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Amiga computer related discussion => Amiga Hardware Issues and discussion => Topic started by: blakespot on August 05, 2009, 05:54:22 PM
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Ok, I may grab a SAM440 to play with AmigaOS 4.1. Some questions:
- I see there are 667MHz configs and overclocked 733MHz. How safe is this? I've done my share of overclocking, but would not want to fry a whole SoC in this rare board. Is this something I can easily to on my own, if I grabbed a 667?
- Aside from on-board video and 3 vs. 1 PCI slots - are there other advantages / disadvantages to think about with the 440ep vs. 440ep-Flex?
- Will the Flex fit in a standard minitower case?
- Will most PC power supplies work with both boards?
Thanks.
blakespot
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Dunno about overclocking the CPU.
The flex can take 1 gig of ram while the ep can only take 512 meg.
Yup it fit a standard ATX case.
Yup to PC psu's in both boards.
Gaz
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I bought a pre-build SamFlex with (overclocked) 800MHz. As far as I understand the chips are designed to work fanless under rather rough conditions, so overclocking them when you ad a fan to the box should be no problem. (I am a software guy - my oppinion on HW is hearsay.)
My box runs quite stable, although - well, let´s say Gurus/Reapers still are part of the user experience. Also my USB-Stack/driver seems to be easily disturbed, but USB is bitchy sometimes even on a mac, so I guess I can cope with it.
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It's overclocked by Acube, so fully covered with their 2 year warranty.
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What is the CD-ROM connection on the 440? SATA? Will any SATA drive work?
Tnx.
blakespot
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The SAM Flex has four SATA ports - no IDE
So you will need a SATA DVD drive and hard drive.
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Ok. I don't need a DVD writer, so any regular DVD drive that's SATA will work? Or is there a shortlist that I must choose from?
And will any PC PCI-based Radeon 9250 fit the bill? Thanks.
And does OS 4.1 include a M68K emu layer to run old WB-friendly apps? Or just PPC-based?
blakespot
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Yes any SATA DVD or DVDRW will be OK. We use Sony, Pioneer and Samsung drives without problems in our SAM builds. Any Radeon 9250 PCI that is 5v and 3.3v will be OK. Dual voltage cards have two notches in the gold PCI connector on the card (there is more information in the SAM Flex manual).
OS 4.1 runs 68K apps with its built in emulator called PETUNIA.
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Here is the SAM Flex user manual (see page 11 for PCI information):
http://www.acube-systems.biz/download/flex_manual_0.2.pdf
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@ blakespot
I'm in the exact same situation! debating the 667 vs the 733 for the same reasons ..hmmm
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It's overclocked by Acube, so fully covered with their 2 year warranty.
and this means what after 2 years and 1 day :-)
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The 440ep chip runs very cool- it does not even require a CPU fan at 667Mhz and 733MHz and 800Mhz speeds.
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The 440ep chip runs very cool- it does not even require a CPU fan at 667Mhz and 733MHz and 800Mhz speeds.
I'm playing it safe & getting a 733..besides 3 is my lucky number :-)
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...My box runs quite stable, although - well, let´s say Gurus/Reapers still are part of the user experience....
well it's not a Amiga computer if you don't see the famous Guru every once in a while IMHO :-)
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@ blakespot
I'm in the exact same situation! debating the 667 vs the 733 for the same reasons ..hmmm
Well, I ordered a 733MHz board w/ 512MB tonight from Mr. Amigakit. OS CD as well. Good times ahead.
I do love the retro... (http://www.bytecellar.com/qtvr.html)
blakespot
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Well, I ordered a 733MHz board w/ 512MB tonight from Mr. Amigakit. OS CD as well. Good times ahead.
I do love the retro... (http://www.bytecellar.com/qtvr.html)
blakespot
Congrats on the Samantha!..I'll be joining you with a 733 soon too!... and awesome collection ya got there :-)...damn I thought man was a bit over the top..LOL
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was wondering if you can get a pci card with a built in parallel port for the Sam??
would love to use lightwave on my Sam but I'm not sure about the dongle??
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I use the SAM 800mhz with 1 gig every day and it never GR or freezes unless I am using IBrowse... And this isn't likely to change unless someone is developing a new version of IBrowse... So... I accept this because I still have uses for IBrowse... the freezes (because it doesn't GR) are so few and far between its hardly even worth worrying about but to exclude them would be lying... heh
My SAM 667mhz is happily packed in its antistatic bag, destined for a life of backup but in reality probably won't be used for that capacity...
Enjoy your new SAM!
