<B>Requires<TR2>: </B>Amiga 1200 with free trapdoor slot
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This is a 50MHz 68030 accelerator board for the A1200 which I now proudly own; I decided to review it in the hope of getting some of you to upgrade (if you haven't done already).
The board itself is based around the 68030, clocked at 50MHz, and
includes an MMU (for things like virtual memory). There is a 72 pin SIMM socket, which can take up to 128MB! Also, there is an FPU socket (for speeding up programs such as raytracers; it is a PGA socket, and you can get a 50MHz FPU for around #À70), and you can buy a SCSI-2 add-on module for around #À90.
I must say that fitting the board took some pushing! I found it very difficult to get it at the right angle, but it finally went in. I don't know how this compares to other boards, I don't think I want to find out!
Once it was in, I immediately noticed the difference... one question which must be on every potential buyer's mind must be: How Much Faster will my Machine be? To answer this, I have provided a list of benchmarks, comparing my machine (I have 10MB of RAM, but NO FPU), against the standard A1200 (14MHz '020 and 2MB RAM). When looking at these results, bear in mind that just adding some fast RAM will give about a 2 times speed increase.
Firstly, I shall explain the benchmark tests, and then give the results.
<B>1.<TR></B>SysInfo. This program was used to find the MIPS (millions of instructions per second), and the number of times faster then an A500.
<B>2.<TR></B>AIBB. This program gives tests for Write Pixel and Mem Test.
<B>3.<TR></B>Real 3D Classic. The time in seconds to render a picture, with textures and dithering.
<B>4.<TR></B>Final Writer 4 Lite 1. The time to calculate the statistics for a 13000 word document.
<B>5.<TR></B>Final Writer 4 Lite 2. The time to size and display a picture on screen.
<B>6.<TR></B>AMOSPro 1. The time to test a program.
<B>7.<TR></B>AMOSPro 2. The time to compile the same program. Note that the hard drive is accessed a lot during this, so the time is not that much quicker.
<B>8.<TR></B>Boot times, firstly until drawers can be accessed, and secondly until my backdrop pictures have been displayed. Obviously, the CPU cannot directly speed up the hard drive, but it still does get faster.
As you can see, the effects in practice are not as great as SysInfo would have us believe. This is because although the CPU is much faster, other things (particularly the AGA chipset, and also the hard drive, and the architecture in general) remain at the same speed. Also note that things such as the Real3D Render would be faster still with an FPU. In general, the Blizzard will increase everything you do on your machine by varying extents, and the SIMM socket comes in very handy (especially considering how cheap RAM is now).
I can't say how it compares to other boards from experience, but I have heard how it's easily the best '030 board around, especially for its AIBB results. Obviously, for real power, you'll want an '040 or '060 accelerator, or perhaps wait around for these apparently - soon - to - be - released PowerPC boards.
Anyway, I can easily recommend the Blizzard, especially as it now comes with Alien Breed 3D 2...
