Subject: REVIEW: DKB 1240 40MHz 68030 Accelerator for the Amiga 1200
From: [email-masked] (Mark Langston)
Date: 8 Nov 1994 15:48:42 GMT
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.reviews

PRODUCT NAME

	DKB 1240 40MHz 68030 Accelerator for the Amiga 1200

BRIEF DESCRIPTION

	The DKB 1240 is an accelerator for the Amiga 1200 that fits into the
trapdoor slot.  It is a 40MHz 68030 accelerator with an FPU socket, an FPU 
clock crystal socket, a built-in, battery-backed clock, one SIMM slot for 
memory expansion, and an expansion port for a yet-to-be-released SCSI-2
connector.

AUTHOR/COMPANY INFORMATION

	Name:		DKB
	Address:	PO Box 438
			Wixom, Michigan  48393-0438
			USA.

	Telephone:	(810) 960-8751
	FAX:		(810) 960-8752

LIST PRICE

	$179.00 (US) for the bare board.
	$165.00 (US) for a 4MB, 60ns SIMM,
	$ 55.00 (US) for a 68882 RC-25MHz PGA FPU,
	$125.00 (US) for a 68030 RC-50 PGA CPU with MMU.

	Total mail-order cost:  $524.00 (US)

SPECIAL HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE REQUIREMENTS

	HARDWARE

		Amiga 1200

	SOFTWARE
	
		None.

COPY PROTECTION

        None.

MACHINE USED FOR TESTING

	Amiga 1200, 2MB Chip RAM
	Conner CP420 420MB hard disk
	NEC 3D multisync monitor
	AmigaDOS 3.0

INSTALLATION

	[MODERATOR'S NOTE:  If you are not comfortable opening up your
	Amiga, then you should have the work done by an authorized Amiga
	service center.  Opening your Amiga yourself may void your warranty,
	and careless work may even damage the machine.  - Dan]

	The 1240 that I purchased arrived with the various chips (CPU, FPU,
FPU clock crystal, SIMM) separate from the 1240 itself.  Nevertheless,
putting the chips onto the board was quite simple.  Every chip has its own
socket, except for the clock crystal, which has a strange solder socket I
had never seen before.  The clock crystal slides right in but does not sit
entirely flush with the board.  This is no problem, but I did find it a bit
annoying.  The manual is quite clear about chip installation, but there are
two problems:

	1)	The pictures referred to in the manual are grainy and of
		poor quality, making their use as a reference difficult.

	2)	The instructions for installation of the SIMM board DO NOT
		MATCH the picture.  The picture shows a SIMM being installed
		with the chips facing AWAY from the board, and the text
		describes installing the SIMM with the chips FACING the
		board.  The method described in the text is the correct
		version (chips facing the board).

	After placing the chips correctly on the board, I attempted to
install the board in the trapdoor slot of the 1200.  The board was difficult
to seat in the trapdoor slot, and was resistant to being pushed onto the
card-edge connector.  Although this was annoying, it was easily solved by
opening the 1200 case, moving the keyboard, and using both hands to guide
the board into the trapdoor and onto the connector.  This may void your
warranty, but due to the current amorphous status of Commodore, this may or
may not be a concern for you.

	Once the board has been properly seated in the trapdoor slot of the
1200, the installation of the 1240 is complete.

REVIEW

	The DKB 1240 seems to be a significant performance enhancement for
the stock 1200.  The board uses standard SIMM modules which autoconfig on
bootup, and the board comes with a program that can be placed in the
WBStartup drawer that will remap the ROM to Fast RAM if there is a SIMM
present.

	After installation, I noticed a large speed increase in disk access
and screen refreshes.  Many of my graphics utilities and applications seemed
to run much faster.  However, these are all subjective measures of
performance.  For the benchmark-inclined reader, I have included a summary
of AIBB tests run with the 1240 installed.  As with all benchmarks, these
results should be taken with a grain of salt.

Amiga 1200 with new DKB 1240 (Cobra) Board  (OS 3.0, v39.106)

DKB 1240 Configuration:
	CPU	40Mhz 68030 w/MMU
	FPU	25Mhz 68882 
	4.0 MBytes 32 Bit 60ns FASTRAM 
	2.0 MBytes 32 Bit      CHIPRAM

	The following results were obtained using AIBB version 6.1.  Each
platform was run at its respective highest capacity (e.g., the 3000 used for
comparison was using '020+ code and FP math, the 4000 was using '020+ code
and the '040 FPU for math).  For each test, the overall winner is denoted by
an asterisk (*) after the test score. 

