Path: news.uh.edu!barrett From: fugue@cicero.spc.uchicago.edu (Mark Langston) Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.reviews Subject: REVIEW: DKB 1240 40MHz 68030 Accelerator for the Amiga 1200 Followup-To: comp.sys.amiga.hardware Date: 8 Nov 1994 15:48:42 GMT Organization: The Amiga Online Review Column - ed. Daniel Barrett Lines: 266 Sender: amiga-reviews@math.uh.edu (comp.sys.amiga.reviews moderator) Distribution: world Message-ID: <39o6kq$spm@masala.cc.uh.edu> Reply-To: fugue@cicero.spc.uchicago.edu (Mark Langston) NNTP-Posting-Host: karazm.math.uh.edu Keywords: hardware, accelerator, 68030, A1200, commercial Originator: barrett@karazm.math.uh.edu PRODUCT NAME DKB 1240 40MHz 68030 Accelerator for the Amiga 1200 BRIEF DESCRIPTION The DKB 1240 is an accelerator for the Amiga 1200 that fits into the trapdoor slot. It is a 40MHz 68030 accelerator with an FPU socket, an FPU clock crystal socket, a built-in, battery-backed clock, one SIMM slot for memory expansion, and an expansion port for a yet-to-be-released SCSI-2 connector. AUTHOR/COMPANY INFORMATION Name: DKB Address: PO Box 438 Wixom, Michigan 48393-0438 USA. Telephone: (810) 960-8751 FAX: (810) 960-8752 LIST PRICE $179.00 (US) for the bare board. $165.00 (US) for a 4MB, 60ns SIMM, $ 55.00 (US) for a 68882 RC-25MHz PGA FPU, $125.00 (US) for a 68030 RC-50 PGA CPU with MMU. Total mail-order cost: $524.00 (US) SPECIAL HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE REQUIREMENTS HARDWARE Amiga 1200 SOFTWARE None. COPY PROTECTION None. MACHINE USED FOR TESTING Amiga 1200, 2MB Chip RAM Conner CP420 420MB hard disk NEC 3D multisync monitor AmigaDOS 3.0 INSTALLATION [MODERATOR'S NOTE: If you are not comfortable opening up your Amiga, then you should have the work done by an authorized Amiga service center. Opening your Amiga yourself may void your warranty, and careless work may even damage the machine. - Dan] The 1240 that I purchased arrived with the various chips (CPU, FPU, FPU clock crystal, SIMM) separate from the 1240 itself. Nevertheless, putting the chips onto the board was quite simple. Every chip has its own socket, except for the clock crystal, which has a strange solder socket I had never seen before. The clock crystal slides right in but does not sit entirely flush with the board. This is no problem, but I did find it a bit annoying. The manual is quite clear about chip installation, but there are two problems: 1) The pictures referred to in the manual are grainy and of poor quality, making their use as a reference difficult. 2) The instructions for installation of the SIMM board DO NOT MATCH the picture. The picture shows a SIMM being installed with the chips facing AWAY from the board, and the text describes installing the SIMM with the chips FACING the board. The method described in the text is the correct version (chips facing the board). After placing the chips correctly on the board, I attempted to install the board in the trapdoor slot of the 1200. The board was difficult to seat in the trapdoor slot, and was resistant to being pushed onto the card-edge connector. Although this was annoying, it was easily solved by opening the 1200 case, moving the keyboard, and using both hands to guide the board into the trapdoor and onto the connector. This may void your warranty, but due to the current amorphous status of Commodore, this may or may not be a concern for you. Once the board has been properly seated in the trapdoor slot of the 1200, the installation of the 1240 is complete. REVIEW The DKB 1240 seems to be a significant performance enhancement for the stock 1200. The board uses standard SIMM modules which autoconfig on bootup, and the board comes with a program that can be placed in the WBStartup drawer that will remap the ROM to Fast RAM if there is a SIMM present. After installation, I noticed a large speed increase in disk access and screen refreshes. Many of my graphics utilities and applications seemed to run much faster. However, these are all subjective measures of performance. For the benchmark-inclined reader, I have included a summary of AIBB tests run with the 1240 installed. As with all benchmarks, these results should be taken with a grain of salt. Amiga 1200 with new DKB 1240 (Cobra) Board (OS 3.0, v39.106) DKB 1240 Configuration: CPU 40Mhz 68030 w/MMU FPU 25Mhz 68882 4.0 MBytes 32 Bit 60ns FASTRAM 2.0 MBytes 32 Bit CHIPRAM The following results were obtained using AIBB version 6.1. Each platform was run at its respective highest capacity (e.g., the 3000 used for comparison was using '020+ code and FP math, the 4000 was using '020+ code and the '040 FPU for math). For each test, the overall winner is denoted by an asterisk (*) after the test score. Test Result Stock 1200 1200 w/1240 3000/25 4000/40 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- EmuTest 10.66 Sim'd Mhz 1.00 4.23 2.72 8.66* EllipseTest 8.25 Seconds 1.00 1.58 0.98 2.28* LineTest 1204.12 Lines/Second 1.00 0.93 0.62 1.09* InstTest 4085751.32 Insts/Second 1.00 5.05 3.12 5.73* WritePixel 8528.32 Pixels/Second 1.00 2.28 1.19 5.16* Matrix 1.56 Seconds 1.00 4.15 2.76 4.40* Sieve 4.55 Seconds 1.00 3.36* 2.14 2.70 IMath 