#SupraTurbo 28?
17 messages in this thread
Just got my AmigaWorld. Anyone know anything about this $199 external
accelerator? Seems too good to be.
—-Paul—–
I know a little about it and some questions you should ask [Keep in mind I'm a
competitor– I make the VXL30 they do the somewhat
slanted comparison to in the ad]
It's a ram-less, fast 68000 and as far as I know it is non-expandable. So how
does one get additional memory or harddisk on the bus? I doubt you could safely
*interpose* a device between the Supra and the Amiga. Thus youve closed off
your Amiga to further expansion. I haven't been able to get my hands on one to
check out their specific benchmark comparisons but if you run
non-32-bit/non-fpu code on an 030 system you can make it look slower than it
really is. It looks like they avoided using VXL's fpu. Plus they quoted an
older higher price for our board. Nonetheless, an upclocked 68000 will always
be cheaper than an 030.
I suppose it depends on what your budget is and how much actual speed you want
and whether or not you plan on expanding your system any beyond the
accelerator.
If anyone from Supra is about, I'm sure they'll chime in with their viewpoint
on all these issues. –Redmond
It has a pass through. I am beta testing for Supra and I am using a Roctec
HD/Ram expansion unit. So far no problems.
That's interesting: they make no mention of the pass-through in their ad. One
would imagine that such an item would be dealt with. Thanks for the insight.
The product is still in the test phase? –Redmond
As far as I know. I spoke to Supra last week and they said they had new
revision and would contact me later about swapping my current one for a new
one.
Mark: would it be possible for you to do an AIBB load module on that
accelerator? I'd like some neutral information on just how fast it actually is.
Thanks for your input. –Redmond
No problem. I'll do it and upload it soon. I'll leave a message to let
everyone know.
Great, Mark. I look forward to seeing the results. –Redmond
I'm interested in the SupraTurbo 28 as a stop gap measure (until I can
afford a 4000 or an 040 accelerator )to prevent premature ageing while
waiting for my stock 2000 to perform complex tasks.
I think it would take off some of the pressure even if things went twice
as fast I think that would be a real improvement.
But, what is this 'pass-through' you guys are talking about? What is the
importance of this?
Scott
Since you have a 2000, the pass through is not relevant. It is only used on
the 500 version. Since the 500 only has 1 expansion port, many of the
peripherals designed to use that port will pass the port signals through
allowing other devices to connect. On my system, the Supraturbo 28 is attached
to the 500 and my hard drive unit is attached to the Supraturbo.
Mark,
Thanks, I get it now. 😉
Scott
Took me a bit to figure out your point. I would be using it on a 2000 so
expansion should not be a problem. And, yup, price is a determining factor
here. Spending a lot of money accelerating a dead end machine ( I 'spect that
will get a rise from someone) is only typical of Amigaphile and Macidiots.
—–Paul—–
I asked Supra about the expansion possibilities while I was talking to
them about another matter, and they stated that as long as the Turbo was
first on the expansion bus, that I could use my Supra Ram 500RX. I guess
we'll have to see.
It's a souped up 68000 clocked at 28MHz.. Probably a good add on for
some programs, it would probably work well to accelerate programs that
don't like faster processors (IE '020 + )
-Jonathan
Only happy to reply, Paul. I have a SupraTurbo 28 on my BBS…
..and I like it a great deal. It's not a <FULL> accelerator in terms of
adding 32-bit ram, FPU's, etc. On the other hand, given a four times CPU
speed increase coupled with a 16K cache (which creates a significant
difference from, say, the AdSpeed), I find that it runs quite snappily.
SysInfo reported 3.55 times the performance of a stock 2000 on my system
(roughly half the speed of an A3000 according to SysInfo, again). That's
only my system, but on the other hand, that's SysInfo, not Supra, so it
should be relatively unbiased 🙂
My bias (out in the open) is only that I got it at a discount from Supra
as part of a beta-test agreement…but having seen it in action, I would
buy it w/o discount.
The bottom line for me? It's worked flawlessly on my BBS system for a
month & a half and it makes <ALL> the difference when I'm doing something
behind someone uploading or downloading at 14.4K!!! Makes the system as
snappy as when no one's on, and that's exactly what <I> wanted.
It plops in the processor slot, takes up relatively little space (it's
designed to parallel the motherboard), and was certainly easy enough to
install.
If you have any other questions, let me know.
I'm beta testing also and wholeheartedly agree. It's easily worth $199.
Workbench works much more crisply and when I compile with SAS/C I don't sit and
wait like I used to. I used AIBB for benchmarks and got roughly the same
results (3-4x than a 2000, about 50% of a 3000). I just wish there was some
way to get a floating point unit.
Mark Kelley 75140,1210
I'm a Beta tester for it. Using it on my Amiga 500. At first they had
problems with the 28 and GVP HD's. They've about gotten that ironed out.
I'm told they will release it for sale very soon now. I'm working on a
review of it for posting here. Probably finish it this week end and want
Supra to look at it first.
It has pass through, so you can use it between any hard drives or memory
modules. The 2000 and 5000 versions are basically the same. The 500
version is mounted in a pretty (cream colored case with Blue lettering.
Except for the problem with my GVP, I've had no other problems.
Checked with Sysinfo I got a speed of about 28.4 Mhz.
Rodger