Test		Result		Stock 1200  1200 w/1240  3000/25   4000/40
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
EmuTest		10.66 Sim'd Mhz	    1.00     4.23	  2.72      8.66*
EllipseTest	 8.25 Seconds	    1.00     1.58	  0.98	    2.28*
LineTest      1204.12 Lines/Second  1.00     0.93	  0.62      1.09*
InstTest   4085751.32 Insts/Second  1.00     5.05         3.12      5.73*
WritePixel    8528.32 Pixels/Second 1.00     2.28	  1.19	    5.16*
Matrix		 1.56 Seconds	    1.00     4.15	  2.76	    4.40*
Sieve		 4.55 Seconds	    1.00     3.36*	  2.14	    2.70
IMath		 3.26 Seconds	    1.00     3.39	  2.11	    4.86*
Dhrystone    14350.69 Dhry/Second   1.00     4.46	  2.75	    9.34*
MemTest		 7.45 MBytes/Second 1.00     2.26	  2.38*	    1.27
Sort		 5.14 Seconds	    1.00     4.30	  2.65	    7.31*
Savage		 3.36 Seconds	    1.00    98.93	 98.68    117.06*
Flops		 0.4484 Scalar MFl  1.00    33.34	 33.53    193.77*
FMath		 2.90 Seconds	    1.00    14.45	 13.87    124.15*
TranTest	 7.20 Seconds	    1.00    60.31	 47.80     81.25*
FMatrix		 3.71 Seconds	    1.00     3.74	  3.08	    8.25*
FTrace		 3.74 Seconds	    1.00    61.63	 57.79	  107.83*
BeachBall	12.56 Seconds	    1.00    24.31	 19.53	   76.59*
CplxTest	 4.07 Seconds	    1.00     5.10	  3.66	   14.43*

	As you can see from the results above, the 1240 greatly improves the
performance of a stock 1200, moving it into the same class as an Amiga 3000
at 25MHz.

DOCUMENTATION

	The 1240 comes with a 6-page printed manual.  The directions are
well written but somewhat sparse.  The 1240 is a brand new product, however,
and I expect the documentation quality to improve over time.  As mentioned
earlier, the pictures in the manual are of poor quality:  black and white
and very grainy.  This is unfortunate, since they are referred to as visual
aids to installation.

	The manual fails to address two topics I think are very important
for an accelerator.  The first topic is whether or not the Fast RAM is
mapped into the memory area reserved for PCMCIA cards.  There is no mention
of this subject, except on the last page, in the Troubleshooting section.
Here, they suggest removing any PCMCIA cards before booting up, as they may
be a source of possible trouble.  This does not explicitly address the
PCMCIA/RAM conflict, but it does suggest that Fast RAM is mapped into this
area.  The second problem is that the manual does not address any operation
issues.  As an individual unfamiliar with the 68030 chip, I would have
really appreciated a section describing how the board can be used to
increase software performance.  It would have also been helpful if there was
a section on the use of the various caches and the MMU on the 68030 chip.
Apparently, the MMU is not automatically turned on at bootup, and I am at a
loss as to how one can enable it.

	These problems aside, the manual is adequate for the beginner as an
installation guide.

LIKES

	Aside from the overall performance improvements, I particularly like
the fact that the board is fully autoconfiguring, and that it accepts
standard (non-proprietary) SIMMs.  I also appreciate the inclusion of a
separate socket for the FPU clock crystal.  There is a jumper on the board
to switch between a separate FPU crystal and the CPU crystal.  This eliminates
the need to purchase yet another crystal if a 40MHz FPU is installed.  I
also particularly like the jumper that allows the user to disable the
built-in clock.  I have heard that most accelerators with an on-board clock
conflict with any other clock installed in the system.  This jumper is a
handy way to get around this problem if you already have a clock installed.

DISLIKES AND SUGGESTIONS

	I dislike the overall quality of the manual, particularly the
pictures included with it.  I also dislike the vagueness with which the
PCMCIA/RAM conflict is presented in the manual.  I would really like to know
whether or not this board will cause problems if I decide to install PCMCIA
cards.  Unfortunately, I do not own any, so I have no way to empirically
test this.  There is one other problem with the board:  When I try to
warm-boot the computer using CTRL-Amiga-Amiga, the computer no longer
recognizes my hard disk.  This is probably not a problem with the board
itself, but instead the fact that I am using a stock A1200 power supply.  I
am fairly confident that if I upgrade to a stronger power supply, this
problem will disappear.

	All in all, I would give this board a thumbs-up.  It seems to win in
a price/performance comparison.  It met my expectations for an accelerator
of this class.  On the other hand, I had already heard about other people's
problems with similar A1200 accelerators, so I had a good idea of what to
expect.

COMPARISON TO OTHER SIMILAR PRODUCTS

	I have no experience with other 1200 accelerators, so I cannot
honestly make any direct comparisons.  You may want to consider the AIBB
results for an idea of how the 1240 stacks up against the 3000 and 4000.

BUGS

	None.

VENDOR SUPPORT

	I have not had any need to contact DKB for support yet, but it is
my understanding that they have a friendly and helpful support staff.

WARRANTY

	The 1240 is covered from one year from date of purchase.  Only the
board itself is covered, as far as I know.  If, however, you order the board
directly from DKB with chips already installed, I'm sure they would cover
that, as well.  DKB does not cover shipping expenses, and there is no
information about transferring the warranty.

CONCLUSIONS

	I like it.  I have been in need of more speed and RAM for quite some
time now, and the 1240 meets my needs.  Your mileage may vary, of course, but
I'm quite happy with an AGA equivalent of an Amiga 3000.  I'd give the
product 5 out of 5 stars for performance, but only 2.5 out of 5 for
documentation.

COPYRIGHT NOTICE

	Copyright 1994 Mark C. Langston.  All rights reserved.

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