Path: rcfnews.cs.umass.edu!barrett From: u4arg@csc.liv.ac.uk (Alistair Gutcher) Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.reviews Subject: REVIEW: Blizzard 1230-IV accelerator for A1200 Followup-To: comp.sys.amiga.hardware Date: 21 Mar 1996 01:55:11 GMT Organization: The Amiga Online Review Column - ed. Daniel Barrett Lines: 429 Sender: amiga-reviews@math.uh.edu (comp.sys.amiga.reviews moderator) Distribution: world Message-ID: <4iqctv$sqf@kernighan.cs.umass.edu> Reply-To: u4arg@csc.liv.ac.uk (Alistair Gutcher) NNTP-Posting-Host: knots.cs.umass.edu Keywords: hardware, accelerator, 68030, A1200, SCSI, memory, commercial X-Review-Number: Volume 1996 Number 9 Originator: barrett@knots.cs.umass.edu PRODUCT NAME Blizzard 1230-IV BRIEF DESCRIPTION The Blizzard 1230-IV Turbo Accelerator Memory Board is a 68030 50 MHz accelerator, RAM expansion, FPU, and SCSI-2 capable card for the Amiga 1200. COMPANY INFORMATION Name: Phase 5 Digital Products Address: In der Au 27, D-61440 Oberursel, Germany Phone: (06171) 583787 U.K. DISTRIBUTOR There may be more than one but I obtained mine from Gordon Harwood Computers (Alfreton, Derbyshire). Price was 399.95 UK pounds for the 50 MHz model with MMU and 8 MB of luurrvely RAM. The memory was on special offer and was quoted as being a 60ns SIMM. Insured 48 hr. carriage and the Gold warranty was included in the price. LIST PRICE Well, dunno, but it was advertised in Amiga Format for U.K. pounds 179.95 for the bare accelerator. SPECIAL HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE REQUIREMENTS HARDWARE An Amiga 1200. SOFTWARE AmigaDOS 2.1 or higher. COPY PROTECTION None. Well, copyright means that Apple or Microsoft can't very well copy it can they.....:) MACHINE USED FOR TESTING Amiga 1200 standard model from Commodore, revision 2B, 2MB Chip RAM, stock power supply (23 watt A600 type (according to the underside of it), lightweight type). 8MB 50 ns 72-pin, 32-bit Seimens SIMM, single sided. Kickstart in ROM, V39.106. Workbench 39.29. Hitachi DK221A-34 2.5 inch 340 MB IDE hard drive (1.1 Amp) INSTALLATION Before I start: BEWARE. The following describes opening up your Amiga's case and if you are unsure of this or still have a warranty on your machine then doing this can invalidate your warranty, your sanity, and your whole damn machine if you do not take the appropriate anti-static precautions beforehand. Please pay attention to this. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED. I have done this sort of thing before in my machine with a previous RAM only expansion and found that it saved a heck of a lot of time, effort, and mucking about to just remove the top of the case, lift it over, move the keyboard out of the way, pull back the metal shielding in the vaccinity of the edge connector for extra safety from short circuits, and just tilt the board and plug it in. Unsurprisingly, the same idea applied here also. (NB :- if you are looking down from the top of the machine the idea is that the 'lip' of the board goes ABOVE the support guide rail i.e. inside the machine, not outside). The problem is that the board will not go more than about 3mm onto the edge connector by the strength of your fingers alone (unless your first name is Arnold and your surname begins with S and is almost unpronounceable). I had to use a screwdriver and use the leverage from the plastic case of the A1200 to force the git on. Suddenly, just when you think you are about to break the thing it jumps forward fully onto the connector with a reassuring firmness. Nice one. All done. There is no heat sink or fan supplied with the board but it doesn't say in the manual that it needs one. The memory came already fitted to the board by Harwoods. The processor faces downwards so the underside of the computer desk acts as one big expensive heat sink. On other products my friends have, the CPU faces the underside of the keyboard (so you can warm your fingers while typing on a frosty cold winter's night ;) . There are two jumpers on the board, one for mapping the ROM into Fast RAM and one for the RAM speed setting. Mapping your kickstart ROM into RAM will help speed up the execution of commonly used system functions, since the ROM is slower, even though it is 32-bit wide. Doing so will obviously cost you 512K fast RAM. A funny thing here, though. I thought that the ROM was copied across into RAM and then the MMU is activated to point to the start of the ROM image in fast RAM, but when you run