Will there be an ACA1240 or ACA1260?

[AmigaClassicRule]

I am not so sure if this topic already was posted here but I am wondering will there be ever an ACA1240 or ACA1260?
 
I like the way ACA1232 looks, I like the cheap price of it and I like the power behind it, especially where the RAM is soldiered in and not a SIMM which saves a lot of space for A1200D, especially. I love how it comes already with 128 MB of RAM too.
 
I was wondering, will there be something like that for an ACA1240 or ACA1260 where it will be running on 040 or 060 instead of the 030? This will be better than the outdated and over priced accelerator cards we get from eBay or AmiBay where there also risk being rarer and rarer to find.
 
If the price factor and the fact that it is not economically feasible for profit wise for manufacturer, why not then increase the speed of the ACA1232 itself from 33 Mhz (which seems a little slow for me) to something like 100 or 200 Mhz? This way we get the full compatibility of all the applications and games that 030 provide and it could outspeed even the 060. I am sure I can spend 800 dollars for a 200 Mhz 68k if I am willing to spend 1k on an outdated 060 card on eBay.
 
Thanks in advance.

[AmigaClassicRule]

I'm pretty sure a 030 won't run at 100MHz, let alone 200MHz.
 
As for availability of higher end accelerators. I asked Jens that very question a couple of weeks ago. His reply was along the lines of "not in the foreseeable future" and "way too complex to be practical".
 
EDIT: Actually, cut that last part. He never mentioned it to be too complicated to achieve. He did, however, say that if I was interested in a fast Amiga now I should invest in one of his 1230 series cards.

Jens if you are listening or reading this it is for you. I am going to INVEST in one of your 1230 series because I am hoping you are a man of your words and you will make a new faster ACA series for the Amiga. Because I love everything about your ACA design, the color, the shape, AND ESPECIALLY HOW EVERYTHING is in soldiered into the card ITSELF,for example the ram and how it is fixed to 128 MB. I love that!! It is really a space saver for my Amiga 1200 and I love how it is a completely new hardware and not old. If you see a new sale on it, it is because I bought one.
 
I added it to my shopping cart in AmigaKit. I am just waiting for the new supply of them to show up right now they are unavailable in AmigaKit.

[AmigaClassicRule]

@AmigaClassicRule
Please don't buy an ACA because you expect a faster one later - I think it's very unlikely Jens will make one, and he's never promised he will.
Things to bear in mind:
The 68030 is based on the 68020 - it's a simple accelerator. The 68040 is NOT - it is quite different, which is why you need 68040.library and not a 68030.library. 68060 is closer to 68020 in many ways, but in other ways even more incompatible.
The 68040 is a real heat monster. This is why you should only use 68040s in towered Amigas. 68060s are better.
68060s are near impossible to find new, I believe. Chinese suppliers claim to have them but there's doubt as to how genuine they are. 68040s the same, but I don't even think the Chinese sell them.
 
I can't speak for Jens, but I get the strong impression that there will be never be a faster ACA than the 56MHz one - and he's already discontinued that one.
Certainly don't just buy an ACA in the expectation of getting a faster one down the line - the ACA is a fantastic accelerator as it is, buy it for that reason. Then you won't be disappointed.
 
Incidentally, a 200MHz 68030? Maximum speed on a 68030 is 50MHz (the 56MHz is overclocked and pushing it) I believe? 200MHz or even 100MHz is completely impossible without a major redesign - and it wouldn't be a 68030 any more.

Oh, the only downside or fear I have with ACA is that it may not be fast enough for a smooth 20 fps ScummVMAGA games and it may not run 20 fps easily HAMP.RUN movies as well as say a 040 or a 060? If it can run games of ScummVMAGA with 20 fps smoothness as well as HAMP movie then the ACA1232 is most perfect card ever, because it comes with 128 Mb of RAM and very financially easy to me.

[AmigaClassicRule]

what is it that you ppl want to do on an amiga w/ AmigaOS with a 68060 that you can't do with an o'clocked 030 w/128+ megs ram?

just curious.

A lot.

[AmigaClassicRule]

Freescale did not design the 680x0 series.

