Sonnet QuadDoubler in an Amiga 3000D!
Raj
Hi Everyone,
This is really just an FYI post for anyone looking to give their A3000
a little speed boost. This might already be known, but I wanted this
to be out there just in case. :) I had a little extra cash to spend
and I found this interesting device from Sonnet called a QuadDoubler:
http://www.sonnettech.com/product/quaddoubler.html
I pulled the old 68040 off of my A3640, plopped the QuadDoubler in and
amazingly it ran with no problems. I have noticed a significant speed
increase. I downloaded a program from AmiNet called "SysInfo" and ran
the speed test. Next step was to learn how to do a screenshot! :) I
found a little program to do that also. Results below:
http://www.c64.us/a3k50mhz.htm
Hope this helps. One note... I had to bend the metal on the front of
the A3000D out a little because the board sticks out a little.
Enjoy!
/*Raj*/
Mike Leavitt
From the picture, I don't see how it is going to fit in the processor
slot. Its connector does not look remotely like the one on my MKIII,
from what I could see.
Also where did you bend the case, at the back or side or both?
--
Mike Leavitt ac...@lafn.org
Raj
>> I pulled the old 68040 off of my A3640, plopped the QuadDoubler in and
>
>slot. Its connector does not look remotely like the one on my MKIII,
>from what I could see.
Mike... Notice that I said *A3640* above. :) That's the only board I
had for experimentation.
>Also where did you bend the case, at the back or side or both?
Neither. I bent the front out a little.
/*Raj*/
Robert Sutherland
the link. are they down or something?
Robert
"Raj" <r...@intelstarbase-01.net> wrote in message
news:bi0imu49v7i3uivdi...@4ax.com...
Mike Leavitt
The MKIII (at least the original P5 one) fits the case, and is a lot
bigger than a 3640 is. Ok if you bent the case out at the front, what
did you do with the floppy drive, move it over the the center
position?
--
Mike Leavitt ac...@lafn.org
Raj
<ras...@datawerks.net> wrote:
>Sounds cool, but I get a "Page Cannot Be Displayed" error when I click on
>the link. are they down or something?
Robert,
I just checked (10:48 EDT) and was able to access the Sonnet web page
with no problem. Could be your firewall or your ISP.
/*Raj*/
Raj
>The MKIII (at least the original P5 one) fits the case, and is a lot
>bigger than a 3640 is. Ok if you bent the case out at the front, what
>did you do with the floppy drive, move it over the the center
>position?
Case?!?!?! haha! I haven't had that particular A3000D in one piece
for probably three years now. :)
You have a good point though... I will probably bend the case back and
cut out that section of the case with a Dremel (metal cutter
attachment) and then also have to cut out the section of the drive
tray because the fan on the heatsink come up a bit high.
Lots of work... *sigh* Of course my little A3000D has no less than 5
fans and 12 heatsinks in it right now. It runs nice and cool! I have
one of these on the old built in processor because for some reason it
still gets hot:
http://www.1coolpc.com/mightymite1.htm
I have one of these on the Paula (I think that's the right name) chip:
http://www.1coolpc.com/memcool1.htm
I have some of these on the square chips that get hot:
http://www.1coolpc.com/minisink1.htm
And a TON of these little guys on some of the super hot chips on the
left side of the case:
http://heatsinkfactory.com/cgi-bin/HFAstore.pl?user_action=detail&catalogno=VC-009
Is it over kill? Probably... but I would rather be safe than sorry
when it comes to my little Amiga baby. :) Besides... Heat is BAD! :)
/*Raj*/
Gary Goldberg
<ac...@lafn.org> wrote:
I asked Sonnet which of their 4 QuadDoublers was right for an A4000/040/25
and got back some kind of rude answer that they don't support Amigas,
never did, noted that Mike had to bend some things, and said the Amiga
was obsolete anyway.
--
Illiterate? Write for free help!
