Amiga Accelerators Question

[barney]

I have a question about Amiga 2000 Accelerators.  I notice that some Amiga 2000 accelerators plug into the Accelerator slot and other plug directly on top of the 68000 CPU slot.  Which type is better?  Are there any advantages that one has over the other?  Just curious which type would be better to use.

[orcish75]

In my experience, the CPU slot seems to be better as it gives the accelerator faster access to chipmem. My GVP Geforce 030 in my A2000 runs WHDLoad games flawlessly, while the VXL-30 in my A500 slows some games down.

Using the CACHE option in the WHDLoad tooltypes does get most games running at the proper speed, but there are still some games that are always slow, no matter what I try. I know the GVP A530 has the same problems with chipmem access that my VXL-30 has. (My Geforce 030 has 16MB 32-bit fastram and the VXL-30 has 8MB 32-bit fastram)

[barney]

I see what you mean.  In my Amiga 2000, I also have a GVP Accelerator with 16mb fast mem.  It is definitely fast but WHDload still crashes every so often.  I'm still trying to figure out why.  For example, Indiana Jones and Fate of Atlantis works for about 10 minutes then dumps me out back to workbench.  Very annoying at times.

[billt]

I have a question about Amiga 2000 Accelerators.  I notice that some Amiga 2000 accelerators plug into the Accelerator slot and other plug directly on top of the 68000 CPU slot.  Which type is better?  Are there any advantages that one has over the other?  Just curious which type would be better to use.

I think the 68000 socket style ones were done that way to also fit into A500 sharing the single design, rather than doing the same thing twice. I'm not sure that all A500 68k socket accelerators fit into A2000 though.

Which is better I think depends more on the features of the board than where it plugs in. Things like memory expansion, SCSI, price and other things should be more important to you.

[SpeedGeek]

In theory it should not make a difference but the A2000 CPU slot is buffered and may be able to supply a more reliable +5V to the accelerator. (But early rev. A2000 mobos may need some fixes to work with some accelerator boards).

Also, it's unlikely that most A500 accelerators were tested extensively with the A2000.

[motrucker]

Using the CPU slot follows Commodore's guides, where the CPU socket jobs are more like hacks.
Quite often the CPU socket accelerators get in the way of other A2000 add ons, like the DKB Mega 2000, etc.

[Zac67]

Actually, the CPU slot is not much more than a CPU socket in slot form (in the 2000A model it is exactly that). There's shouldn't be any performance difference with the same accelerator design.

The slot form is mechanically more stable and has the advantage of using a dedicated slot space instead of potentially interfering with other stack-on expansions (A500 users know what I'm talking about).
The socket form has the advantage of fitting into an A500 as well, or possibly even an A1000.

[ChaosLord]

@Barney
I don't think your WHDLoad problems are your fault or the fault of your Accelerator.  I get the same sorts of problems on lots of different games on my Amiga 3000.  The Amiga 3000 is widely regarded as the ultimate, properly designed, 68030 Amiga.

The A3000 has the 68030 built right into the motherboard, no weird accelerator plugin card needed.  And the 030 has superfast 32-bit access to chipram.  It is the only ECS Amiga with 32-bit hispeed access to chipram.  As far as ECS machines go, it r0xx0rizes da scene

[J-Golden]

it r0xx0rizes da scene

LEET SPEAK...

Ug, I don't know if I should "Barny" high-five you for such a legend-, wait for it, -dary use  or ban you for a week.  

[TjLaZer]

The ones that go on the 68000 are really meant for A500/1000 machines, but also fit the A2000.  Use the CPU slot in the A2000.  Much better and easier to work with.