Amiga 500 Accelerator Overview and Bonus Video

In the Episode of Amiga Retro we will look a several Internal Amiga 500 Accelerators I have purchased over the years. A Bonus Video is included as well. It's been a while since I uploaded any new content, so why not. I hope you like them and thanks for watching :)

[@amigaretro4765]

Video Comment Corrections: 68EC020 and the TK68EC020 Accelerator 68EC020 The 68020 has never had a built-in MMU. The integrated MMU was introduced with the 68030. See the link below for more information. Thanks goes to Lawrence Manning for bringing this to my attention. 68EC020 vs 68EC030: oldwww.nvg.ntnu.no/amiga/amigafaq/AmigaFAQ_2.html TK68EC020 Accelerator : There is MapROM Software available for the 68EC020TK Accelerator. Thanks goes to dalek for pointing this out. Good news, good news indeed. MapROM (software) for TK68EC020 by Matthias Heinrichs www.a1k.org/forum/index.php?threads/62419/

[@amigaretro4765]

Korky added: Regarding 68020 and 68EC020, first one can actually address 4GB since it has full 32 bit address bus, while EC020 has 24 bit bus, so it can address only 16 MB (just like 68000, which also has 24 bit address bus).

[@philiphandforth4390]

Any chance of a tutorial on using the maprom function on the 508i? I'm wanting to use the function on mine and have no idea where to begin....

[@amigaretro4765]

@@philiphandforth4390 I am am about to do a follow up video. I can easily add this for you.

[@philiphandforth4390]

@@amigaretro4765 brilliant nice one man 👍

[@amigaretro4765]

Thanks for the clarification. Excellent information.

[@hucky29]

In the 3 years since I found your channel I have since bought an A600, A1200 and vampire cards for both. Thank you for reigniting my hobby ( and being broke now)

[@amigaretro4765]

I am glad I have helped to rekindle the interest in your hobby. Unfortunately being broke often comes with the territory. Do I regret this? Never :)

[@rjd324]

Great video as usual. Please do more

[@amigaretro4765]

Thanks. I am glad you like my channel . I do have more videos planned in the next couple moths, so worry not.

[@lawrencemanning]

No 020 had a built in MMU. The EC reduced the memory address width to 24 bits. I'm sure you know this. Awesome video. You have a lot of cool amiga gear!

[@amigaretro4765]

Actually, I did not. I am more used to the 68000, and 68030, 68040, etc. In regards to the addressing space, this I knew. Thanks for bringing this to my attention :)

[@lawrencemanning]

@@amigaretro4765 No prob. For completeness: the 020 does have the option of an external MMU, the 68851 (en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motorola_68851), which is functionally similar (slightly more sophisticated) to the one built in to the non EC 030. It was used on a few Unix boxes only I think. This uses the copro interface more commonly associated with the FPU parts.

[@amigaretro4765]

​@@lawrencemanning , Interesting. I just found a Commodore A2620 via Google, it has one of these. Looks funny with 3 Ceramic Chips onboard, I am used to 2 :) bigbookofamigahardware.com/bboah/media/download_photos/a2620_1_big.jpg

[@tahustvedt]

I have made two TF534's. They are great for the 500. I've ordered some 536 PCBs from Exxos store as well. The 534 will have some conflicts with the Zorro slots on an Amiga 2000 if you have stuff in there so that's why I'm going to build a 536 for my 2000. The 536 can also have buffered IDE which is a benefit as you can use a long cable to a CD-ROM for example in addition to the SDcard/CF. I could have used a FPU as well in the 2000 for ray tracing though. Acceleration of CPU clock on the Amiga doesn't really do much IMO. Few games take advantage of it. The IDE and 4MB+ fast ram are the biggest benefits to me. MMU is nice too.

[@amigaretro4765]

They are nice cards. As you have seen, I have a few. Let me know how the TF 536 builds turns out. The one I have doesn't like to boot properly or run stable until it warms up. After roughly 5 minutes, it runs fine. Looking on some Forums, apparently this is a known issue.

[@tahustvedt]

@@amigaretro4765 I'll try to remember that.

[@larsenmats]

Nice collection of A500 accelerators. Honestly I have been wondering for a long time why the earlier Terrible Fire cards has so little fast RAM. I would never touch anything with less than 8MB Fast RAM for whdload. 8MB is just enough. 4MB is just not enough to preload large whdload slaves. 2MB is not even worth a comment. Wicher 508 is a very interesting card. Has a perfect amount of fast RAM for whdload, maprom, internal and not too expensive. FPU I don't care about anyway. And it looks lightning fast for regular workbench use! I will consider to invest in one of these! For my A500s I am currecntly using an ACA 500 +a fully unlocked (OC'd to 28MHz and 64MB Fast RAM) ACA 1221. Which is a nice solution but of course it's sticking out on the side. I have a plastic case for it, but still. Your internal solution looks much neater. Thanks for the video! Looking forward to more quality content from you! :)

[@stephenwhite506]

Is there a big difference in RAM speed between SRAM used on the earlier TF cards compared to the SDRAM used on all the other cards?

