Amithlon cpu speeds and emulator for games?

[fishy_fiz]

Each to thier own and whatnot, but for a cheap Amithlon machine you cant go wrong with a socket775 mobo using ich7/8/9 (p35/p45/g31/g33/some g41) + a cheap core2duo. Im using a e5300 in my amithlon box (clocked at 3.86ghz (up from 2.6ghz, on standard cooling)). Ive yet to see an e5xxx cpu that didnt at least clock to use a 266mhz bus (up from 200) (basically add 1/3rd clock speed as a guarantee, usually more). Mine does go higher, but beyond 3.86ghz it starts to add a few extra degrees. Great value for money, and to my knowledge the only semi recent machines that have been properly tested.

As for network cards, off the top of my head:
ne2k compatible (rtl8029 is common), rtl8139 (via openpci), and some 3com cards (I cant be more specific here sorry) are the cards Ive used. Sound wise its a little limited, but ac97 that utilises via 686a/b chipset combo, sb128, and sblive are the most common options.

Again, feel free to ask for any more info or help if you need/want it.

[haywirepc]

Amithon seems to be quite an adventure getting a box working, unless its just that I never had all the required bits in one box. There is something to be said for aros or windows and winuae...
 
Steven

[desiv]

Amithon seems to be quite an adventure getting a box working,

Yeah, my curiosity was piqued when I heard Amithlon and AMD 1800 in the same sentence, as I have a box of that power (or lack thereof) handy, and would consider playing...
But if it's not worth it, personally I'm not at the "spend money" stage for that project.
All my hobby money is going into my classic Amiga's currently (mostly the 1000 recently)..
(well, that and my Vectrex a bit..  Don't tell the Amigas, they get jealous.. :confused: )

desiv

[fishy_fiz]

It definately can be a little more difficult than the options youve mentioned, but well worth the effort in my opinion. A little ebaying though and it's easy enough to get a fully supported system running. TnT card, gf2 card, gf4 cards (avoid gf4mx cards though for amithlon) are a dime a dozen. Matrox cards are quite easy to get ahold of too. SB Live is easy to get ahold of, as are rtl8029 or rtl8139 cards. Add $60 for a mobo and another $60 for a cpu (new) and youre laughing  

The main "trick" I guess can be in getting it up and running. To use some of the more recent hardware you're likely to need either kernel3.1 or 4, which can be awkward sometimes if you dont have a machine that will boot from the cd. Thats something to bare in mind too I guess,.... just because a machine doesnt boot off the cd doesnt mean it wont work nicely.

If you're interested I can elaborate on some of this stuff for you. It's not actually all that complicated once youve dealt with it a few times, but I must admit can seem a little daunting when 1st going through it.

[fishy_fiz]

Yeah, my curiosity was piqued when I heard Amithlon and AMD 1800 in the same sentence, as I have a box of that power (or lack thereof) handy, and would consider playing...
But if it's not worth it, personally I'm not at the "spend money" stage for that project.
All my hobby money is going into my classic Amiga's currently (mostly the 1000 recently)..
(well, that and my Vectrex a bit..  Don't tell the Amigas, they get jealous.. :confused: )

desiv

If you have a classic already and running 68k version of UAE isnt important to you then amithlon will work very nicely on that machine (assuming you have supported video/sound/nic). While Ive been talking about needing higher spec gear, etc. Im talking from a perspective of wanting everything you can throw at it to run nicely (full speed aga through 68k uae, HD video and and fpse being the main culprits for my want or something more powerful). An Athlon 1800+ will run very, very nicely for most things. If you have even half an inclination, and are able, it cant hurt to give it a go, it really is very much like a very fast rtg based 68k amiga system

With the system youve mentioned you'll be able to play 68k quake 1 and 2 at high framerates, descent freespace, napalm, run up to and beyond mk2/3 in mame, run sd videos nicely, mp3s, lightwave, etc. will fly and so on.

Yes, this can be done with Winuae also, but assuming you have an "amithlon friendly" system it's a more pleasant experience with Amithlon (and not just because of speed advantage).