3.26 Seconds 1.00 3.39 2.11 4.86* Dhrystone 14350.69 Dhry/Second 1.00 4.46 2.75 9.34* MemTest 7.45 MBytes/Second 1.00 2.26 2.38* 1.27 Sort 5.14 Seconds 1.00 4.30 2.65 7.31* Savage 3.36 Seconds 1.00 98.93 98.68 117.06* Flops 0.4484 Scalar MFl 1.00 33.34 33.53 193.77* FMath 2.90 Seconds 1.00 14.45 13.87 124.15* TranTest 7.20 Seconds 1.00 60.31 47.80 81.25* FMatrix 3.71 Seconds 1.00 3.74 3.08 8.25* FTrace 3.74 Seconds 1.00 61.63 57.79 107.83* BeachBall 12.56 Seconds 1.00 24.31 19.53 76.59* CplxTest 4.07 Seconds 1.00 5.10 3.66 14.43* As you can see from the results above, the 1240 greatly improves the performance of a stock 1200, moving it into the same class as an Amiga 3000 at 25MHz. DOCUMENTATION The 1240 comes with a 6-page printed manual. The directions are well written but somewhat sparse. The 1240 is a brand new product, however, and I expect the documentation quality to improve over time. As mentioned earlier, the pictures in the manual are of poor quality: black and white and very grainy. This is unfortunate, since they are referred to as visual aids to installation. The manual fails to address two topics I think are very important for an accelerator. The first topic is whether or not the Fast RAM is mapped into the memory area reserved for PCMCIA cards. There is no mention of this subject, except on the last page, in the Troubleshooting section. Here, they suggest removing any PCMCIA cards before booting up, as they may be a source of possible trouble. This does not explicitly address the PCMCIA/RAM conflict, but it does suggest that Fast RAM is mapped into this area. The second problem is that the manual does not address any operation issues. As an individual unfamiliar with the 68030 chip, I would have really appreciated a section describing how the board can be used to increase software performance. It would have also been helpful if there was a section on the use of the various caches and the MMU on the 68030 chip. Apparently, the MMU is not automatically turned on at bootup, and I am at a loss as to how one can enable it. These problems aside, the manual is adequate for the beginner as an installation guide. LIKES Aside from the overall performance improvements, I particularly like the fact that the board is fully autoconfiguring, and that it accepts standard (non-proprietary) SIMMs. I also appreciate the inclusion of a separate socket for the FPU clock crystal. There is a jumper on the board to switch between a separate FPU crystal and the CPU crystal. This eliminates the need to purchase yet another crystal if a 40MHz FPU is installed. I also particularly like the jumper that allows the user to disable the built-in clock. I have heard that most accelerators with an on-board clock conflict with any other clock installed in the system. This jumper is a handy way to get around this problem if you already have a clock installed. DISLIKES AND SUGGESTIONS I dislike the overall quality of the manual, particularly the pictures included with it. I also dislike the vagueness with which the PCMCIA/RAM conflict is presented in the manual. I would really like to know whether or not this board will cause problems if I decide to install PCMCIA cards. Unfortunately, I do not own any, so I have no way to empirically test this. There is one other problem with the board: When I try to warm-boot the computer using CTRL-Amiga-Amiga, the computer no longer recognizes my hard disk. This is probably not a problem with the board itself, but instead the fact that I am using a stock A1200 power supply. I am fairly confident that if I upgrade to a stronger power supply, this problem will disappear. All in all, I would give this board a thumbs-up. It seems to win in a price/performance comparison. It met my expectations for an accelerator of this class. On the other hand, I had already heard about other people's problems with similar A1200 accelerators, so I had a good idea of what to expect. COMPARISON TO OTHER SIMILAR PRODUCTS I have no experience with other 1200 accelerators, so I cannot honestly make any direct comparisons. You may want to consider the AIBB results for an idea of how the 1240 stacks up against the 3000 and 4000. BUGS None. VENDOR SUPPORT I have not had any need to contact DKB for support yet, but it is my understanding that they have a friendly and helpful support staff. WARRANTY The 1240 is covered from one year from date of purchase. Only the board itself is covered, as far as I know. If, however, you order the board directly from DKB with chips already installed, I'm sure they would cover that, as well. DKB does not cover shipping expenses, and there is no information about transferring the warranty. CONCLUSIONS I like it. I have been in need of more speed and RAM for quite some time now, and the 1240 meets my needs. Your mileage may vary, of course, but I'm quite happy with an AGA equivalent of an Amiga 3000. I'd give the product 5 out of 5 stars for performance, but only 2.5 out of 5 for documentation. COPYRIGHT NOTICE Copyright 1994 Mark C. Langston. All rights reserved. --- Daniel Barrett, Moderator, comp.sys.amiga.reviews 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