Hi All,

Im looking at getting a 200MHz Blizzard PPC (quite cheap) but the only downside is that an 040 is attached and having experienced an 060 at 66MHz I dont want to go back, also context switching will be much better.

What I would like to know is how easy would it be to swop out the 040 for my 060 chip? And where can I get hold of the appropriate 66MHz crystal? I believe they take 8 pin DILs?

Thanks,
Amiboy

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@Amiboy

You DON'T :D

-- Neko

@Neko

They use the same pinouts, but different voltages. The 040 is 5v and the 060 is 3.3v.

Also they use different crystal frequency schemes. If I remember correctly, one needs a crystal 2x the required frequency and the other just at 1x the required frequency. I can't rember which is which though

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@GazSP

Well, the 68060 has a lot more pins than the 68040, but boards designed for a 68060 can be (and in this case HAS been) fitted with a 68040. The other way around doesn't work. And the clock difference is that the 68040 needs two clocks, one core clock and one bus clock. The bus clock runs at twice the frequency. The 68060 only has one clock. But the design must have a dip-switch or similar to select this anyway, so shouldn't be too difficult. My Apollo1240 has a dipswitch named CLK with two positions, 040 and 060. I wonder what that does?

You also need to generate 3.3V from the 5V, but I think the BlizzardPPC (unlike the Apollo1240) has this on-board already. The A1240 comes with two soldered jumpers connecting +5V to the CPU voltage. The A1260 has a 3.3V regulator plugged into it instead of those jumpers.

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@Amiboy

There are instructions on how to replace the 040 of a BPPC with a 060 in issue 4 of the Swedish Amiga magazine Azine. It might not help you much though...

@AmiDog

Is it available in English anywhere?

@ All

I understand about the clock frequecy differnces between an 040 and 060 I have had both processors in my time.

Something important that I almost forgot to do was ask the seller if the 040 was socketed if it is then that makes life easier and the only soldering I need to do (or Ill get someone else to do it) is the voltage setting.

I have also sound a possible source for the crystal - AmigaKit has some 8 pin DIL att 66Mhz........

I hope I can get it cant afford an A1 or Amy05.

Thanks,
Amiboy

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@Amiboy

I don't think it's available in english, but it should be easy to translate, it's just two A5 pages. Basically what you need to do is to desolder the 040, solder a socket for the 060, move two "switches" (resistors I think) to select 060 and 3.3V, put the 060 in the socket, and finally flash the card with a 060 flash update. There's a picture on page 17 which shows how to select between 3.3V or 5V and 040 or 060.

Last edited by AmiDog on 26-Oct-2005 at 11:08 AM.

@AmiDog

Thanks for poiting out the article. I can make out the diagram but would it be possible for you (or someone you know) to translate the text for me? I only need the relevent bits any 'waffle' can be cut out.

Thanks,
Amiboy

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@Amiboy

Use MorphOS PowerUP edition (free of charge) or AOS4 (currently not available, but soon) on the Blizzard then you don't have to care wther you have a 040 or a 060.
The MOS-JIT reaches about 060 speed on the 200Mhz Blizzard, teh native things are of course ways faster.
You'll need a BVision or a Voodoo for that.
For legacy reasons keep a 68k partitition with OS3.x.

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its a hell of work... why not just wait for the ack ppc boards that are lurinkaround the corner anytime now...

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@Zylesea

Thats what im thinking of doing but until OS4 is available commercially then I would love a PPC to Play Q1, Q2, Freespace and Shogo on.

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@d0c

Coz im an Amiga junky and I wants more now.........

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@d0c

What is the news with this ACK board anyways?

@Amiboy

I don’t know way your spending your time thing about it, replacing the 040 for 060, AmigaOS4 is going to emulate the 680x0 cpu, so your not going to need it,

I think if your system is not running well you can try to replace the CPU and or RAM, backup battery, butt I don’t see way your think about it, if your system runes well.

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@Amiboy

Translation:

--- Changing the CPU of a Phase 5 Blizzard PPC A1200 from 68040 to 68060

Warning! Unless you have good knowledge of electronics and soldering this may not be the first project to atempt.

I will briefly explain what I did:

First I desoldered the 68040-CPU from the Blizzard board by hand using a solder sucker. It took about two hours. After that I cleaned all the holes where the CPU used to sit.

--- Finding a PGA-socket?

The next step was to find a PGA-socket suitable for the 68060. This turned out to be the hardest part of the entire project. I looket all over Europe without result, including all known companies which repair and make Amiga gear.

Luckily I had an old Apollo 4060-accelerator in a corner at home. I don't use it anymore as I have a CyberstormPPC in my A3000 nowadays.