It's a shame it was killed off in the way it was, it really is a great product.

[XDelusion]

Ya, and there was a successor on the way too...


SAD SAD story!

[XDelusion]

So would this work?

http://www.3dfx.ch/gallery/v/3dfx_collectors/3dfx+Collection+by+Xion/Voodoo+Banshee/Creative+3D+Blaster+Banshee+pci/

[haywirepc]

Fishy, yes I'd really like a machine that can handle anything I can throw at it, including aga games or quake or whatever. I don't want to dump alot of time or money into a project then realize it won't handle aga games or whatever.
 
I think I will begin collecting components in the next few weeks. Very busy with other projects right now. Once I have a 3ghz machine, supported network, video and soundcards I will give a go at installing it. I have an installation guide somewhere.
 
I agree it was a fantastic idea that could have been a great way forward. Too bad the amiga grave robbers killed it.
 
Steven

[_ThEcRoW]

I used to have a amithlon install on my p2 266 with 196mb ram. I used a geforce2 video card and the system was amazingly fast on workbench and rtg. It was ideal for irc, or a bit of web browsing. Of course, trying to run e-uae for classic games was a no-no, because of limited cpu already being used in an emulation instance. I noticed that giving the lack of cpu available regarding the minimum told by the creator of the soft, it eated a lot of the ram, i suppose in order to equal the system about cpu speed. In the end, the system had 64mb of fully usable ram after amithlon booted, and that´s a lot for an Amiga.

[fishy_fiz]

@XDelusion

Nah, voodoo based cards arent great choices for amithlon. The only exception I guess being if a person does the "hack" to get elbox drivers working (in which case in theory you might get 3d hardware acceleration). Personally Ive never had the software to even try(I dont have the elbox drivers), but I dont know of anyone who's had success (apart from one of the authors, who unless it's an urban myth has shown it running using 3d acceleration). There's some docs in the uae-jit (and inherritantly euae) that I suspect is somethng like the procedure needed to be followed (also works with uae on linux too, and in fact the docs target that in the description).

Anyway, that's possibly confusing the matter, just assume for now that any voodoo 1/2(including bashee)/3/4/5/6 cards only support VESA modes with Amithlon, which really cripples the experience.

[dreamcast270mhz]

Voodoo 3 supports non-VESA modes and is quite fast, I had a P3 750 with a Voodoo 3, and I used it for classic mac emulation, it was blazingly fast and I had a nice speed on the desktop.

A good replacement on AMithlon for Warp3d is Wazp3d, a w3d comaptible software renderer. Thats whats on my second AMithlon machine right now, and all future ones I build.

[desiv]

If you have a classic already and running 68k version of UAE isnt important to you then amithlon will work very nicely on that machine

Hmmm..  Good point.. ;-)

I think the current video card in there is a geforce fx something, it's been a while.. ;-)  It works fine for Ubuntu, although I remember I do have to toggle 3D desktop effects OFF if I want to play Linux "native" Neverwinter acceptably.  ;-)
(I told you, it's been awhile since I used that PC..)

desiv

[trekiej]

Could some one go into detail about what made Amithlon great?
I was thinking that it was written to work closely with the Kernel.
Are there any links that would help?
Thanks.
edit
I did find some links and some youtube videos.
I have an idea but will have to think about it before I ask it.

[haywirepc]

I think I will get some components and try building my own amithlon box.
 
I've heard sblive isn't as well supported as sb128pci, so I think I'd rather have sb128pci.
 
Whats the best inexpensive video card and network card?

Any help would be appreciated. I have a couple of 2ghz boxes here for testing, but I think I will get a dell 3ghz hyperthreading pc that a friend of mine offered me recently for the main box. I have to check to make sure it has enough slots first, its a slimline kinda desktop case.

Steven

[dreamcast270mhz]

The Geforce 2-4 are very good, the Radeon 9250 is also good.

[haywirepc]

Now bidding on nvidia geforce 4 and also a soundblaster 128pci.
 
Now I need a network card. Does anyone know which network cards work the best with amithlon?

Steven