 
Why not make an accelerator for A1200 using FPGA instead? No need to buy those expensive and hard to find original 68K CPU. This way we can assign any speed we want, set any RAM we want on the FPG accelerator and put any feature we want: SCSI port, etc and still be cheaper than the original Blizzard or Apollo or even may be cheaper than ACA itself?
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
I am dreaming huh?

[AmigaClassicRule]

Good point! I forgot about that!
 
The original hot 68040 was a 5v chip.
 
The 3.3v 68040 should be nice and cool and able to do 40Mhz.

Yeah, but then I do not have an excuse to install a fan :D:D

[AmigaClassicRule]

The 68LC060 75Mhz found on the Apollo 1260 daughter card was an SMT package too. I think the FE is simply the same chip relabled.

 
I am 100% confused at the conclusion of the OP. What is the conclusion? :huh:

[AmigaClassicRule]

The conclusion is that AFAIK Jens said that few times before that any 040/060 accelerator won't happen. You better hold your breath on FPGAArcade and 060 daughterboard.

What is a 060 daughterboard? Wait is FPGAArcade like MiniMag an emulator in a hardware or is it a REAL THING? Like real CPU, real Custom chip, etc?

[AmigaClassicRule]

The 060 daughterboard is just an 060 accelerator +128MB RAM for the FPGAreplay/arcade.
 
The 060 daughterboard has a REAL 060 and REAL 128MB RAM.
 
 
The custom chips in the FPGAreplay are REAL custom chips engineered by a bunch of Amiga guys who got tired of waiting around for new hardware. So they are not 100% compatible but they are supposed to be opensource so the compatibility steadily rises each year.
 
I don't have one yet because I have been waiting and waiting for the 060 accelerator option to be released. As any Amiga with less than 060 is just not interesting to me. No reason for me to buy a brand new Amiga that is worse than my 20 year old one.
 
When I get one I can give you more detailed info.

So is the output of the FPGAreplay then is the same quality as a classic Amiga and not like the emulator (pixelated and stuff like that)?
 
Can I hook it in a TV or my Commodore 1084s if I wanted too?
 
Finally if they are improving it each year, is it hardware improvement or software based improvement? Since it is not emulated and since it is a real hardware and since it is a custom chipset real...I am planning to buy this hardware instead of MiniMag then! I know it does not come in a sexy case like A1200 but this is another Amiga classic alternative with 060 I may enjoy it as I would with the real A1200 too.
 
I have my eyes on it. I do hope they plan to upgrade the Chip RAM from 2 MB to something higher than that...while they are at it...it would be awesome if they can do an "AAA" like custom chipset while supporting AGA/ECS/OCS too...then this would be something of a feat that Natami have failed on. Imagine a new custom chipset that improves over AGA, then you do not need RTG..it would be faster, support higher resolution, build in 3D, etc.
 
OH ONE MORE THING. I am bolding this because it is very important to me, but can I use real HD and Disk Drive? I prefer it better than virtual...if they are going real..they should give me the option to use everthing real too including disk drive and HD.

[AmigaClassicRule]

I am curious, is it the limitation of the actual 68k that it cannot continue to 68070, 68080 and so on and that it cannot go beyond 50 Mhz like 230 Mhz or 1 Ghz or is it the limitation of the Amiga classic itself that forces the maximum limit of 50 Mhz for all 68K except with forced over clocking?

[AmigaClassicRule]

The 68k series continued in the Coldfire which isn't compatible enough. The Coldfire is another one of those things that people often bring up in "someone must make xzy" threads.



There is technically possible and economically possible. I don't see why you couldn't make a stinking fast 68k but there is no market for a desktop 68k processor in this day and age so there aren't any.



Or just dump the hardware and do it all in software instead. If back when I bought a BlizzardPPC new there were X86 systems that could run WinUAE as fast as they do now I would have never bought the BPPC.

No there is not now, but back then when it was used and needed why did they migrate to PPC when it was possible to be more than 50 MHz?

[AmigaClassicRule]

"They" didn't.

The seller did it by himself.
As he explained it to me, he's kind of a cooling junkie.............QUOTE]

LOL I am cooling junkie too! I thought I am alone, hehehe.