CYBERSTORM PPC 604
PPC Accelerator for the A3000 / A4000
Phase 5 digital products have announced the CYBERSTORM PPC
PowerPC-based accelerators for Amiga 3000(T) and 4000(T) as well as systems with a
compatible CPU-slot. With these innovative and powerful new accelerators a new dimension
of performance is brought to the Amiga, with performance increases of 10 times and more
compared to the fastest 68k based accelerators available today, resulting in a
breath-taking performance.
Primarily being designed as an upgrade board for existing Amiga systems, the CYBERSTORM
PPC incorporates phase 5's innovative dual-processor technology, where a fast PowerPC RISC
processor is combined with a 68k processor, in case of the CYBERSTORM PPC either a 68040
or a 68060 CPU. Both CPUs dynamically share the memory and system buses, which is
necessary for a true multiprocessor behaviour. While the original AmigaOS 3.x continues to
run on the 68k CPU (as well as all existing applications) providing 100% compatibility,
the PowerPC CPU is supported by a comprehensive PPC Library developed by phase 5, which
provides all functionality to integrate the PowerPC into the Amiga multitasking
environment. Software developers can easily optimise their programs step by step by
porting single tasks to PowerPC code, which then can run parallel with 68k tasks. Many
important Amiga software vendors are preparing ported versions of their software packages
already, so it is expected that a large quantity of software products supporting the
PowerPC will be available soon.
The CYBERSTORM PPC will initially be availabe with the fast PowerPC 604e processor in
clock speeds of 150, 180 and 200 MHz; the socket for the 68k companion processor accepts
either a 68040 or a 68060 CPU. It provides a 64-bit wide, extremely fast memory expansion
option (which can be upgraded by using pairs of standard PS/2 type SIMMs) which is
dynamically shared by the two CPUs. Additionally, the CYBERSTORM PPC comes with a
DMA-driven Wide ULTRA SCSI controller on-board, which allows transfer rates of up to
40MB/s and is ready for the most demanding and professional applications. A 32-bit
high-speed expansion connector with DMA access to the main memory is also provided for
later upgradability. The 200MHz version of the CYBERSTORM PPC provides - only on the PPC
side - a raw performance of more than 350 MIPS or approximately 8.1 SPECint95 and 7.1
SPECfp95 (estimations based on Motorola/IBM manufacturer specifications) - a blistering
performance that goes far beyond most PC systems available today.
The CYBERSTORM PPC is delivered with a comprehensive software package, which includes the
PPC library as well as tools for creative users, among them a Public Domain GNU C compiler
for PowerPC (including sourcecode) and many demo programs and utilities with sourcecode;
in addition to this software free developer support is available via the phase 5 FTP site.
Last not least a PowerPC-optimized version of CyberGraphX V3 with RISC-optimized
CyberGL/3D and MPEG functions and libraries is included - of course with comprehensive
documentation.
Technical Information List: