hardware hack using a 14
MHz 68000 ?
Big differences. AdSpeed only clocks the CPU (and the cache ram) at the
higher rate. The entire rest of the system is left running at normal
speed, and the interface between AdSpeed and the computer emulates normal
speed. How does it make the computer go faster? you may well ask. The key
is using a cache. Once instructions are in the cache, it is no longer
necessary to access system ram (or rom) to get them; they can be accessed
from the cache at full speed. The result is that loops are executed at
double speed on all passes except the first. You get a real, very visible
speed increase.
Craig
Are all writes passed through? Does the cache monitor DMA writes to ensure
that the cache is valid? Are both instructions and data cached, or data
only? Finally, is the AdSpeed CPU a 68000 or 68010 (or something else)?
Thanx – Chris
All writes are written both to the cache and to system memory. DMA is
monitored. Both instructions and data are cached, since there isn't a
reasonable way to differentiate with this method, and it helps with a lot
of operations. And it is a 68000 rated at 16MHz. Compatibility was the
goal, and, besides, 68010s aren't available rated at a high enough speed.
Craig
Craig:
As anyone tried using the Adspeed with the Atonce by Vortex. Since they
both plug into the CPU slot, I was wondering. I believe the Atonce has a
68000 CPU built into its board so how would a guy do it.
-George
Well, it will be pretty tall for a 500, but it will work. Here's how:
remove the 68000 from the bottom of ATOnce. Solder a socket on ATOnce above
the 68000 place. Plug AdSpeed into this socket. Plug ATOnce into the CPU
socket of the computer. Viola!
Craig
Hmmm.. How about the AdSpeed and the Ad-IDE? Your ads don't state they will
complement each other.
I understood that the 68010 was produced at higher clock rates in a PGA
(pin grid array) format, although this may have been exclusively for Apple.
Overall, I have heard very little.
I've been looking around, and the average price (mail order) is ~$225. The
tricky part is to find a place that has them in stock, and doesn't charge
20% shipping. Sounds like shades of the Miata, eh?
– via Whap!
A bit different than the ST market? 😉
Thanx for the info. Everyone I talk to (so far) gives the ADSpeed a
"thumbs up". Question: How much of an increase can I expect ARChing and
unARChing files (all formats in RAM:)?
– via Whap!