Amiga.org
Amiga computer related discussion => Amiga Hardware Issues and discussion => Topic started by: amiware on June 13, 2008, 09:05:29 PM
-
Hello I remember to have almost half meg of graphic memory on A600 and 0 ofother memory.
Now I have bought this item on ebay:http://cgi.ebay.it/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=140237217406&ssPageName=STRK:MEWA:IT&ih=004
and I tought to have 1 meg but I see 1706552 of graphic mem and zero again of other memory.
if I type avail I have:
available in use maximum largest
chip 1701320 394808 2096128 1687336
fast 0 0 0 0
total 1701320 394808 2096128 1687336
now I wonder:
1) why I am still having "zero" of fast memory ?
2) is chip memory the same thing of graphic memory ?
3) what to do to have more fast memory?
4) how much megs do I have now on my Amiga ?
Many thanks
Amiware :rtfm:
-
sounds pretty easy. You now have 2mb chip ram (and obv some of it is in use) and no fast ram.
As the A600 came with 1mb chip as standard, sounds like you have a pretty normal setup for an expanded A600
Tom UK
-
what to do have more fast ram ?
for what is good to have more fast ram ?
-
amiware wrote:
what to do have more fast ram ?
for what is good to have more fast ram ?
there are expansions that plug in and give amigas fast ram they are rare for the 600. chip ram is shared with the chipset so the cpu doesnt have exclusive access so it is slow. fast ram is called that because it is not shared. most programs can use fast ram if you have it and run fast when it is in use.
fast fam is possibly one of the most important upgrades for an amiga
-
The belly slot is for 1MB Chip expantion to bring it up to 2MB Chip. It is NOT for Fast Memory upgrades. For Fast you need to get a PCMCIA sram card upto 4MB, CPU Accelerator card with Fast RAM support, or one of the just released homebrew RAM expantion cards!
-
fast fam is possibly one of the most important upgrades for an amiga
IMO it is THE most important upgrade. Putting a simple Blizzard, which only adds 4 MB fast ram, in an Amiga 1200 speeds up the computer tremendously. It's enough for plenty of WHDLoad gaming :-)
-
I have a 4 MB PCMCIA fast ram expansion. It makes a difference. They pop up on e-Bay sometimes. The 68000 and the PCMCIA slot can address 16-bit fast ram only. You need a 32-bit accelerator with built-in ram slots to get a substantial speed increase.
Wasn't there a hack to use other memory modules in the PCMCIA slot as fast ram?
-
doctorq wrote:
fast fam is possibly one of the most important upgrades for an amiga
IMO it is THE most important upgrade. Putting a simple Blizzard, which only adds 4 MB fast ram, in an Amiga 1200 speeds up the computer tremendously. It's enough for plenty of WHDLoad gaming :-)
Well that is true for the A1200, but with an 68000-based Amiga like the A600 one would probraly have a hard time feeling the difference between chip and fast in reallife ...... unless you run your WB in 16 color Hires+overscan that is :-P
-
@ TjLaZer, That's tosh, the trapdoor accepts fast RAM too, mine has that.
-
tokyoracer, that's not possible. don't forget we're talking about A600 here. trap door slot is chip ram only, no possiblity of fast ram.
-
tokyoracer wrote:
@ TjLaZer, That's tosh, the trapdoor accepts fast RAM too, mine has that.
Actually it's 100% accurate.
-
alexh wrote:
tokyoracer wrote:
@ TjLaZer, That's tosh, the trapdoor accepts fast RAM too, mine has that.
Actually it's 100% accurate.
But... How? :-?
I have 1mb chip expansion in my A600, it would be VERY nice to convert it to fast ram :-o
-
Chip RAM can't be 'converted' to fast RAM - it resides on the chip bus whereas fast resides on the CPU bus. The only (somewhat) cheap way to get fast is to buy a suitable PCMCIA card.
Actually, chipmem can be considered as better than fastmem because the chipset can use it and the expected speed increase with real fast RAM is hardly noticeable (except when you run 3/4 bitplane hires graphic and maybe overscan, as has been noted - 16 colors and severe overscan could slow the machine to a crawl - the like is true for extreme blitter usage).
-
guys he has 2 megs of chip ram (1.7 free or so)
he cant get any more regardless of how he adds it
yes chip probably more important than fast if you arent already maxed out already but he is.
he needs fast ram preferably on an accelerator but in the pcmcia slot if neccesary. i dont have a 600 never have probably never will so like probably like many of you i can discuss chip vs fast speed etc but what the guy needs is actual board names to add fast ram to his 600.
-
ok acording to several sites ive checked the trapdoor is ONLY for chip ram. you have 2megs you cant use any more
the pcmcia slot is very slow for sram cards, very very slow so what you want is an accelerator card with ram. actually all the ones i saw have fast ram on them or a simm slot
several cards were made including:
the apollo 620 and 630 and the winner 630 from act
the e-matrix 630 and t-630 from M-tec
and the viper 630 from dce
all these require opening up the case and clipping the accelerator ontop of the 68000 smc on the motherboard
all of the trapdoor ram cards specifically state that they add up to 1mig of chip ram
-
As I've been saying for ages about RAM for the A600, it's better to have slow RAM than none at all. Given the rarity of A600 accelerators, PCMCIA SRAM cards are the best option. SysInfo even reports my system to be a tiny bit faster with PCMCIA Fast RAM than without.
The PCMCIA speed bottleneck is more of an issue for A1200s, but with the A600's plain 68000, RAM in that slot is more than adequate.
-
@Matt_H:
problem then is obviously you can't use that slot for e.g. a network card...
I want to do a super-a600 type project but the accelerators and ram cards just aren't available... :-(
-
I must be lucky then. I own a 2MB PCMCIA card and a 4Mb - note the b, not B - card (when fully populated). I used to use the PCMCIA card alot when I was developing software using my real Amiga's (before they broke).
Regards,
Lonewolf10
-
There are another ways to add more RAM to the A600, the LordV RAM expansion (you find more info here in A.org), and some guy is developing a new A600 accelerator... ;-)
More information when the design improves itself, thanks to other nice guys around the world (thanks Zetr0, Alexh, Stedy and TC for real support and ideas).