Upgrading a 68030 on Apollo 2030 board

[AndyLandy]

So, I've been toying with the idea of getting a faster '030 and replacing the chip on my Apollo 2030 board, but I'm not sure if it's worth the bother.
I have the Lite version of the board, with 20MHz part, clocked at 25MHz. I was thinking of getting a 40MHz part and clocking it at 40-50MHz.

First question: Is it worth the bother?
Second question: Can it be done? (Or, in other words "How fast can I clock the Mach 130 chip?")
Third question: How the heck would I do it? The existing '030 is soldered to the board. I don't fancy trying to desolder 100-odd pins with a normal soldering iron!

 

[dabone]

Found this on google.

- 68030 CPU/MMU with 50MHz, 68882 FPU with 50MHz (Apollo 2030 turbo)
- 68030 CPU/MMU with 25MHz, 66882 FPU with 25MHz (Apollo 2030 Light)
- up to 64MB BurstMode FastRAM, auto+configuring
- 72MByte/sec. Information flow-rate in the nearly RAM by Burstmodus (Apollo 2030 turbo)
- SCSI2-Controller with transmission values to 3,5MByte/sec.
- 2 slots for 72pin SIM modules with 1, 2, 4, 8, 16 or 32MB

So it looks like it was available with 50mhz cpus also.
Just make sure you have 60ns ram @ 50mhz.


I've got a apollo 1230-III that I'm working on.
Yesterday I replaced the broken simm and added the second simm slot.
Now I'm just waiting for my 68030 socket.

It currently has a qfp 16mhz 68030 that was sold as a 40mhz.

I already have the 68030RC 50Mhz Pga part.

I'll post here if it's sucessful.
Later,
dabone

 

[Zetr0]

@andylandy

although its likely that a 50mhz component would work in the unit, there are no guarantee's - theres a lot of old logic in the way and theres and its just as likely compatible with 25mhz clock.

You must be very carefull when de-soldering the older 030, it will act like a giant heat-sink, you will need some serious equipment in getting it off, and due to the age theres no promises you wont damage the card.

 

[Cosmos]

My 030@16 works 100% at @40 : http://cosmosamiga.blogspot.com/2010/01/overclock-030.html

And no heat (33°) with this GVP Combo !

 

[Zetr0]

My 030@16 works 100% at @40 : http://cosmosamiga.blogspot.com/2010/01/overclock-030.html

And no heat (33°) with this GVP Combo !

Thats some nice work =D

alas the Apollo A2030 is not the most stable of devices. It is known to have faults and issues with motherboard revisions.

I fear that over-clocking this accelerator will only show up the design faults with the card in general.

 

[Cosmos]

Oh...

 

[rkauer]

Just to make things easier: in fact, Motorola never made different dies for the 030 CPU, internally they are the very same.

So does not matter if you have a 16MHz labelled version or a 40MHz QFP one. They are the exact same piece. Only difference is the ink over the plastic.

The same for PGA versions and 68882!

 

[Jumping Anaconda]

Just to make things easier: in fact, Motorola never made different dies for the 030 CPU, internally they are the very same.

So does not matter if you have a 16MHz labelled version or a 40MHz QFP one. They are the exact same piece. Only difference is the ink over the plastic.

The same for PGA versions and 68882!

#

So does that mean that the Amiga 3000 could have quite easily been released at 50mhz? If so that would have been a seriously fast machine for the time, it would have floored the competing PCs hands down. You do have to question the sense of Motorola. If they had released at one clock speed with one price it would have made much more sense. It seems that so many of the companies that failed to challenge Intel and Microsoft fell into a 'Tortoise and the Hare' trap, thinking they could turn their performance and price advantage into profits, and getting caught going nowhere.

 

[rkauer]

No, the motherboard will not cope with a 50MHz 030 because of the timings for the other custom chips.

Changing a 16MHz machine into a 25MHz one will be dead easy.