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Statement

Breaking through the barriers

With the PowerUp product line phase 5 digital products brings you the most innovative and advanced accelerator concept which has ever been released for Amiga computers. With the experience of world's leading accelerator technology for the Amiga, the development team at phase 5 has combined the high-performance PowerPC RISC processors and the 68k processors that work in today's Amiga models into a true multi-processing environment. But even more important, with groundbreaking software development phase 5 has integrated the PowerPC RISC processor into the Amiga's multitasking environment: With the two processors - the 68k and the PowerPC RISC processor - running in parallel and sharing the same memory, tasks can run on either of the processors and communicate via the usual Amiga OS functions. Existing applications written for the 68k processor work as before, as a 100% compatibility is provided with the PowerUp solution, while software that supports the PowerPC RISC processor can reach new performance dimensions which Amiga owners never thought possible on their existing machines!

By the integration of fast PowerPC 603e processors for the A1200 PowerUp models and the high-end PowerPC604e processors for the A2000/A3000/A4000 PowerUp models, these Amiga models can be upgraded to performance levels that compete with todays fastest personal computer systems available. Independent reviews of the US computer magazine Byte have shown that a PowerPC603e-based computer achieved a performance level up to two times faster than a Pentium-based system with the same processor clock speed, while a PowerPC604e-based system at 200 MHz still reached a performance of 20-60% beyond the performance of a 200 MHz Pentium Pro-based system. For the Amiga user who upgrades his Amiga with a PowerUp board this means that applications which are optimized for the PowerPC processor can run some 10 to 15 times faster than on todays fastest 68060 based accelerator cards (or some 30-50 times faster than a stock Amiga 4000) - really an impressive and breathtaking leap into a new dimension of performance!

The sophisticated PowerUp combination of hardware and software allows software developers to easily start porting their existing applications to make use of the superior performance of the PowerPC processor. phase 5 digital products has been shipping developer versions of the PowerUp boards to leading software developers worldwide since end of 1996, and has supported the start of the development of key applications for these new processor boards. Many leading Amiga software developers are already working on products that support the vast power of the PowerPC RISC processors, opening a completely new dimension for powerful applications, among them 3D and ray-tracing applications, image manipulation tools and paint packages, development packages, internet browsers, emulators and even games. With the release of the commercial versions of the PowerUp boards, starting early in June 1997, an increasing number of commercial software applications that support the PowerUp can be expected; beyond that, a strong response by shareware and freeware developers and several PowerPC programming contests sponsored by phase 5 will support the upcoming release of many professional and powerful shareware/freeware tools for the new generation of PowerUp Amigas.

Solutions for everybody

phase 5 digital products has a complete product line of PowerUp accelerators for various Amiga systems under development. All these accelerators are being primarily designed as upgrades for those users who already own a 68k-based accelerator for their Amiga. They come with a socket for either a 68030, 68040 or 68060 processor which they need as a companion processor, and which can be taken from the user's existing 68k accelerator card. After installation of the 68k processor on the PowerUp accelerator and the installation of the PowerUp accelerator into the Amiga, the world of PowerPC/68k multiprocessing is open for the user immediately! With this upgrade technology, the investments which once went into the existing accelerators are saved, as the old processor does not become obsolete.

Software that comes along with the PowerUp accelerator boards

The PowerUp accelerators will be shipped with a comprehensive software package. Beside the powerful and comprehensive RISC support multiprocessing library which allows the transparant integration of the PowerPC processor into the Amiga multitasking OS environment, all boards are shipped with CyberGraphX V3 Native including PowerPC-optimized CyberGL 3D libraries and MPEG functions which allow fast 3D applications and multimedia tasks to run on the high-performance PowerPC processors. Also available are comprehensive software tools including a public domain GNU C compiler with PowerPC support as well as free demo software and utilities and developer support via the phase 5 FTP site. With these tools the PowerUp boards are also a perfect solution for all creative users who want to actively explore the performance of a modern RISC multiprocessing system while staying with the advantages of their preferred Amiga OS.

PowerUp specials for owners of phase 5 accelerators

Owners of a 68030-, 68040- or 68060-based accelerator from phase 5 digital products can make use of special PowerUp upgrade offers which make the PowerUp accelerators even more attractive. The PowerUp upgrade offer is available to original customers of one of the mentioned phase 5 accelerators (except the Blizzard 1230-I) and requires only the proof of purchase and serial number of the product (please note that second-hand purchased products are excluded from the PowerUp Upgrade offer). Registered owners of phase 5 accelerators will receive an upgrade offer by mail shortly before the release date of the PowerUp accelerator that is available as an upgrade to their existing phase 5 accelerator. Owners of phase 5 accelerators who are not registered may contact one of our dealers for more information about the handling of the upgrade. Click on the links below, for an overview of the PowerUp accelerators which will become available in 1997:


Product overview PowerUP accelerators boards