either Sysinfo or AIBB they both state that the MMU is disabled or not in use. However, when I use the AmigaDOS 'cpu -fastrom' command and then run the info progs again they both say that my MMU is 'in use' or 'enabled'. Odd. The second jumper can only be set if you have 60ns SIMMS or greater. It allows you to decrease the wait states (presumably to zero) on your memory . You need this jumper to be set (as long as your mem is fast enough) otherwise the INST BURST and DATA BURST modes will be unavailable). I enabled both jumpers (mapping = on, faster mem = on). You don't have to tell the board via jumpers what memory it has on board because this bit is autoconfig. I chose not to replace the trapdoor lid after installation because: 1) It was held rigidly in place by the support rail, 2) It provides extra cooling to make a good reliability. REVIEW Right, you are now ready to try loading Workbench. WHHOOAAA!!!!! This thing is excellent. Nice large amount of 'other' memory in the titlebar, bootup time reduced to 15 seconds for fully loaded Workbench with AREXX, BlitzBlank, Virus Checker, Toolsdaemon, fairly lengthy 's:user-startup' and 8-colour high res PAL screen. Same stuff took 26 seconds before. A general look around makes you realise this is like a completely new machine. 8-Colour mode is blindingly fast, 256 colour mode is now *very* useable, icons pop up VERY fast, text scrolls like lightening, and GIF decoding feels faster than HP-RISC or 486. You can now have backdrops on WB in 256 colours, use MUI and AMosaic Web browser or Digital Universe without waiting 'till Christmas for all that OOP C++ code to do it's stuff. How the hell did I live without this before? Oh yeah, I can now emulate a Mac at the speed faster than the Uni's IIci as well, should I wish it. There is no software whatsoever with this Blizzard card, but what on earth do you need it for anyway? It is completely autoconfig and transparent in use . I must say also, that the engineering of the board is absolutely beautiful. It is a pity it has to be hidden away when it is in use! There are only two things of software that appear to be incompatible with this board. Wordworth 3 for some reason objected to it, and I heard that Imagine 3.0 guru's (although it was a very old version apparently). Absolutely everything else worked fine including Imagine 2.0, Final Writer 4 Lite, etc, etc... What else can I say about this product? It is fabulous. A REAL performer at a bargain price. Buy one tomorrow, you won't regret it for a instant. FAQs (unofficial) from Usenet about this board to be answered to the best of my ability coming up next! Check these benchmark performance figures out first though... AIBB V6.5 TEST MODULE Revision 2B motherboard, Commodore original A1200, 8MB 32-bit 50 ns SIMM. Setpatch 40.3, KS 39.109, WB 39.29 Comparison base: 1200 (no fast mem) Code: 68000 [020 where stated] i.e. 020 code was used wherever possible. CPU used for all operations [no FPU utilisation in comparison systems tests although they may have one present] 1200/030/50 A3000/25 A4000/040 EmuTest 5.85 2.76 9.19 Writepixel 3.09 1.16 5.11 Sieve 4.17 2.08 3.20 Dhrystone 6.11 2.77 9.55 Sort 5.31 2.65 7.26 EllipseTest 1.97 0.98 2.28 Matrix 5.00 2.51 4.68 IMath 4.92 2.37 6.43 MemTest 4.61 2.38 1.27 TGTest 1.69 0.91 1.80 LineTest 1.11 0.62 1.09 InstTest 6.56 3.12 5.73 Savage 5.08 2.45 6.99 Savage 020 5.08 2.45 7.01 FMath 5.54 2.63 9.42 FMath 020 5.57 2.62 9.36 FMatrix 4.97 2.42 5.13 FMatrix 020 5.07 2.46 5.28 BeachBall 4.99 2.39 7.25 BeachBall 020 5.01 2.48 7.20 Flops 5.05 2.43 8.07 Flops 020 5.09 2.44 8.09 TranTest 5.17 2.48 7.16 TranTest 020 5.17 2.48 7.15 FTrace 5.03 2.43 7.31 FTrace 020 5.03 2.43 7.33 Cplxtest 5.47 2.61 7.90 Cplxtest 5.48 2.59 7.99 Sysinfo 3.24 says I am getting 9.90 MIPS. Notice the cool MemTest figure. This is due to two things, one; it looks large compared with the slow memory subsystem on the A3640 CPU module in the stock A4000, and two; I got 50 ns SIMMs for some reason, when I actually ordered a 60ns one. Luck City!! FAQ (MINE) Q1. Is the Fast RAM autoconfig & will games and demos run much faster if they are not on a DOS disk, or does it need a patch in the s:startup-sequence? A1. Yes, it is autoconfig as advertised. Many of these games and demos on non-DOS disks are much faster. Some (e.g. platform games) are not because of the mainly custom chip usage rather than CPU usage. No, you don't need ANY changes to s:startup-sequence or s:user-startup