(Remove "X" from address to reply)
ARTIFICIAL intelligence? What we need is the real thing!!!
Richard R. Johnson
Raj wrote:
I just tried something. I asked sonnet which quaddoubler to use. We will see
what happens.
rich
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Raj
<mech...@mwt.net> wrote:
>I just tried something. I asked sonnet which quaddoubler to use. We will see
>what happens.
Rich,
Sonnet does not support Amiga so they will most likely *not* help you.
:( Mine is the 50/100 model and it works perfectly on my A3640 board
in my A3000D.
/*Raj*/
Mike Leavitt
Finally I see the light, you installed it on your A3640, not directly.
OK, that clears things up as to how it was mounted. So I would have
to upgrade the Chips in my wife's A3000 for the 3640, buy one, and
then buy the Sonnet QuadDoubler to do this, and then bend up the case.
At the end she would still need a ZIII memory board to get more than
16 megs of ram. Sounds like an older 040 accelerator might be a
better bet, if I could get my hands on one. If you have an A3640 in
your machine, though, it sounds like a good way to go. I bet it would
work in an A4000 too.
--
Mike Leavitt ac...@lafn.org
Jared Falvo
platform issues, that I can think of. If it's an 040 module in an 030
socket... that can probably get hairy, if the way the Amiga and Macintosh
address the 030 socket are different. But otherwise, I wouldn't imagine
there being a problem. If someone else risked it and succeeded, then go
with their lead. I would.
Jared
----------
Raj <r...@intelstarbase-01.net> wrote in message
news:d97vmugrr5ebdn52r...@4ax.com...
Raj
<lupo...@azob.quik.com> wrote:
>If all it does is plug a faster 040 into an 040 socket, there should be no
>platform issues, that I can think of. If it's an 040 module in an 030
That's exactly what I did... pulled out the old 33MHz 040 and replaced
it with a 50MHz 040.
>socket... that can probably get hairy, if the way the Amiga and Macintosh
>address the 030 socket are different. But otherwise, I wouldn't imagine
>there being a problem. If someone else risked it and succeeded, then go
>with their lead. I would.
Mine is running just fine. :) I even have Debian Linux on another HD
and it runs well also. If anyone wants a picture of what it looks like
I don't mind posting it... just incase anyone thinks the benchmark
picture I posted earlier was forged.
/*Raj*/
Raj
>Finally I see the light, you installed it on your A3640, not directly.
>OK, that clears things up as to how it was mounted.
Hey Mike,
I have updated the page on my web server to show a picture of the
Sonnet QuadDoubler in my Amiga 3000D. Hope this helps.
http://www.c64.us/a3k50mhz.htm
/*Raj*/
Mike Leavitt
A picture is worth a thousand words. OK it protrudes to the front
more than the MKIII, which, of course was designed for the Amiga. It
would certainly be no problem in a Towered system. Whether you can
manage to get the case back on is another problem. The main problem,
as I said would be floppy drive access, but you could probably move
it forward with a drill. :-) The case would only miss covering to the
back by less than an inch, and duct tape would take care of that. :-))
--
Mike Leavitt ac...@lafn.org
David Power
Does this sound familiar.....
"Sonnet Technologies Inc., Irvine, California (714) 261-2800 manufacture
"booster" chip assemblies for Macintosh MC68020/030/040 computers. This
system works by interfacing a higher speed Motorola processor to the lower
speed system bus. The computer speed is "boosted" by utilizing the
internal data and/or instruction caches of the higher speed processor. A
"mathless" 68LC040 computer can be upgraded using a 68040 which includes
the math processor. There is a possibility these parts could be used in
other systems since they operate "invisibly". Sonnet also sells MC68882
math chips."
Hmmmmm? And the source.....
Frequently Asked Questions - comp.sys.m68k
When.....
October 19th 1994!!!!!
