A PowerPC-based accelerator for Amiga 1200 and A1200-based Tower Systems. With this innovative and powerful new accelerator a new dimension of performance is brought to the Amiga 1200, with performance increases of multiple times beyond the performance of the fastest 68k based accelerators available today. Primarily being designed as an upgrade board for existing Amiga systems, the Blizzard 603e Power Board incorporates Phase 5's innovative dual-processor technology, where a fast PowerPC RISC processor is combined with a 68k processor, in case of the Blizzard 603e Power Board a 68030 CPU. Both CPUs dynamically share the memory and system busses, what is necessary for a true multiprocessor behavior. While the original AmigaOS 3.x continues to run on the 68030 CPU - as well as all existing applications do, what provides 100% compatibility - the PowerPC 603e 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 optimze 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 or optimized 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 Blizzard 603e Power Board will be availabe with the fast PowerPC603e processor at a clock speed of 120 MHz; a socket is provided for the 68030 companion processor in a PGA housing. It provides a fast memory expansion option which uses standard PS/2 type SIMMs. The memory is dynamically shared by the two CPUs on the Blizzard 603e Power Board. As an option, a very inexpensive Fast SCSI-II controller will be available for the Blizzard 603e Power Board, which combines transfer rates of up to 10 MB/s with the flexibility and expandability of the SCSI standard. With it's 120 MHz 603e processor the Blizzard 603e Power Board provides - only on the PPC side - a raw performance of approximately 170 MIPS or approximately 3.5 SPECint95 and 2.8 SPECfp95 (estimations based on Motorola/IBM manufacturer specifications) - a blistering performance that can compete with most of the fastest PC systems available today. With this performance the Blizzard 603e Power Board is ready for the most demanding applications such as 3D rendering and high-speed 3D gameplaying, image manipulation, animation, video applications, and many other demanding applications that depend on fast CPU performance. The Blizzard 603e Power Board will be 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 (with a special GGX driver to support the AGA chipset) - of course with comprehensive documentation. The price is without the 68030 CPU which is necessary to operate the Blizzard 603e Power Board. 68030 processors from existing processor boards can be used on the Blizzard 603e Power Board by pluging these into the provided socket. If you don't own a 68030 CPU already, ask about our attractive bundle offers.
PowerPC-based accelerators for Amiga 3000(T) and 4000(T) as well as systems with 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 busses, what is necessary for a true multiprocessor behavior. While the original AmigaOS 3.x continues to run on the 68k CPU - as well as all existing applications do, what provides 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 optimze 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 available 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 along 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 will be 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. The prices are without the 68k CPU which is necessary to operate the Cyberstorm PPC. 68k processors from existing processor boards can be used on the Cyberstorm PPC by pluging these into the provided socket. If you don't own a 68k CPU already, ask about our attractive bundle offers.
The CyberVisionPPC is a high-performance graphic card which can be installed on the expansion slot of the PowerPC604e-based PowerUp accelerators, the Cyberstorm PPC and the Blizzard 2604 Power Board. It is scheduled for delivery in the second quarter of 1998, and will become available simultaneously with the Blizzard 2604 Power Board. Especially for the Blizzard 2604 the use of the CyberVisionPPC is highly recommended as the slow access to the ECS chip memory or Zorro-II-based graphics boards in the A1500/A2000 may limit the system performance in applications with lots of graphic output. The performance of the CyberVisionPPC benefits from the high data bandwidth achieved by the use of the direct connection to the processor bus by use of the graphics direct connector which incredibly speeds up for example 3D rendering and display.
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