etc. No software supplied with it, as stated before. It is plug and go. Q2. Is the SCSI expansion board available right now? A2. Well, I can't verify this but the advert states they will be available first quarter '96. However, there is good news because the 1260 / 060 50 MHz board also shares the exact same SCSI expansion so there will be quite a demand for these ensuring their production. It is 89.95 U.K. pounds, and also includes a second SIMM socket. It apparently goes from the expansion connector, under the floppy drive, and comes out of that plastic blanked off port at the back of the machine. Q3. Is it SCSI-2 ? A3. Yes, as advertised, but I can't check this yet. Q4. Is the SCSI DMA or not (i.e. will it block all other tasks when accessing SCSI peripherals?)? A4. Yes, as advertised, but can't check. Q5. What is the speed of data transfers from the IDE/floppy drive with the 50 MHz? A5. My Hitachi DK221A-34, 2.5 inch, 340 MB IDE hard drive (1.1 Amp) has now gone up from 800K/sec to 1,193,317 bytes/sec according to Sysinfo 3.24. Floppy access is now at 22,940 bytes/sec. Q6. Can it remap Kickstart for shadowing into fast mem (faster execution of commonly used O/S functions)? A6. Yes, & it takes 512 K of fast to do this. You can either use the "cpu fastrom" command in Dos or the jumper on the board. Q7. Is remapping done by a software patch or jumper? A7. By a jumper or by standard dos command as above. Q8. Is the fast RAM mapped into the PCMCIA port's address space thus disabling the use of it? A8. No, it puts it way above the port and into the top part of the 030's 4Gig address space at $78000000 to $7877FFFF (using 8MB SIMM with Kickstart remap on via jumper). This means you can still use the port exactly in the same way as before. Q9. Does it have Inst cache, Data cache, Inst burst, Data burst and can they be all independently set? A9.Yes, but the Inst burst and Data burst modes are unavailable and appear ghosted with RAM access speeds of slower than 60 ns. With a 60ns or faster SIMM and the fast mem speed jumper set you can have all 4 modes available, and note that no matter how many modes are available, they act independently from each other. Q10. Can it be used for virtual memory with the MMU? A10. Yes, VMM etc. works fine with e.g. big custom page on a paint package. Without it I can't use 1600 x 1200 pixel screens, and with it I can. Simple as that, really. Q11. What memory does it take? 72/76 pin SIMM? 50/60/70/80 ns? Parity/non- parity? Industry standard or GVP? ;) Single or double sided? Fast page mode, EDO, or Ultra fast page mode (4K refresh) SIMMs? A.11. It takes 72 pin or 76 pin (32 or 36 bit, respectively) SIMMs, and ignores the extra (parity) bits on the 76 pin (36-bit) mem. 70 ns (nanoseconds) access or faster mem is required for use with this board. Parity or non - parity mem usable, board regards them as being identical. Industry standard SIMMs with 72 or 76 pins are the only ones usable (NOT GVP type). Single or double sided usable. Standard (fast page mode) or EDO (Extended Data Out) or the better Ultra fast page mode mem is usable. I used a pre-installed SIMM bought with the board which was 8MB, 32-bit, fast page mode, 72-pin, 8 chip, single sided, 50 ns, no parity. Q12. Is CPU surface mounted? Is there a separate socket for FPU? PGA or PLCC type usable? FPU clock speeds below 50 MHz usable? 68881 or 68882? Extra crystal needed? A12. CPU is in a PGA socket, not soldered to board. One socket for FPU, PGA type only. Thus PGA FPU usable only. FPU clock speeds below "not recommended by Motorola" in manual. 50 MHz only. 68882 type FPU only. No extra crystal needed. Q13. Does it still recognise the hard drive after a warm boot (3 finger salute) or does it need a cold boot (off at power)? A13. Yes. Recognised after warm boot every time. Recognised after cold boot 90% of time (may need a warm boot in about one in every 10 cold boots). All early startup menu options usable and it recognises the hard drive every time after any option is set. Wonderful! Q14. Can you completely disable the board and get the machine to act exactly like a stock A1200? How? Keyboard, jumper, or software? A14. Yes. Just hold down '2' on the main keyboard (not numeric pad) to completely disable the board. Hold down ctrl-A-A for more than 10 seconds to return to the accelerator. Q15. Is the clock compatible with all Workbench clock prefs setting programs/ clock progs? A15. Yes. You can set it with sys:prefs/time