Surely I can't be the only one who remembers it being sold as an A4000
upgrade way back when? Most of the UK Amiga magazines ran a test, so
I'm very surprised that the rest of the world wasn't aware of it? I'm
pretty sure that a quick Net search will produce the magazine issue
numbers.
The other thing I seem to remember is that it didn't produce much of a
performance upgrade due to problems with slow RAM access?
Have fun,
Dave
Mike Leavitt
> The other thing I seem to remember is that it didn't produce much of a
> performance upgrade due to problems with slow RAM access?
Probably more of a problem on the A4000 than on the A3000, though, and
he is using it in an A3000.
--
Mike Leavitt ac...@lafn.org
Angelo
"Mike Leavitt" <ac...@lafn.org> wrote in message
news:3D6FBDDF.MD-...@lafn.org...
Reading the past posts on this brought back memories and a review I did long
ago on the Quad.
Sonnet Tech of course was NO help if you mentioned anything but MAC
to them so I lied and told them I had a Mac Quadra with a custom case
and needed a Quaddoubler that would orient correctly in the socket so
not to touch anything in the custom case. ;-)
For those who would like to purchase a Quad for their 040 based Amiga
at least for an A3640 orientation the model number to get is
BSW2001004950. This is the 50Mhz version and the pin orientation
allows it to install paralel over the A3640 so you don't have to worry
about clearances around the 3640 only above it.
Mine came with a peltier cooler attached with a heatsink/fan 5v combo
obviously snatched from the pentium overdrive setups of the day.
In an A3000 this combo works very well but in an A4000 the speed
gain is countered by the poor MB memory access problem of the
A3640 in an A4000 system.
I really can't understand Sonnet's anal refusal to talk about using
them in anything but a Mac since it is an 040 upgrade and the
only thing you need to match is the expected system bus
and orientation and they sold several versions just to meet orientation
needs. Probably just because they never tested it in an Amiga and
didn't want the legal aspect if something went wrong which
would be no more rare than installing it in a Mac anyway.
The final franken-3000 setup I used the quad in was an A3640
mated with the X-Caliber ram upgrade mated with the Quaddoubler.
giant beastie all together but it works and gives outstanding
results. As for the X-Caliber neither I nor anyone else that
I know of that owns one could ever get it to work with more
than 64Mb of ram. The board was designed for 128Mb using
4-32Mb 72pin simms but this was during the time one 32Mb
simm cost over a thousand dollars (not a typo!) and they
probably never tested it properly with more than 64Mb.
Jim
Richard R. Johnson
Raj wrote:
I received a reply from Sonnet stating that they don't support the Amiga, but
they thanked me for my interest in Sonnet products. I would think that either
unit would work on the 3640 board. I don't see where there is any software
involved.
Raj
<mech...@mwt.net> wrote:
>I received a reply from Sonnet stating that they don't support the Amiga, but
>they thanked me for my interest in Sonnet products. I would think that either
>unit would work on the 3640 board. I don't see where there is any software
>involved.
Told ya... As I have stated before... It DOES work on my A3640 in my
A3000D. :) I even posted a picture of it on my web page (see one of
posts above for the URL). No there is no software involved. It was
just plug & pray. :)
/*Raj*/
MUD
>
> Hi Everyone,
>
> This is really just an FYI post for anyone looking to give their A3000
> a little speed boost. This might already be known, but I wanted this
> to be out there just in case. :) I had a little extra cash to spend
> and I found this interesting device from Sonnet called a QuadDoubler:
>
> http://www.sonnettech.com/product/quaddoubler.html
>
> I pulled the old 68040 off of my A3640, plopped the QuadDoubler in and
> amazingly it ran with no problems. I have noticed a significant speed
> increase. I downloaded a program from AmiNet called "SysInfo" and ran
> the speed test. Next step was to learn how to do a screenshot! :) I
> found a little program to do that also. Results below:
>
> http://www.c64.us/a3k50mhz.htm
CU Amiga magazine ran a review of this product once. Their only caveat was
that it was quite expensive. I too think that you'd be better off just
getting a good 060 board as that gives you the ram on the accelerator.
coldfire
Mike Leavitt
Ok, it doesn't go in the CPU slot directly, I guess I'm just slow.
