Slow A1200 IDE speeds with Blizzard 1260 and IDEfix Express / FastIDE1200

  • Thread starter Thread starter keropi
  • Start date Start date
  • Replies Replies 42
  • Views Views 1783
keropi

keropi

Well-known member
AmiBayer
VIP
Joined
Dec 5, 2007
Posts
7,304
Country
Greece
Region
Ioannina
Hello!

I am facing a very weird problem with my main A1200 , I can't seem to be able to get proper "accelerated" IDE speeds with either the IDEfix Express or the AmigaKit FastIDE1200.
The system is running either OS3.9 or OS3.2.2 and a Blizzard 1260 accelerator at stock 50mhz with the latest Phase5 060 libs.

With the CF directly connected to the IDE port of the A1200 I get a speed of ~1.7mb/sec (using Sysinfo to quickly measure)
When either IDEfix Express or the AmigaKit FastIDE1200 are installed then I get ~2.2mb/sec
Enabling/disabling MAPROM function makes no difference whatsoever.

Now with the exact same system with no software changes at all if I install a TF1260 at stock 50mhz then I get a respectable ~4mb/sec using IDEfix Express or the FastIDE1200
So the thing that holds back the IDE speed is the Blizzard 1260? Am I doing something wrong? It just feels so weird because otherwise I am getting the expected speed results from the B1260...

Anyone has any idea what to try next? It's been bothering me for a couple of weeks now - at first I thought that the idefix express was somehow not compatible with OS3.9+ and was better suited for 3.1 or something so I ordered the AmigaKit controller that comes with a nice configuration program without the extra idefix software fluff but I was disappointed to find that nothing really changed speed-wise 😖
I am not sure what to do next and I want to continue using the B1260 since it's such an iconic upgrade that just feels right :LOL:

Thanks in advance for any help/ideas! (y)
 
Hey, the newer cards like the ACA and TFs do some wizardry on the bus so do indeed get better results from the onboard IDE. The best way to take full advantage of the Blizzard 1260 is with a SCSI kit. Even with a FastATA the results are still better for example B1260 you might see 6mb/sec whereas the ACA could hit 10mb/Sec
 
hah... I had no idea - thanks fitzsteve
I tested with an older ACA1231/40mhz and indeed I get the same ~4mb/sec - ofcourse the system is slower but the ide speed is good

I don't feel like forking out for a bulky scsi kit and then invest on some scsi solution and cram it all inside the desktop 1200 :LOL:
I might go the fastata route - I see now there is a new cf/sata version or something but all the pics are the same old ide thing we know from decades ago?
 
Yeah the FastATA, I think Mk4 now is pretty much the same as it always was, I have the Mk1 lol. The only selling point from the Mk3+ is it wa supported by OS4.1

And honestly, for most things you'll do on the Amiga 2mb/sec is fast enough. You'll really not see much of a change in day to day use, only a few applications need the extra speed, scummVM was one.
 
you are probably right fitzsteve... I will also have an extra annoyance with fastata: it surely conflicts with the Indy MK1 I use so maybe a sign to not bother more with it
 
Just to add. Once you start trying to add parts to a standard A1200 then this is where you start to run into space and power issues. Something I found out with the FastATA controllers is then heightening to fit over other boards and needing a very good PSU to keep it stable. Even then you won’t hit the claimed 16MB/sec speeds at PIO5.
 
yeah using a better PSU goes without saying
I've had a couple fastatas ages ago , I found a 2005 post of mine over at EAB back when I had a fastata mk1 gold + B1260 - apparently I was getting 6.2mb/sec
 
keropi said:
yeah using a better PSU goes without saying
I've had a couple fastatas ages ago , I found a 2005 post of mine over at EAB back when I had a fastata mk1 gold + B1260 - apparently I was getting 6.2mb/sec
Click to expand...
Yep. That was the best I could get at PIO4, anything higher then I would get Data corruption 🤦🏻‍♂️
 
keropi said:
yeah using a better PSU goes without saying
I've had a couple fastatas ages ago , I found a 2005 post of mine over at EAB back when I had a fastata mk1 gold + B1260 - apparently I was getting 6.2mb/sec
Click to expand...
Yeah that's about on par with what I used to get too.
 
