MMR and Supra – BAD NEWS
6 messages in this thread
I found the Mega Midget Racer to be quite less than adequate. I just got
it on Friday and just sent it back. I installed it and I immediately got a
red screen with a error in one of the boards. CSA couldn't even tell me
what the error meant! Pathetic! Then, when I click on Continue at the
bottom, it boots from the hard drive and only found one meg of RAM when I
should have 3! Definately a compatability problem with the SupraDrive
500XP! Well, I called CSA and they said I should ditch my ram and get some
32 bit DRAM (I already had the 512 SRAM)
$500! Yeah right! Like I can afford another $500 on top of the $600 I
just spent! I'm a college student! I can't do that! I guess, I am doomed
to a life of 68000 chips and slow processor. Also, when I ran SYSINFO with
it installed it only ran about 10% faster! NOT! Not for $600. I didn't
have the co-processor because I had to get a BigFoot to power the whole
computer which bumped me up to $662 total! I now await my money via mail
and will go back to the trusty (and fast) AdSpeed. I have heard people
getting 70-80% increases! For only $200! Can't beat that!
Thanks for listening! I just wanted to vent my frustrations. If anyone
has a SupraDrive 500XP DON'T get the MMR! POS!
Sorry. I'll shut up now!
Jonathan,
I have no idea why your SupraDrive should be compatible with the MMR.
I will say that I've gotten real leery of add-ons that plug into the CPU
socket (which I believe the MMR to be). Probably irrational of me, but
there it is.
CSA did have a point when they said you should buy some 32 bit RAM.
The 68030 likes to make longword memory fetches, to keep its cache filled.
If you don't have 32 bit memory, it will have to make two memory fetches
for every longword. Obviously, this slows the processor down something
fierce. In fact, it's quite possible for an '030 to run *slower* than a
68000! So you really do want that 32 bit RAM if you have an '030
accellerator. (The above is from memory, from some old Usenet postings by
Dave Haynie. If I've gotten something wrong, I'm sure somebody will
correct me. 🙂 ) Just FYI; something to remember when you're no longer a
"starving student", and can afford to buy a *real* accellerator. 🙂
–dds (dales@teksce.SCE.TEK.COM)
Whappeta-whappeta-Whap!
Yeah… something to look forward to!
Thanks,
Jon
I've got the MMR but with the Supra Wordsync controller, and it seems to be
working fine. I don't have the total speed I'd like to see, but I don't
have 32 bit RAM either. An article I read a while back confirmed that the
speed increase is greater with 32 bit RAM than with the added ROM.
Paul
Yeah, that makes sense. My Supra Drive 500XP just went nuts. It only
found the extra 16 bit RAM about half the time and, as I said, the speed
increase was only 10%. That didn't cut it for me. I'm just going to get
AdSpeed until I can upgrade to a 2000 040/50. Long
time to wait!
Jo
Paul
If you add a MMR to your 500, and you have a 500XP you really need to add a
extra power supply to the system. When you do that make sure you are
powering the XP via the external power connecter. This cuts down the noise
produced on the bus by passing the power there. In almost all cases this
fixs the problems with the 500XP and the MMR.
Kenny Supra Tech Support