I desoldered the socket from the Apollo 4060-accelerator which took nearly four hours due to all the pins which had to be cleaned, and obviously they all fell out of the socket which meant I had to rebuild the socket using a piece of cell foam as a base plate until I could squeeze the pins back at their place i the matrix.

Efter this job I deserved a break and a pot of coffee for the next concentration exercise, that is, soldering the socket to my BlizzardPPC board.

After that I moved the voltage switch from 5 volt to 3.3 volt and a small jumper which tells the board that a 68060 CPU is attached to it.

This was done using very good lightening, a maginfying glass and a pari of tweezers with a hot tip. It's best to have this job done before the socket is in place as it's very tight to reach afterwards.

After the socket was soldered onto the BlizzardPPC-board I made sure there were no bad solder joints.

--- Additional cycles

While I was at it I changed the crystal for the 060-CPU to 60MHz and overclocked the PPC from 210MHz to 240MHz. A tip is to get an 8-pin DIL-socket, remove the innermost legs and solder it before the crystal is finally pushed into place in the socket.

This to make it easier to change crystal if needed. Then is was time to push the 68060-CPU into place and cross my fingers.

I inserted the BlizzardPPC and checked the Early Startup to make sure everything looked OK.

The next step was to reflash the ROM of the BlizzardPPC-board for the 68060 which worked out painlessly. I choosed "flashupdate-300399.lha" from Aminet.

I have to say the computer is really fast now!

I would like to give a special thanks to Mattias Bornholm for the sketch of the jumpers and resistors which DCE didn't want to give away.

DCE by the way said a project like this would be impossible considering the design of the BlizzardPPC. #### I say!

--- Picture texts (following the flow of the text)

Motorola 68040 desoldered from the BlizzardPPC board.

The rebuilding of the socket and cleaning of all the pins.

A somewhat blurry image, but these are the cleaned holes of the BlizzardPPC board where the socket is to be soldered.

The desoldering phase of the socket to be removed from the Apollo 4060-accelerator.

The socket soldered to the BlizzardPPC board. Note the crystals at the very right of the socket.

Sketch of the voltage switch and the CPU selector.

--- Stuff needed to get the job done

* Soldering iron with a very fine tip
* Solder sucker or solder wick
* Fine solder
* Motorola 68060
* PGA-socket 225 pin 2.54 mm gridspacing
* 60 MHz crystal
* 8-pin DIL-socket
* Tweezers
* Magnifying glass
* Good lightening
* A lot of patience and time
* Flashupdate-300399.lha

@GazSP

Seriously: you do NOT swap them. I don't care if they have the same pins but different voltages, you have to change a lot on that board and it wasn't designed to be serviced by "Amiwhoever". I doubt even the designer (who I work for, by the way) would even bother to do it.

Why don't you get an AmigaOne instead of trying to gain so little through modification?

@NutsAboutAmiga

Im thinking about it because until OS4 comes out I want to be able to use the PPC to run any PPC sortware (mainly games) but I still want good workbench performance (atleast 060 50 min) but I also want the faster 68K so that context switching issues arent as bad as using an 040!

Plus any none PPC software that requires a hefty 68K will benefit from the 060 at 66Mhz.

Thanks,
Amiboy

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Live Long and keep Amigaing!

A1200, Power Tower, TF1260 128MB RAM, 68060 Rev 6, OS3.9 BB2, HD-Floppy, Mediator TX+ PCI, Voodoo 3 3000, Soundblaster 4.1, TV Card, Spider USB, 100MBit Ethernet, 16GB CF HD, 52xCDRom.

@AmiDog

Thank you very much for the translation. Will read it later.

Im considering that my skils with a soldering Iron arent great so does anyone kow anyone who would be willing to do the conversion for me?? I can pay

Thanks,
Amiboy

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Live Long and keep Amigaing!

A1200, Power Tower, TF1260 128MB RAM, 68060 Rev 6, OS3.9 BB2, HD-Floppy, Mediator TX+ PCI, Voodoo 3 3000, Soundblaster 4.1, TV Card, Spider USB, 100MBit Ethernet, 16GB CF HD, 52xCDRom.

@Neko

"I doubt even the designer (who I work for, by the way) would even bother to do it."

eh, eh

erm . . . sorry . . .FYI the BlizzardPPC shares the same PCB layout and side-components.

And i bet that the designers did know it

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@Neko

Many people has already proven that the CPU exchange is possible, and with little effort if you already have the soldering skills.

@AmiBoy

Amiga Repair Centre in France would be happy to do it for you I'm sure.

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