Actually I'm still confused. I should have seen that from the
picture, but never having seen a 3640, I guess I din't know what I was
looking for.
--
Mike Leavitt ac...@lafn.org
Mike Leavitt
> The final franken-3000 setup I used the quad in was an A3640
> mated with the X-Caliber ram upgrade mated with the Quaddoubler.
> giant beastie all together but it works and gives outstanding
> results. As for the X-Caliber neither I nor anyone else that
> I know of that owns one could ever get it to work with more
> than 64Mb of ram. The board was designed for 128Mb using
> 4-32Mb 72pin simms but this was during the time one 32Mb
> simm cost over a thousand dollars (not a typo!) and they
> probably never tested it properly with more than 64Mb.
So if the Quadoubler goes into the CPU slot, how did you use it with a
3640 with an X-Caliber?
--
Mike Leavitt ac...@lafn.org
Raj
>CU Amiga magazine ran a review of this product once. Their only caveat was
>that it was quite expensive. I too think that you'd be better off just
>getting a good 060 board as that gives you the ram on the accelerator.
Coldfire,
Not wanting to start the old Amiga price gouging argument up again...
but do you realize how much the 060 boards cost?!?! I picked up that
QuadDoubler in the Mac section on eBay for $30 USD. If you know a
source for the 060 boards that is less than $100 USD I'd be
interested.
/*Raj*/
Angelo
They both use the CPU "socket". ;-)
X-caliber into the A3640 cpu socket, Quaddoubler into the
cpu socket on the X-caliber.
Jim
Mike Leavitt
> So if the Quadoubler goes into the CPU slot, how did you use it with a
> > 3640 with an X-Caliber?
> > --
> > Mike Leavitt ac...@lafn.org
> >
>
> They both use the CPU "socket". ;-)
> X-caliber into the A3640 cpu socket, Quaddoubler into the
> cpu socket on the X-caliber.
Ok, but if you don't have an X-caliber, and few do, does the
quaddoubler go into the Amiga CPU slot or attach to the 3640 the same
way the X-caliber does. I'm still confused.
--
Mike Leavitt ac...@lafn.org
Paul R. Rezendes
a few days left still.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2049566345
T
Mike Leavitt
> Raj wrote:
> > On Sat, 31 Aug 2002 20:29:11 GMT, MUD <m...@I.hate.spam.com> wrote:
> >
> >>CU Amiga magazine ran a review of this product once. Their only caveat was
> >>that it was quite expensive. I too think that you'd be better off just
> >>getting a good 060 board as that gives you the ram on the accelerator.
> >
> >
> > Coldfire,
> >
> > Not wanting to start the old Amiga price gouging argument up again...
> > but do you realize how much the 060 boards cost?!?! I picked up that
> > QuadDoubler in the Mac section on eBay for $30 USD. If you know a
> > source for the 060 boards that is less than $100 USD I'd be
> > interested.
> >
> There is another one on ebay now currently at $30. Check it out. Its has
> a few days left still.
>
> http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2049566345
Too late, that quaddoubler is now up to $31.00. :-)
--
Mike Leavitt ac...@lafn.org
Richard R. Johnson
Mike Leavitt wrote:
Are you still confused Mike? If so, you remove the 040 chip from the 3640 board and
plug the quaddouble into the 040 socket. The 3640 board then plugs into the cpu
socket on the motherboard. I hope this thins the mud a little bit.
Angelo
The Quaddoubler goes into the 040 cpu socket wherever
there is one. A3640, Cyberstorm, etc.
Jim
Angelo
That one it appears has the wrong orientation. You would need to hack
or bend the case on a desktop Amiga.
The part no. that fits over Amiga accelerators properly (the one I have)
is BSW2001004950.
I'll ask the seller about orientation, might be worth a look.
Jim
Gary Goldberg
<r...@intelstarbase-01.net> wrote:
Good to know! Thanks!
Tim
Doubler 50Mhz! It said it worked on the A4000/040...
I remember because I was drooling and wanted one real bad!!!
Tim
"David Power" <dave....@ntlworld.com> wrote in message
news:3D702AB0.MD-1....@ntlworld.com...
Ash Wyllie
>I remember seeing an ad in Amiga World by Sonnett themselves for the Quad
>Doubler 50Mhz! It said it worked on the A4000/040...
I had one, and it used a lot of power. A number of test programs showed a
speed up, but when there was a cache miss performance slowed dramatically.
-ash
for assistance dial MYCROFTXXX
Ryan Callaghan
Raj <r...@intelstarbase-01.net> wrote:
> Hi Everyone,
>
> This is really just an FYI post for anyone looking to give their A3000
> a little speed boost. This might already be known, but I wanted this
> to be out there just in case. :) I had a little extra cash to spend
> and I found this interesting device from Sonnet called a QuadDoubler:
>
> http://www.sonnettech.com/product/quaddoubler.html
>
> I pulled the old 68040 off of my A3640, plopped the QuadDoubler in and
> amazingly it ran with no problems. I have noticed a significant speed
> increase. I downloaded a program from AmiNet called "SysInfo" and ran
> the speed test. Next step was to learn how to do a screenshot! :) I
> found a little program to do that also. Results below:
>
> http://www.c64.us/a3k50mhz.htm
>
> Hope this helps. One note... I had to bend the metal on the front of
> the A3000D out a little because the board sticks out a little.
>
> Enjoy!
> /*Raj*/
Hmm, at the prices these go for used it might be worth getting one for
my A2k, has anyone here ever heard of one working in a fusion 40? I know
my card won't clock higher than 28MHz (I guess from that it's an early
version) but as the quaddoubler doesn't alter the system clock I may be
ok, I just need to find an orientation that fits, with any luck it'll be
the same one as for my Performa, in case it doesn't work...
While on the note of unsupported upgrades, anyone tried 16MB simms in
the fusion 40? I'm working on the assumption that they didn't exist in
1991, and so might work...
--
Ryan
Jeff Artz
at 50mhz? If so, then the 100/50Mhz model would be a nice, cheap speed
boost for my Desktop A4K... ;-)
Also, has anybody installed one of these on an A4k? Any clearance
problems/issues?
Jeff
"Ryan Callaghan" <call...@aston.ac.uk> wrote in message
news:callagrm-556FFB...@news.news.demon.net...
Angelo
"Jeff Artz" <j_a_...@netzero.net> wrote in message
news:bvcj9.546415$UU1.88936@sccrnsc03...
> Sorry if this has been asked/addressed before, but can the 3640 be
clocked
> at 50mhz? If so, then the 100/50Mhz model would be a nice, cheap speed
> boost for my Desktop A4K... ;-)
>
> Also, has anybody installed one of these on an A4k? Any clearance
> problems/issues?
>
> Jeff
The A3640 cannot nor does not get clocked at 50Mhz with the
Quad. Only the CPU, it still interfaces the MB at 25Mhz
but still provides quite a boost especially for rendering
and other FPU intensive items.
With the A4000-D another problem arises with the A3640.
Mem access is crippled with the A4D and 3640 combo.
One of my monster systems gets around this with a
Frankenstein piggy back setup.
A3640-Xcalibur-Quad
The Xcalibur is a ram expansion unit that plugs
into any 040 socket providing up to 128Mb
of ram access local to the processor without the
bottleneck of MB access.
It was created specifically to overcome the
mem access shortfall of the A3640.
Jim