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So, does the SAM440ep-Flex have a floppy connector? If so, will a standard PC floppy drive function properly in DD mode with DS/DD floppies to work as a 1010-compatible?
Thanks.
blakespot
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No
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I have ordered a HIS-branded Radeon 9250 PCI (3.3v, 5v) w/ 128MB. Should be here Monday, with the board. $50 from Amazon (or so).
Can the increased speed of this board be felt in moving windows around under OS 4.1 as compared to the Mobility Radeon in the 440ep (integrated)?
blakespot
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Will the SAM440ep-Flex fit into this case?
http://microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0265321
It's a MicroATX tower. It says it support 9.6"x9.6" mATX boards. The Flex is a "FlexATX" board (...okay...) that's 8.5"x6.7". Would it work - I mean, rear port areas and posts matching?
blakespot
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@Blakespot
We shipped your SAM Flex (http://amigakit.leamancomputing.com/catalog/advanced_search_result.php?keywords=sam+flex) yesterday so it should be delivered to you by FedEx today.
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So, does the SAM440ep-Flex have a floppy connector? If so, will a standard PC floppy drive function properly in DD mode with DS/DD floppies to work as a 1010-compatible?
i guess you can connect a 1.44 floppy via USB ?
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I have ordered a HIS-branded Radeon 9250 PCI (3.3v, 5v) w/ 128MB. Should be here Monday, with the board. $50 from Amazon (or so).
blakespot
damn wish i had read this thread before buying a local 5v 9250...arghh....anyone want it?
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Got the board yesterday (they tried delivery Fri, tho - I was out). Mounted in Antec case:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/blakespot/3803137175/
Ended up with a 320BG HD.
So. Is there an advantage to having two partitions (aside from swap) or OK to have just one? Do I want the SS01 format for the boot partition? Space is not a issue really, so what is the best performance filesystem?
blakespot
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Got the board yesterday (they tried delivery Fri, tho - I was out). Mounted in Antec case:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/blakespot/3803137175/
Ended up with a 320BG HD.
So. Is there an advantage to having two partitions (aside from swap) or OK to have just one? Do I want the SS01 format for the boot partition? Space is not a issue really, so what is the best performance filesystem?
blakespot
When setting up, we normally do OS4.1 (DH0: ) as SFS/00 2GB, SWAP as SWAP 2GB, and WORK (DH1: ) as SFS/02 using rest of drive.
Seems to work well like that.
Also dont forget to register at hyperions site to get the latest updates for OS4.1.
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Congratz:)
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Sounds good. Any issue with making SWAP like 4GB? Does that slow the system vs. 2GB? This is a 320GB drive, after all...
But I do realize AmigaOS is extremely light weight as far as memory usage vs. other modem OS'.
blakespot
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Sounds good. Any issue with making SWAP like 4GB? Does that slow the system vs. 2GB? This is a 320GB drive, after all...
Depends on whether or not the VM subsystem supports physical address extension. I really don't know if it does or not. I initially thought about using a 20GB swap partition for OS4.1, but in the end went for 2GB.
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i guess you can connect a 1.44 floppy via USB ?
I tried this once and it didn´t work. ... Wait ... let´s try again:
connecting drive - done (it´s an IBM USB Portable Diskette Drive)
pulling out an old dos disk that is known to be working - done (720k DD)
inserting - done (drive spins and blinks led)
look on desktop - no icon for the drive
USB drives usually present an Icon if they are FAT-formatted, so I guess it isn´t working.
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Hmm, the Radeon 9250 I ordered for this SAM440ep-Flex uses 64-bit memory. It seems most 9250's used 128-but memory. Anyone know if this makes a huge diff in practice?
Hm....
blakespot
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I'm truly excited for you Blakespot!
I wish it was me putting this system together...
Best of luck with it!
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yeah the 64bit vs 128bit memory interface makes a huge difference, especially at high resolutions. its WELL worth finding one with a 128bit interface.
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As of April, SAMimgas did not recognize over 128MB of video RAM on the card. Is that still the case? Even still, I suppose the 128 of a 128-bit board's 256MB of video RAM would be accessed via the same 128-bit channels, so...
blakespot
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128 max at the time IIRC. Maybe 256 in the future.
I have 64-bit version myself and running 1920x1080 where can I experience slowdowns?
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Got it together.
This Radeon 9250 128MB is not listing a 1600x1200 screenmode. What's up?
I should be able to do 1600x1200 on this screen...? (1280x1024 is max listed in ScreenModes...)
blakespot