#Progressive 040 Speed
7 messages in this thread
I'm going crazy trying to figure out why my Progressive '040 board is
running so slow with programs like Lightwave and Forge (which are heavy
users of the trig functions emulated in the 68040.library software). I ran
SYSINFO and it seems to be recognizing the 040; I do have INIT040 in my
startup; I did re-install the 040 software and it did run SETPATCH for my
2.1 DOS system. But it takes twice as long as it's supposed to when
rendering the chrome teapot in the Kitchen directory, with solid backdrop
turned off (it should be about 35 seconds, at least on a GVP 040, and I'm
getting 1 minute, 9 secs.). Forge is running much slower than even an 030.
Any ideas would be GREATLY appreciated. Thanks.
I have an A2000 w/ PPS 28mhz 040 8 meg 32 bit Ram sys.
Perhaps if this matches your sys we can determine if your really lacking
performance.
My sys takes about 60 seconds to render the Toaster Workstaion scene by
defaults. I can get more specific if you want.
It would be interesting how long this scene takes to render on other
beefier systems. Maybe Dual Alpha 275mhz type system ??? :^)
….John
Thanks, John. I've got an identical system (except with 16 Meg of RAM).
Unfortunately, I don't have the Toaster Workstation scene. I must have
trashed it when I was cleaning up my disk. I would really appreciate it if
you could load a standard object like the teapot, render it with SOLID
BACKDROP off, and let me know how long it takes. Also, SYSINFO supplied
with the 040 board can tell what version of the 68040 library you're
running (upper left; click until it says libraries). My version is 37.4.
I'd be interested in seeing how our speeds match and whether the library
versions make any difference. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks.
PMFJI: Version 37.4 of the 040.library is the oldest version around. I
would suggest getting version 37.10, or even 37.30, which is the latest.
But with the PP&S boards, anything can happen, so keep a copy of 37.4.
You dealer should have 37.10 if they have any 4000's left in the store.
You also may want to check the file libs here…
Trent/ReAnimators
John, I experimented a while back and found the 37.10 (compared to 37.4) about
3%-5% slower. As I understand it, 37.10 was the first version to use the MMU,
nad perhaps this is ther reason for the slowdown.
wmc – via Autopilot!
Thanks, Wayne. That's VERY good to know, as I was just about to go through
the hassle of configuring the machine with 37.10 (which means you have to
get rid of INIT040 and replace it with other PD programs which do the same
thing). As it turns out the culprit in my speed problem was the fact that
I had disabled the memory autoconfig on my PPI 040 board in search of more
contiguous memory. While it gave me that, it also slowed my machine a LOT,
presumably because there was no 32 bit ram in which to load the libraries
on boot up, and therefore they were loaded into the much slower chip ram
(SYSINFO shows fast ram is 87% faster than chip ram). Well, I changed
jumpers to autoconfig 2 megs, and now the machine SCREAMS. Rendering the
chrome teapot went from over a minute to 37 seconds. The Forge previews
are now a joy – no more waiting a minute or two just to see what you've
got. I may try to install the latest (37.30 ?) version of the library to
see if that does anything. I'll post the results if anything good comes of
it.
Ah Haaaaaaa :^)
Good to hear you figured out your problem. Based on your render time and
Waynes comments I may switch to 37.4 now.
….John