CompuServe Thread

Same 4MB SIMMs you use now will work fine. I think it'll also use more reas nable 16mb SIMMs and others.

I've tried both the GVP G-Force, and the WarpEngine. The WarpEngine is by far the better deal. The SCSI-II is blazingly fast, the board is very well designed, and it uses any standard 72pin RAM SIMM, including the 4-4MB SIMMs on the 4000. The WarpEninge runs best with 60ns SIMMs. If the SIMMs in your 4000 are 70 or 80 ns, you'll have to set a jumper to add a wait state to memory addressing. Even with the 80ns SIMMs, I noticed nearly a tripling of my previous rendering speeds. As for dealer, and other questions…..Sorry, but I can't help there. Erik Flom

The Macrosystems Development Warp Engine solves many performance problems found in the A4000. The Warp is a replacement CPU module. Therefore, you can buy a version that has a 28, 33 or 40 MHz 68040 processor and replace the entire '030 module. Your existing 4MB 1×32 72-Pin SIMMs can be moved from the A4000 motherboard to the Warp's four SIMM sockets. Memory is now burstable and local bussed to the CPU, providing zero-wait state performance. Note that 70ns RAM or faster would be needed with the 33 or 40 MHz version of the Warp Engine to attain zero-wait state. You can enable wait state options if you are using slower RAM, however. Another nice feature is that you can mix different 72-Pin SIMMs on the Warp. For example, you can have (3) 4MB 1×32 SIMMs and (1) 16MB 4×32 SIMM installed, thus providing you with 28MB of Fast RAM. The Warp uses the NCR (now AT&T) 53C710 TolerANT SCSI-2 chip, like the one found on the Commodore (now manufactured and marketed by DKB) A4091. Since the SCSI controller is also local bussed to the CPU, you do not have the DMA problems associated with the A4091 and older Buster-9 chip. As you may know, the Buster-9's biggest problem was a defect in handling Zorro-III compatible cards, which the A4091 is. (It should be noted that the A4091 works fine with Buster-11 and Rev 3.1 '040 modules.) The 53C710, in the Warp design (full 32-bit DMA access), can achieve up to 5MB per second in the Asynchronous mode and up to 10MB per second in the fast Synchronous mode. Overall, the 40MHz version of the Warp Engine is 1.6 to 2 times faster (using 60ns RAM) than a stock A4000/040. We have several of the Warp Engines in use at our Scala Studios division and are used in our tradeshow equipment. We have several InfoChannel installations that also use Warp Engines. They have all worked admirably and reliably for almost a year now. If I were to redesign the A4000 motherboard, I would insist on adding the Warp Engine technology. Call your favorite Amiga vendor for availability. Regards, John Chang

PMFJI, I recommend MegageM as a source for the WARP. Daniel Wolf is the owner (he is here on line, 70250,626) or call him at 1-805-349-1104. Ii have purchased my Warp and other hardware/software from him. His prices and support are great. Jim R. Ollick on a Warped 4000/040/40 Using AP from Bergenfield, NJ

John, You can move the mem from your motherboard to the Warp Engine. If it's 60ns it's FAAAASSSTTTT. Otherwise, the Warp Engine will have to use a wait state to use the mem. Best bet (what I did) was to get 60ns mem when you get the Warp Engine — you can mix and match SIMM sizes all you want, so that mem will get used first then the slow motherboard mem. I have no idea what a "good price" would be … depends on how nice you are to your dealer, I guess <grin>. I could recommend a dealer (but none where you are) … or, I supposed you could call MacroSystems directly … altho their customer service isn't the best around.