and show the clock time with sys:utilities/clock. It also doesn't seem to get reset or overwritten by software failures, EVER. My old ram board's clock did though. Q16. Does it take a lot of power? Will I need a new supply to prevent crashes / lock -up? A16. No. I have the 50 MHz 030, 8MB SIMM, and Hitachi 2 1/2 inch hard disk (1.1 amp) and I am still using the standard lightweight type power brick (23 watt). No problems whatsoever, no crashes. I have seen a similar setup with Blizzard II in a friend's machine but the hard drive was 1Gig and the power light was much duller. Q17. How long can you leave it on for with SIMM slot used, hard disk, stock power supply? Does it get too hot? Does it crash / lock up because the power supply gets to hot? A17. With my set up I have used it extensively (150 hours) since I got it so far and it has never gone wrong. This also includes 2 x 12 hours ish renders in Real 3D, and a 7 1/2 hour transfer of a 76 meg file down a serial cable to a PC at 57600 baud. It does make my desk warm up underneath even though it is 3/4 of an inch thick wood. Temperature on the underside of the desk after a very long render session feels slightly cooler than hand warm water. It never gets any hotter, but remember I left my trapdoor lid off. It never overheats. The power supply gets about as warm as a hot cup of tea after 1/2 a day, but never any hotter. No crashes / lock ups experienced. Nice. Q18. Will I have to ever replace the clock battery? A18. Not for a couple of years, I reckon. It is self recharging and socketted so it can be replaced in event of problems. Q19. Is it a brand new '030 processor or a factory second/second hand/from a Mac? A19. It is a brand new beautifully finished, socketted, MC68030RC50B as printed on my chip. Q20. Is it an overclocked CPU? A20. No, it is a full 50 MHz 030 processor. DOCUMENTATION You get a small manual, but the necessary things are explained clearly and concisely. No real technical stuff is explained, but let's be fair-this board is just totally plug-and -go!!! The installation instructions are in a step by step format. LIKES Speed !!! 10 MIPS / 20,000 Dhrystones of pure POWER RAM expansion !!! (YEAH!!) -any industry standard 32-bit SIMM to 128MB SCSI-2 expansion module with DMA & another SIMM slot !!! Plug-n-go !!! -no faffing about... The integration of the RAM, SCSI-2, 50MHz, MMU and no drawbacks into a single product!!! Compatibility !!! -with almost all game/demo/serious software available Can disable board for TOTAL A1200 compatibility at a keystroke!!! Reliability !!! -works perfectly, a dream to own. Real time clock that never gets reset!!! Is there any better 030 A1200 expansion available anywhere in the world? NO!!! Am I mighty pleased with my purchase? YOU BET YOUR ASS!!! If it could cook would I marry it? Errmmm... I might chose Kim Wilde instead, but I can't get her on mail order for 179.99!!! DISLIKES None. (for once in an Amiga product review...:) COMPARISON TO OTHER SIMILAR PRODUCTS I was thoroughly sick of reading about other people's problems with 1200 accelerator boards and was originally going to buy a Blizzard II/III but after hearing other similar rave reviews in comp.sys.amiga.hardware I took a chance on Bliz IV. I have seen a Bliz II in operation but I don't know about that one in detail. I saw the GVP at another friend's house but couldn't possibly afford one at the time. It was good though, but needs special GVP SIMMs at slightly bigger prices.. It was also a whole MIP slower !?. Go figure. BUGS None found. VENDOR SUPPORT Helpline available from Harwoods and at Phase 5, but I haven't tried it. WARRANTY 12 months. CONCLUSIONS I could never go back to a 14 MHz 68EC020. Score: 10 out of 10 This review is dedicated to: R.J.Mical, Carl Sassenrath, and also to the beloved memory of Jay Miner. Thanks for creating my favourite machine, the AMIGA. You can distribute this article in any form, anywhere BUT with the one condition that is must NOT be altered. Any one wanting to alter this review MUST have express permission from the author, A.R.Gutcher (u4arg@csc.liv.ac.uk). --- Accepted and posted by Daniel Barrett, comp.sys.amiga.reviews moderator Send reviews to: amiga-reviews-submissions@math.uh.edu Request information: amiga-reviews-requests@math.uh.edu Moderator mail: amiga-reviews@math.uh.edu Anonymous ftp site: math.uh.edu, in /pub/Amiga/comp.sys.amiga.reviews Web site: ftp://math.uh.edu/pub/Amiga/comp.sys.amiga.reviews/index.html