[@amigaretro4765]

Hmmm... I don't know. Very good question. Now I must look into this :)

[@vertigoz]

Why did you choose 68000 instead of 68030 in the end?

[@amigaretro4765]

It's Complicated :) It wasn't CPU related. At the time, I did not have the MapROM utility for the 68020TK (of which I was guided to post Video) which affected it's performance , and my TF536 has issues booting from a Cold start. I will be doing a follow up Video soon that may provide a different conclusion...

[@HoboVibingToMusic]

What would you recommend as a good budget internal accelerator? Since i am a *bit* broke, and due to stanky virus fiasco, i got no way to earn much. Edit: I ain't looking for something that is stronger than 1200's CPU. If anything I'd prefer up to 20MHz n 8 or so MB of RAM. :P

[@amigaretro4765]

I would recommend the 68EC020TK. The latest Version can be switched between 28 and 35 MHz via DIP switches. It may still be available on AmiBay. Send a Message (PM) to the Seller. You will need to create an account first. The cost is about $160 USD without shipping. Link: www.amibay.com/showthread.php?100883-68EC020-TK-new-A500-A1000-A2000-accelerator-by-Matze

[@HoboVibingToMusic]

@@amigaretro4765 Wow that was a fast response! Thank you kindly sir!

[@xxxfreshman]

Would be interresting to see some Games like Elite Frontier

[@13killerken]

The accelerator I had is not in the mix... I'll have to crack it open and take a snapshot of it ... it ran at 52 to 53 mghz I have not booted my Amiga A500 up in over 18 years.. maybe we should see if it still works... might take a few weeks to get around to it, busy schedule here. It had a Motorola 68030 and its matching FPU

[@amigaretro4765]

It would interesting to see what it is.

[@stephenbruce8320]

I have a bunch of A500 accelerators as well as a fair share of A500 and A500+ units but my absolute favorite is the Vampire which is not an inexpensive device and takes forever to get one but once you have it you will stop thinking about other cards.

[@amigaretro4765]

I have a Vampire or two. Including one that works flawlessly in my A2000 with several Expansion cards. These are great cards but I find if you want the best compatibility for Games, an 020 or 030 is best (ie: WHDLoad). That being said, damn the Vampire is fast :)

[@ZaPpaul]

If I wanted emulation, I would use a PC. Vampire are still nowhere near compatible enough to be considered as daily driver amigas.

[@vertigoz]

@@ZaPpaul well when I had an a1200 060 accelerated I also run into lots of problems, no emulation there mind you

[@DAVIDGREGORYKERR]

What about a PowerPC processor based Accelerator that maps all instructions to the PowerPC instructions.

[@amigaretro4765]

The closest thing to that is the Apollo series of accelerators. An FPGA 68k instruction set based on the 68040. Most get over 150 MIPS. The FPU is pretty fast as well. There are also standalone versions, the V4 series.

[@askannav2094]

I just purchaes the Terrible Fire 534 card with 4 megabiyte online.. Not alot of information online on this product vs say the ACA500 or the Vampire card. Thanks for posting.

[@amigaretro4765]

The Terrible Fire Cards are pretty good. The TF536 would have been my 1st choice but it doesn't like to boot initially from a Cold Start. After it warms up after 5 minutes, it's fine till power off. Apparently this is a know issue, not just specific to my card.

[@jacktheripper6716]

@@amigaretro4765 found the tf530 (030 50mhz) didnt work too well with 3.1.4 wouldnt boot also i had gfx glitches

[@ZaPpaul]

@@amigaretro4765 I've never heard of anyone having problems booting from a cold start. Mine starts first time, every time.

[@amigaretro4765]

@@ZaPpaul I seem to be the unfortunate one :). I have tested the card on several A500s, even with different PSUs.

[@spidi9792]

I suggest using scsi.device (version on A600) from this wt.exotica.org.uk/test.html site. You will get even more acceleration of the CF card. Download scsi.device (save to C :) and LoadModule (save to DEVS :) from Aminet. Then enter "c: LoadModule MODULE DEVS: scsi.device" in CLI.

[@amigaretro4765]

Thanks. I will give this a shot.

[@AirwolfPL]

It's spelled vee her :)

[@dktr2]

Ustawienia zostaną wprowadzone po restarcie komputera ;)

[@amigaretro4765]

Google Translate Agrees. Thanks :)

[@miggy4eva980]

I really don't like the accelerators available and I think it could be done much better. My accelerator would have: 166mhz 68060 with water cooling, dual DSP 56001's, 8GB of chip ram, 8GB of fast ram. Triple HDMI 2.1 outputs for three monitor setup, plus legacy support for RGB, VGA, and DVI. Firewire 1394, USB 3.0, and thunderbolt ports. AMD RX580 graphics accelerator, Customisable FPGA with modes for Megadrive emulation, PS1, PS2, PS3, SNES, and Atari Falcon

[@spidLL]

A PC with FS-UAE would check all your boxes.

[@amigaretro4765]

Which would not be very Retro :)

[@miggy4eva980]

@@spidLL i disagree