VXL-30 Accelerator 68030

[Marcb]

Hi,

I'm wondering whether any one has one of these installed in their 2000 and could give me a mini review?

I've had a look in the Big Book of Amiga Hardware but hoping someone has first hand knowledge of how good it is without the ram expansion board?

[TheMagicM]

the speed DECREASE is very noticeable without the RAM.  I had a VXL 030-50mhz w/ram expansion... what a pleasure it was to own.

[Marcb]

TheMagicM wrote:
the speed DECREASE is very noticeable without the RAM.  I had a VXL 030-50mhz w/ram expansion... what a pleasure it was to own.

 :-( There is one listed on Ebay but with no ram expansion.

So you wouldn't recommend it without the ram board?

[huronking]

He speaks the truth. The VXL-30 is about worthless without the ram board.

You can get some impressive AIBB numbers, but that is about it. You wind up interfacing the system memory through the 68000 socket at essentially the same speed.

With the memory board it is pretty dang good. It was dissed back in the day because it wasn't GVP or the like, but mine
was great.

With I could find mine.

You will probably never find the VXL-32 board alone, but if the accelerator goes cheap enough owning it wouldnt hurt. Just dont expect alot of performance.

[TheMagicM]

yea, if you can buy the accelerator.. you never know if you'll find the VXL-32 and if you do, you have the accelerator already.

[Marcb]

Oh well, who knows what will pop up on ebay one day, maybe the seller of the accelerator has split them up and will sell it later :idea:

I'll try to buy it and store it with all my other "maybe one day" gear :-)

Now to think of a convincing argument on why I need this for my wife...  

[kamiga]

I've got the VXL-30 at 33mhz(I think) with 2mb ram installed in my A500.

The machine is very fast, responsive, etc.  I remember doing benchmarks back when I first got it, and I was impressed.  General operations, like compressing/uncompressing was much much quicker.

I'm in the process of upgrading from 2mb -> 8mb.  Hunting down the chips has been a PITA but I think I finally found some compatible chips, and in combination with an adapter (which I'm not sure if I can get yet) should do the trick.

Keith

[Marcb]

kamiga wrote:
I've got the VXL-30 at 33mhz(I think) with 2mb ram installed in my A500.

The machine is very fast, responsive, etc.  I remember doing benchmarks back when I first got it, and I was impressed.  General operations, like compressing/uncompressing was much much quicker.

I'm in the process of upgrading from 2mb -> 8mb.  Hunting down the chips has been a PITA but I think I finally found some compatible chips, and in combination with an adapter (which I'm not sure if I can get yet) should do the trick.

Keith

I'm envious, at this stage I would be happy to have the 2mb board!
Well, I won the auction on Ebay so I'm now the proud owner of a VXL-30 albeit without the Ram card. Does the board work without the SETVXL s/w?

[kamiga]

Marcb wrote:

Well, I won the auction on Ebay so I'm now the proud owner of a VXL-30 albeit without the Ram card. Does the board work without the SETVXL s/w?

Yes, you don't need the software.  I haven't found the software terribly useful although there are a lot of different options.  Alot of them pertain to temporarily overriding the hardware jumpers, etc.

Check your PMs.

Keith

[billt]

So you wouldn't recommend it without the ram board?

No. I just got the CPU first and the RAM later. I didn't notice much speed improvement with only the CPU, very slight, because all memory accesses are still going through the 68000 socket to motherboard, same as the original 68000 at that same old speed. When I added the RAM board, it was a _huge_ improvement, and I only got the 2MB one.

[Marcb]

kamiga wrote:

Yes, you don't need the software.  I haven't found the software terribly useful although there are a lot of different options.  Alot of them pertain to temporarily overriding the hardware jumpers, etc.

Check your PMs.

Keith

Thanks a million Keith!

Cheers,
Marc

[Marcb]

billt wrote:
No. I just got the CPU first and the RAM later. I didn't notice much speed improvement with only the CPU, very slight, because all memory accesses are still going through the 68000 socket to motherboard, same as the original 68000 at that same old speed. When I added the RAM board, it was a _huge_ improvement, and I only got the 2MB one.

I'll just have to run things that don't access memory then... :lol:

That you got a Ram board after you got the main board gives me hope though that I'll be able to find one, there has to be someone out there that has upgraded etc. and has a spare one laying around!