TF1260 New Firmware Alpha Released!

News & updates for the upcoming 68060 accelerator

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terriblefire
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Re: TF1260 New Firmware Alpha Released!

Post by terriblefire »

Cego wrote: Mon Dec 20, 2021 7:35 pm i was wondering if you could get more into the technical detail why overclocking fails at some clocks with the current state of the FW?
I find it interesting that only 50MHz, 84MHz and 100MHz work stable on my machine, while almost everybody can clock his card to 66MHz but mine fails.
Does the A1200s all have crappy and slightly different timing or what's the secret behind this behavior?
Its an alpha.. i dont really want to give much more of a comment on it than that.
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Duncan
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Re: TF1260 New Firmware Alpha Released!

Post by Duncan »

not that i know much about it, and i don't want to sound like a mad rocket, but would overclocking the CPU well beyond its rated speed cause electromigration over time?


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Karl
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Re: TF1260 New Firmware Alpha Released!

Post by Karl »

Duncan wrote: Mon Dec 20, 2021 8:46 pm not that i know much about it, and i don't want to sound like a mad rocket, but would overclocking the CPU well beyond its rated speed cause electromigration over time?
It will if you need to increase the voltage a lot to achieve those clocks. As most old Motorola CPUs are designed to run without heatsink and fan, you can probably increase voltage and clocks safely if you cool them well.
I don't mind experimenting on 030s, but on 060s with the current price...

030 Absolute maximum voltage: 7V.
060 Absolute maximum voltage: 4V.

These voltages are not safe for normal use! Maybe they are safe if you cool with liquid nitrogen.
There should also be differences to maximum voltage depending on process node used, but I couldn't find anything in the documentation.

And there is the silicon lottery. Your CPU might be able to do high clocks on low voltage if you are a winner. The differences can be very big.
I recently binned 5 MC68030RC50C.

Failed at frequency/voltage:
60MHz/4.9V: 1
66MHz/5V:2
66MHz/4.75V:1

I lowered the voltage at 66MHz to find the best of the 2 remaining CPUs.

So, a safe overclock for one CPU doesn't mean it will be safe for all.
Power dissipation increases linearly with frequency and quadratic with voltage.
Intel is infamous for running their CPUs at high voltage to get that extra performance. Motorola probably did the opposite for the 060. Partly because of the fixed voltages used in the past. 3.3V, 5V.

There are also bugs that can kill a CPU even without overclocking: https://www.servethehome.com/intel-atom ... bug-quiet/
I don't know If that bug caused electromigration or not, but it sounds like it did.
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hardgb
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Re: TF1260 New Firmware Alpha Released!

Post by hardgb »

matt020 wrote: Mon Dec 20, 2021 5:23 pm
amiga-peter wrote: Mon Dec 20, 2021 4:56 pm Unfortunately new FW with rev. 5 68060 is very unstable.
Only 50MHz works.
Is it possible to check if FW upgrade was successful?
Peter
Can I chime in and say here that I thought I had a problem with my Rev 5 when it would not up clock any higher than 50mhz. Anything above 50 would crash, but there was a reason...... I was using the wrong version of CPUSPEED. Very important to check. I am not a dumb arse, but I was just too excited and overlooked this step. Once I used the new version of CPUSPEED, I had success in changing speed.
I also have a rev5. what speed did you get with the new update? I still haven't been able to buy the cable or even the adaptfor FTDI. it's too expensive
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Re: TF1260 New Firmware Alpha Released!

Post by Karl »

see TF1260 programming - questions & discussion.
terriblefire
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Re: TF1260 New Firmware Alpha Released!

Post by terriblefire »

Once again... keep "how to flash... what programmer do you have" type comments off the thread please. its covered to death elsewhere.
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Re: TF1260 New Firmware Alpha Released!

Post by GadgetUK164 »

Interestingly my "power problem" - with the LVD, seems to have gradually improved. I would say 50% of the time over last 3 days it has cold booted without issue. I do sometimes have to CTRL+AMIGA+AMIGA as it fails first boot part way, but I do have it configured to switch to 94Mhz in the start up (not recommended). That said, I run mine at 94Mhz all the time - it's an R4 without FPU so not the huge cost of a full R6.

Rock solid stable, been playing XCOM UFO AGA for the last 3 evenings, 3 or so hours at a time and totally robust, runs so very very well. Still cannot believe how amazing this is Stephen!!! I would say if there's a way to get the mid frequencies more robust for people that cannot get to 94 or 100 - this will be a perfect upgrade for any 1200. It puts the rest to shame =D
My YouTube Channel - www.youtube.com/GadgetUK164
voscoboss
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Re: TF1260 New Firmware Alpha Released!

Post by voscoboss »

I received a replacement card from Chucky. This made all problems go away, whoo!! I can now report that the following speeds work (not tested much yet, but no crash and can do a sysinfo speedtest): 84, 94 and 100MHz. Running quake now @100MHz for stability testing, t'is actually pretty playable!
CrazyC
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Re: TF1260 New Firmware Alpha Released!

Post by CrazyC »

I don't understand - I don't think I am stressing my card enough - what is the best way of testing it? (as I am told the CPUs vary by chip exactly what they can take).

It's a Rev 6 in a checkmate case, admittedly with the lid off to aid checking temps, but there are various cables over the card etc so it's not got clear airflow. I am using a handheld (not for human) infrared thermometer digital laser temperature gun, and both the CPU and CPLDs have heatsinks.

I am running the alpha firmware of course and after booting set it to run at 100mhz, and confirmed with sysinfo that its scoring on that basis, as well as verifying with cpuspeed. Now my summerhouse is quite cold at the minute and using the temp gun the chips (and ROMs) were all showing as between 13.0 and 13.4 degrees prior to boot. I did have a heater on for an hour or so before doing this test so was sitting there in jeans and a tshirt and not cold. Ambient temp was probably around 16-18.
After half an hour of playing amiquake the CPU had risen to 38 degrees and the CPLDs to 31.4 and 29.2 respectively. Threw in 15 mins of Payback and the temps actually fell slightly.
So after running what I thought would be demanding games for the card for 45 mins, with it at 100 mhz, it was barely breaking a sweat? Not even CPLDs seemed hot to touch?
Does this seem right? I know this is a great card but that seems unrealistically better than I expected. Or have the chips and heatsinks just been cooled so much all day and previous night that they won't fully warm up after only 45 mins? Or are those games actually too light to work the card hard?
Cheers
(PS - all seemed to run nice and stable at 100mhz)
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Re: TF1260 New Firmware Alpha Released!

Post by terriblefire »

have it run the quake demo for 2-3 hours.
———
"It is not necessarily a supply voltage at no load, but the amount of current it can provide when touched that
indicates how much hurting you shall receive."
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