Overclocking Blizzard 1230-IV

[nEx]

I´ve got an Blizzard 1230-IV Tubro Card for my A12oo. Cpu 50Mhz Fpu 50Mhz ... can i overclock this card like 1260 cards to 6oMhz, to boost the card??

[lempkee]

i would never clock it, the good thing about theese cards is that they have fast chipmem and so on, basically u wont benefit anything at all on clocking it to lets say 66mhz, other than lame memory speeds.

060 on the other hand allready is slow in the department so clocking it to 66mhz aint that noticeable really, but u notice it on games/demos and stuff that neeeds more cpu power! (even if the memory is dog slow)


just a suggestion anyway...

[nEx]

thanks for your reply..

so if the memory is the prob, i have 60ms installed!! isn´t it fast enough ...

my 50ms (only single sided) Memory wouldn´t run   :-(

[Karlos]

Someone around these parts has an 030 clocked up to 60MHz.

I can't remember - was it lorddef?

[Brian]

I belive you meen ns not ms. Lets say you use a 60 or 66Mhz crystal all will be overclocked, not just the CPU so 60ns RAM is a must, perhaps even faster. Extra cooling is needed on the CPU and FPU or they will fry. I don't think the SCSI module like an overclocked card but I can be wrong in this.

When all is done you might get another 1 or 2 mips out of the machine and to what cost? shorter lifespan and a card that needs modding of the desktop in order to fit aswell as the risk of something going wrong.

I say if you need more power then go for a better card rather than overclocking what you got, if it was a 060card with the obviously lack of any better 68K CPU on the market then I would understand but not a 030. A secondhand 040/25Mhz card is quite cheap and would give you some real speed increase, and B1230 IV still sell for quite a bit due to it's high quality so you might not have to put as much money into the upgrade as you think.

[bloodline]

I would really urge people to stop overclocking their Amigas!

If you need the speed get a newer machine, save the Amiga don't speed up it's journey to the rubbish bin!

[JetRacer]

You can't overclock the fpu. It will simply won't function properly when it's overclocked.

Since the 030 got so little cache (the part that benefits from overclocking) the DRAM will choke it so much you won't notice any difference.

On the other hand, buying a 060 50MHz accelerator will speed up your system significantly because it got a huge cache (for a 68K anyway) and internal fpu. The difference in speed between 030 and 060 using identical clocking is substantial.

[whabang]

Yep! Def has clocked both his CPU and FPU to 60MHz IIRC...

[Piru]

@nEx

You can, but like told before, it really isn't worth the trouble.

I ran my Blizzard 1230-III at 60MHz for years (no FPU). -III was particularily easy to overclock as it had a socketed oscillator.

[lorddef]

Yeah both the fpu and cpu will clock to 60Mhz, mine didn't get very hot at all to be honest, but at the same time the speed increace wasn't exactly huge though.

[A4kT]

Anyone whom has overclocked any Amiga '040, 060 or PPC card obviously has not yet experienced - as I have- the sudden death of their Amiga.
The guys who built the card "KNOW" that the CPUs can go faster but maybew thye were constrained by cost into using parts that fit into the chain that WILL NOT stand the strain of overclocking.
I know, I got my formerly overclocked CS MkII back from amiga.fr last year. It had run happily at 60Mhz for four years and then ... just died.

A standard '060 (whichever) that operates within it's design parameters is much faster than a stock Amiga and will give you lots of satisfaction for a few more years yet.

Don't overclock.

[Piru]

@A4kT

Obviously by overclocking you accept the risk of damaging the hardware and possibly shortening its' life.

The key to succesful overclocking is proper cooling (heatsink + fan), and you MUST NOT underestimate this. Too much cooling is always better than too little.

If you're not willing to take the risk, don't overclock.

[Ilwrath]

@A4kT

I couldn't agree more.  Keep the Amigas in as functional of condition as possible.  The extra 10 mhz won't give you lots of performance benefits... But it will hurt the lifetime of the components.  The trend of people wanting to send their Amigas to early graves is alarming.  I'd say the goal should be to preserve these machines.  Parts aren't readily available anymore.

If you want to toy around with overclocking....  Might I recommend picking up a cheap PC?  You'd be amazed at the clock rates an AMD will take.  ;-)  And heck, you can pretend it's an A1 and run Linux on it.  ;-)  

Don't destroy a classic.