Amiga.org

Amiga computer related discussion => Amiga Hardware Issues and discussion => Topic started by: woz on July 30, 2003, 09:46:33 AM

Title: Can you upgrade the Cyberstorm/Blizzard PPC cards.
Post by: woz on July 30, 2003, 09:46:33 AM: Just a thought here, can you upgrade the CPUs on the CyberStorm/Blizzard PPC cards. I remember you could upgrade the old 386/486 PCs with a plug on CPU upgrade, like the make-it-486 upgrades that used to be out. It would be great if you could.
Title: Re: Can you upgrade the Cyberstorm/Blizzard PPC cards.
Post by: Diezman on July 30, 2003, 11:45:50 AM: Not really. The G3's and G4's have different pinouts. The only thing
you can do is overclock the CPU. There are several web pages that
demonstrate how it can be done.

--Aaron
Title: Re: Can you upgrade the Cyberstorm/Blizzard PPC cards.
Post by: bloodline on July 30, 2003, 11:50:20 AM: Quote

woz wrote:
Just a thought here, can you upgrade the CPUs on the CyberStorm/Blizzard PPC cards. I remember you could upgrade the old 386/486 PCs with a plug on CPU upgrade, like the make-it-486 upgrades that used to be out. It would be great if you could.

It does seem a shame to me, I often think about this... my thoughts always go like this:

1. BlizzPPC upgrade... Technically not feasable.
2. Build a new Card... no need for a 68k.
3. Use a cheap x86 and include a 68k->x86 JIT with it.
3. Add a GPU and Audio DSP on that card, oh and don't forget USB, sATA...
4. Don't really need the A1200... :-?
5. Damn, might as well just buy a Cheap PC*... :-(

That's how it goes every time...

-Edit- *Cheap PC, or Pegasos or AmigaONE...
Title: Re: Can you upgrade the Cyberstorm/Blizzard PPC cards.
Post by: woz on July 30, 2003, 12:23:27 PM: It is a shame that you can't just plug on an overdrive chip, a G3, or even a 604e chip, that would give all the blizzard PPC owners a bit more power, extending the life of their PPC card. Funny how no one's brought out an upgrade for lower end PPC market though, just look at all the PC CPU alternative upgrades out there, PowerLeap, Evergreen etc.
Title: Re: Can you upgrade the Cyberstorm/Blizzard PPC cards.
Post by: bloodline on July 30, 2003, 12:39:20 PM: Quote

woz wrote:
It is a shame that you can't just plug on an overdrive chip, a G3, or even a 604e chip, that would give all the blizzard PPC owners a bit more power, extending the life of their PPC card. Funny how no one's brought out an upgrade for lower end PPC market though, just look at all the PC CPU alternative upgrades out there, PowerLeap, Evergreen etc.

Well as you can see from my train of thought, it's cheaper just to buy a new machine than to mess around with the BlizzPPC... it really has no technical advantage at all. Even a PCI slot would have given it an edge but it doesn't have one :-(
Title: Re: Can you upgrade the Cyberstorm/Blizzard PPC cards.
Post by: itix on July 30, 2003, 03:49:35 PM: There are two upgrades available for CSPPC & BPPC:

OS4 & MOS. 200% performance boost guaranteed :-D

Available from.. erm.. well.. yeah :-D :-D :-D
Title: Re: Can you upgrade the Cyberstorm/Blizzard PPC cards.
Post by: olegil on July 30, 2003, 04:06:09 PM: Upgrading an upgrade really isn't a good idea. Much better to just make a clean break and throw the old one out. Not that I ever throw anything out, but you get my drift :-)
Title: Re: Can you upgrade the Cyberstorm/Blizzard PPC cards.
Post by: Xand on July 30, 2003, 05:16:34 PM: Maybe at some point we'll see Elbox grab a bunch of the Mac PCI G4 cards, relable them, jack the price way up, and you'll have a G4 upgrade. Maybe they'll even call it a SharkPPC. Who knows? ;-)
Title: Re: Can you upgrade the Cyberstorm/Blizzard PPC cards.
Post by: woz on July 31, 2003, 10:04:33 AM: I agree with you on that one, sounds typical of Amiga develipers/retailers ripping of the Amiga comunity again.