It's been a long time, but I seem to recall that the scsi device from 3.9 was slower than the 3.1 scsi.device along with Piru's "speedyide" module, or some of the subsequent reworks of the scsi device floating around. There might have been a configuration utility for the IDE-Fix Express as well that did something 🤷‍♂️

I'm almost certain you can get that SysInfo benchmark over 3 MB/s with the Blizz 1260 + IDE-Fix Express.

Edit: In any case, you can also achieve a bit better performance (especially for writes) using "industrial" (MLC) CF cards.
 
Damion said:
It's been a long time, but I seem to recall that the scsi device from 3.9 was slower than the 3.1 scsi.device along with Piru's "speedyide" module, or some of the subsequent reworks of the scsi device floating around. There might have been a configuration utility for the IDE-Fix Express as well that did something 🤷‍♂️

I'm almost certain you can get that SysInfo benchmark over 3 MB/s with the Blizz 1260 + IDE-Fix Express.
Click to expand...

I was always under the impression I would get at least 4mb/sec because that is what I remember... but it's been almost 15+ years so I have forgotten many things... currently I am using 3.2.2 kickstart with my OS3.9 setup (I plan to migrate to 3.2.2 at some point) and I have to say the new scsi.device it has might not be the fastest but it works with every cf I have tried , something that was only possible with 3rd party patches before for me... I have accepted the lame speed now :LOL:
 
Last edited:
keropi said:
I was always under the impression I would get at least 4mb/sec because that is what I remember... but it's been almost 15+ years so I have forgotten many things... currently I am using 3.2.2 kickstart with my OS3.9 setup (I plan to migrate to 3.2.2 at some point) and I have to say the new scsi.device it has might not be the fastest but it works with every cf I have tried , something that was only possible with 3rd party patches before for me... I have accepted the lame speed now :LOL:
Click to expand...


The best you can get from the onboard A1200 IDE would be anything up-to 1.6MB/s. Remember this is a standard PIO 0 speed. It’s better on a A4000 as this can be around 2-2.5MB/s. Other factors play a part. Filesystem type, max transfer etc..

I use PFS3 V20.0 (V3.2) BETA 5 rather than FastFileSystem.
 
Yeah I meant 4mb with idefix express or fastide, without the Gayle adapters the speed is indeed ~1.7mb
 
I vaguely remember when I got my B1260 years ago having the same issue and someone explained to me at the time that yes, actually the normal ide performance with the B1260 is actually worse I think then a B1230.
I did actuially go down the SCSI Kit route, into a SCSI to IDE adapter into a CF card reader, and at the start I did have this all fitted into a desktop wedge with an Indy Mk2. It was a bit tight.......
Ended up with my B1260 and the SCSI stuff in a tower so a bit more room. Still got the quickest access times of any of my a1200s (circa 8mb from memory). A few time I did experiment with FastATA's but I never got on well with them.
 
@keropi Did you solve it? I had some issues with slow IDE speeds on my A1200 when I used AGS 2.6
 
keropi said:
nope amigo, I ended up replacing the B1260 all together as I started wanting all the extra stuff that newer accelerators offered 😑
Click to expand...
Ah, I think this might have have been a possible solution Facebook link
In my case scsi.device wan't used from fast RAM but from ROM or disk which slowed disk RW access down quite a bit

Nice to see you have dug out your Amiga gear again :)
 
Amigaz said:
Ah, I think this might have have been a possible solution Facebook link
In my case scsi.device wan't used from fast RAM but from ROM or disk which slowed disk RW access down quite a bit

Nice to see you have dug out your Amiga gear again :)
Click to expand...

yeah I did use the maprom option - I could never do more than ~1.7mb/sec which is not bad but kinda felt I should be getting more...
and yeah started messing again and the money spent started pilling up again :LOL:
 
keropi said:
yeah I did use the maprom option - I could never do more than ~1.7mb/sec which is not bad but kinda felt I should be getting more...
and yeah started messing again and the money spent started pilling up again :LOL:
Click to expand...

Just the maprom jumper in the 1260? I could never get that to do it's sexy thing on my 1230 MKIV so I had to use MUFastROM from the MMULibs pack.
1.7 MB/s is if I understand correctly the max you can get out out the A1200 built in slow assed IDE interface :cautious:

Hehe, started messing here also and burning dough just like old times :LOL:
I sold off alot of exotic Amiga gear ages ago but kept some "nice to have's" which I am glad I did back then
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom