A600 PCMCIA Fast Ram

[Harrison]

I have an A600 with 2MB chip ram, but no fast ram, and the only easy way to add some fast ram to the A600 is via the PCMCIA slot, with the only option being to try and track down a very rare A600 accelerator.

I know that due to PCMCIA Fast Ram cards being 16-bit, adding ram via such cards will slow down the speed of an A1200. However, what about an A600? Will a ram card also slow an A600 down?

And what PCMCIA ram cards will work with the Amiga? I know they need to be 16-bit Type II PCMCIA SRAM cards, but what else would I need to look for?

[Zetr0]

@Harrison

PCMCIA SRAM will increase the speed of an A600 by 60%...

As the A600 only has a 7MHz MC68000 is around 25% of the speed of a 14mHz of an 020, this is all because (not the lady lovin' the milk tray) an 020 is bottlenecked by the CHIP bus and will only perform around half as good as it could.

It is this fact that causes the problem with PCMCIA SRAM. the PCMCIA access is governed by the main Bus, and as such the 020 has to share access times with the rest of the chips... hence the the 10 - 15% loss in performance.

[Harrison]

That's good news then. On some other Amiga forums and sites there are posts saying PCMCIA Ram cards will slow an A600 down. But I will believe you over them any day. ;)

Now the only problem is finding one! I had a look on ebay, but there was one one and the guy wanted £25 + postage which is way too much. Are the cards known by any other name? Something else I can search for to find them?

[JLPedro]

I have this 2MB Pcmcia card that i use in my A600 (2MB Chip / 2MB Fast PCmcia) and it rocks with Bloodwich Classicwb GAAE (Classic Workbench Green Amiga Alien Edition), but now i'm tempted to test the speed with SysInfo (don't know with haven't doned it yet), i will defenitly test it tomorow! :yesyes:. PS: Also works great with my A1200 (2MB Chip / 4MB Fast Ram AmitekHawk / 2MB Fast Ram Pcmicia ; 8MB Total), also have to test the impact on speed when using it.

Picture :

http://vlrqyg.blu.livefilestore.com/y1p9ZyrvTcZWJ8ZKIZpxmuKvBvrtfjxs3M7MZFMokq7ewvNMfaswtRpZoKci2VkLl8nhAJlP4N_4V4/Pcmcia%20Fast%20Ram%202MB.JPG

More info tomorrow. :thumbs:

[Harrison]

@JLPedro

That will be interesting to find out. I look forward to seeing your results.

Based on all information I've read, using that card with an A1200 should slow it down quite a lot. Will be interesting to see if that is also true when you test it out.

@Zetr0

What other options did I have for adding fast ram to an A600?

Can any other PCMCIA ram/memory cards be made to work with the A600? I'm thinking of ones like the CF card readers.

[Zetr0]

Luscious Linkie Time

2MB Transcend (http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Memory-storage-card-2Mb-Transcend-sram_W0QQitemZ130244567896QQcmdZViewItem?hash=item130244567896&_trkparms=39%3A1%7C66%3A3%7C65%3A1&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14.l1318)

its at £2 at the moment, and a few hours to go.... I wouldn't spend more than £15 on it.

[Harrison]

Cheers for the link. I just found that one myself and stuck a watch on it. And that will work perfectly with the A600?

I also found a Misubishi card identical to the one JLPedro posted above, but the guy wants £30 for it! Way too much.

[Zetr0]

@Harrison

there is another method,

LDV designed an 8MB internal memory card for the A600, it clips on the chip.

Read more about it here (http://lvd.nedopc.com/Projects/a600_8mb/)

he also offers a download, kit and pre-built boards.

you can buy them here (http://amigasc.nm.ru/english/buy.html)

In the latter it might be wise to *Group* buy as there will be a cost using Western Union, (as pay-pal dont like the USSR or what ever they are called now..)

If you are interested in grabbing a group together, count me in, I would like a couple of boards and a couple of programed CLPD's

:)

[Harrison]

Thanks for the links. 8MB of fast ram in the A600 would be really cool, and $40 (£20) for the expansion isn't expensive at all. But as you say, the shipping costs and the payment fees (I know WU charge silly fees) would really add to the costs.

I've not really got the spare cash to buy one at the moment, but if I decide to later I will see what deals they can do on buying a bulk order of pre-built boards.

[Zetr0]

count me in for a couple then H :)

[JLPedro]

So here goes the tests (used sysInfo 324, clean WB 2.1 on A600 and os 3.5 on the A1200):

First the A600 with 2mb chip ram, result:

Got 529 Drystones, 0,55mips:

http://vlsdyg.blu.livefilestore.com/y1pc42G_8J2UpgKkHgk84CJG-gW6CPW4ukH13PDg3kStWmuP7RihtLq0PGCcCMzyGnTcNDw7F2IO_Y/A600%202MB%20Chip%20No%20pcmcia.JPG

Second the A600 with 2mb chip and 2mb fastram pcmcia, result:

Got 702 Drystones, 0,73mips (not bad! :p):

http://vlsdyg.blu.livefilestore.com/y1plDi2atnonYioAh6ME8YGHE5ETtj08GUDiVrskVEoef7G4jhWmClbcZmqI87nRFDVjDpBte3gtO0/A600%204MB.JPG

http://vlsdyg.blu.livefilestore.com/y1pLcBre-CM86y-7iTK8BZSIdgxsDOdj0YQF3m7DsXsBzHCiRjwDld2d3p6iPdt0Yy7lLbyJ3EwarU/A600%202MB%2B2MB%20Fast%20PCmcia.JPG

Now for the A1200:

First A1200 2mb chip / 4mb Fast ram Hawk accelerator, results:

Got 2401 Drystones, 2,50 mips (passed from 14.28Mhz to 15,20Mhz)

http://vlsdyg.blu.livefilestore.com/y1p9U5S37dDQd90FzAKhqLxqR3ppxHBPn4P7zQykFt4e2oPQzZ_2BRn6J4SrrZnM3bfb6aEB4BmUcE/A1200%204MB%20Fast%20Ram%20No%20Pcmcia.JPG

Second A1200 2mb chip / 4mb fast Hawk accelerator and 2mb fast Pcmcia, result:

Got 2400 Drystones, 2,50mips (suprise! :o doesn't seem to afect the A1200, probably because i'm using the 4mb of the Hawk)

http://vlsdyg.blu.livefilestore.com/y1p9U5S37dDQd9oS3RQ1Uql1YD4S3pCJzx8nl1HN0Xo1hjoemvX95PonspP2l0XfzOA5pOwWI1afqk/A1200%206MB%20Fast%20With%202MB%20Pcmcia.JPG


If you like me to test in other way please let me know :thumbs:

[Zetr0]

@JLPedro

my friend, test the A1200 with the PCMCIA SRAM card but without the 4MB hawk card :)

[Harrison]

Yes. I would also like to see this. The PCMCIA ram without the 4MB hawk. I expect as you have that the hawk's memory is being used in this test and the pcmcia ram is therefore now effecting the results.

[Harrison]

The 2MB SRAM PCMCIA card I won on ebay arrived today and works perfectly in the A600. First time I've ever seen any fast ram in that system. :)