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Amiga User Forum · Amiga Hardware

#AdSpeed comments?

12 messages in this thread

#116227From: John DublerSep 28, 1993 7:13 AM

Does anyone here have and use AdSpeed? I'd be interested in any comments, including how decent the speed increase is. *** jd

#116230From: Dave AdamsSep 28, 1993 8:28 AM

John, I have an Adspeed on my 500. It does help with rendering in Imagine, (about 30% faster I'd guess) but beyond that I haven't seen significant improvements. The thing is supposed to work in both 7mhz and 14mhz modes, but the manual said there was a bug in 14mhz mode, to use the 7mhz mode only, and that they would fix it and contact registered users about the fix. Well I've had the thing for almost a year and I have heard NOTHING. I'm extremely disappointed. Dave

#116398From: John DublerSep 29, 1993 9:05 AM

Dave, Thanks for the info. FYI, a brochure I have indicates AdSpeed software is at v2.3, you may want to be sure you're using that version. *** jd

#116521From: Richard BeausangSep 30, 1993 4:30 AM

John, I have an AdSpeeed in my 500 and it works rather well. I run it at 14mhz continuously and it spruces up system performance in general. If I were in the market for a similar product today, I'd look seriously at the Supra accelerator. -Richard

#116529From: John DublerSep 30, 1993 8:14 AM

Richard, Thanks for the info. What's the difference with the way Supra's accelerator works, aren't they both similar? *** jd

#116628From: daniel stripesOct 1, 1993 4:53 AM

I have a SupraTurbo 28 in my A2000. They are also made for the A500. It runs at 28Mhz (twice as fast as AdSpeed). It uses a 16K onboard cache, which is probably at least as important as the clock speed in 'speeding up' the system. It is switchable between stock 7.14Mhz and 28Mhz by use of a toggle hardware switch which is accessible from the outside of the computer and by use of software. I paid $142.55 plus shipping for mine. I definitely think it's a better deal than the AdSpeed now. Oh yeah, almost forgot…it definitely makes the workbench snappier and provides a noticeable speedup of all the software I use (word processors, telecommunications programs, graphics and games) although it is not a 68030/40 with >= 4M of 32 bit RAM. // daniel on autopilot in paradise \X/ with intel and motorola inside

#116748From: Peter CookeOct 2, 1993 1:42 PM

I've got the Supra accelerator, and it works well if I don't activate the upper memory on my AdRam card, otherwise I have to disable the cache and it makes it faster, but not as much. They say it has something to do with needing 4megs of contiguous RAM for the caching to not crash the system, so I start it up in slow mode when I max out the memory. It works perfectly with the CD-ROM add-on to my 500, but I had to give away a Vortex AT-Once to a friend since neither item liked each other. When I get that last two megs for this card I'll find out if I can just keep the entire unit set for high-speed with caching, and put a message up here. Oh yeah, if I boot up the machine without activating the upper 2 megs on the AdRam card I can keep the cache active, and screens flash by faster than my 486-25 PC with Windows (although that's not really a fair comparison, the PC is running in 800x600x256 color mode). Peter

#116838From: Dave AdamsOct 3, 1993 9:07 AM

Peter, From the sounds of it, the Supra should work with my 500 and it's Baseboard 4.5 meg…. As long as it recognizes the memory, I'm wonering if I would have to add commands to my startup sequence…Is the Supra software driven or do you add a command for it in the Startup sequence? Dave

#117179From: Peter CookeOct 6, 1993 12:11 PM

The Supra comes with both a hardware switch and a software switch, which can be used at any time, although the aforementioned cache problem forces me to switch on high speed _after_ enabling the expansion memory, but overall I have found the accelerator a worthwhile addition to the system, and keeps me from lusting after a 1200 too much. Peter

#117280From: Dave AdamsOct 7, 1993 7:19 AM

Peter, Thanks for the info. The price on the Turbo is very attractive. Dave the animating guy

#117396From: MARK R WIRTZOct 8, 1993 4:33 PM

i see you are using the supra 28.. i have been thinking about buing one but not sure how good they are. what set up do you have and have you run into any compatibilty problems… i quess last question should be for the extra $200 or so would you get an 030 instead??? let me know….

#117166From: Richard BeausangOct 6, 1993 4:11 AM

I think those responding to this thread sum it up pretty well. The Supra's specs are somewhat better than the ADSpeed. The ADSpeed also has a cache and is switchable via software or hardware toggle switch. There is no separate switch for the cache, only the speed. Looking at the answers here, it seems you may want to investigate what other add ons you'll be using. -Richard