#68030 upgrade?
12 messages in this thread
Bill,
I have the same GForce 30 with the 68EC030/40 CPU and once asked a
GVP tech on the phone if I could make the swap – and got an
affirmative answer. Just plug the regular 68030 in – the MMU will be
functional. What I didn't get from him was whether I could go to the
50mhz CPU and/or coprocessor – thought of it after the call.
I have a suspicion that you can but, like you, would like to see that
answer confirmed from someone who really knows.
Stew Bloemer
Stew,
I did get the OK to install a full 68030 chip and have done so. It works fine.
Memory World didn't have 68030/40 chips so I bought the 50mhz chip but am still
using the 40mhz crystal. I will order the 50mhz crystal and coprocessor
sometime soon and give them a try. I have some other installations to sort out
first however.
Thanks for your response.
Bill
Hi Bill
Sorry fo butting in but please correct me if I am wrong but I though
the maths coprocessor was built into the full 68030 and left out of the
68EC030. can you tell me if I am wrong. What comes up under FPU when you
run Sysinfo ????
CHeers Neil
Neil M Blair
Flying Low at Mach 2 on AutoPilot out of Germany
Neil,
just jumping in to answer your question.
When I run SysInfo on my 60EC030 A4000 it plainly says:
FFP: NONE ( Boo-hoo )
Tony.
Driving my deck on AutoPilot
Bill,
The difference between the 68030 and 68EC030 is that the 68030 has an MMU,
not an FPU (I think <g>), the FPU is always an optional unit.
Kevin 68030/40 A1200…
Flying AutoPilot from Surrey in the UK
Kevin,
You are right in saying the EC has MMU taken out, but does not have FPU in any
version of the 030 or 040.
—-Richard Daniel
Michael,
The 040 does indeed have a built-in FPU unit.
Neil,
The 68040 has a built-in FPU, not the 68030. The EC030 has a disabled
or non- functional MMU. The 68030 requires an external FPU chip, 68881 or
68882.
Bill,
You might want to rethink using a faster oscillator. Other chips on
the board might not be rated to run at the higher clock speed, and you could
have problems. You should find out from GVP if it is OK to use a faster clock
on that board.
Steven,
Thanks for your response. Your suggested problem is precisely what I am
concerned about. Interestingly I have posted this question twice in AmigaVendor
forum/GVP section. GVP has not responded at all. This makes me wonder. It would
seem that if it was a likely or definite problem they would say so. Perhaps
it's likely to work but they don't want to be implicitly responsible if it
fails. Anyhow I am quite pleased with the performance so far of the board as it
stands so I will probably just leave it that way. I have plenty invested in that
old beast anyhow.
Again thanks.
Bill
Bill,
It's difficult to know how GVP approached the design of the board. If
they spec'd all the "common" chips to run at the fastest clock speed they might
install on the board, then changing the oscillator and CPU/FPU to run faster
might just work fine. On the other hand if that's not the case, then you could
have problems with either some chip failing (worst case) or erratic
performance. Most chips can be run somewhat faster than their design
frequency, but I think the "rule of thumb" is about 10%. Going from 40 Mhz to
50 Mhz is a 25% increase and it's likely that any clock sensitive chip will not
run reliabably that much faster than it was designed to run.
My advice is don't make that change unless GVP tech people explicitly
tell you it's OK and will work. If the board is still in warranty, such
changes will certainly void the warranty. On the other hand, replacing the 40
Mhz 030 and 882 chips with 50 Mhz chips should present no problem because they
will be running well below their design frequency at 40 Mhz. If you later find
that using a faster oscillator is possible, it wouldn't be much problem to make
that additional modification.
Stew,
You could certainly install the faster chip, but it won't run any
faster than the clock speed of the board. You would have to change the
oscillator module to run at the faster clock speed, but other chips on the
board might not be spec'd fast enought to run at the higher speed. Unless you
want to risk problems, you would be advised to stick with the board's current
clock and save the money by buying the slower cpu and fpu chips, unless you can
only find them at 50 Mhz. The faster chip will work, but not at any faster
speed than the clock.