Bikerbob's H5 C1 build

[Bikerbob]

Hello all, my board arrived last friday. Great shape, packaging was great. Canada post also did not ding me for extra taxes etc.. so I lucked out.

I am waiting on some parts from Exxos and I also have a STFM as a donor, unfortunately a good working board, but I did get it very cheap $25.. so I am going to use it.

Some basic questions.

1. No reason why I cannot use a good re-capped PSU? Will it put out enough juice? I guess only time will tell for how many addons I put on.

2. I have a TF536 (about to sell it) and TF534 that I was going to use one in a A500 and another in an Atari.. but seems that Might not be worth while. I also have have two PAK030s - one seems to be a PAKman design and the other a later reproduction. This is my hardware what IF machine.. which I want to build and modify etc.. I assume it will never see a top case.. Has anyone has good success with any of these on this machine? IS there anyone looking into a Buffee for this? looks like an amazing 68000 replacement.

I guess at this point my best strategy is to start my desoldering on the donor board.

I will do my first picture when the kit arrives from exxos.

[PaulJ]

1. No reason why I cannot use a good re-capped PSU? Will it put out enough juice? I guess only time will tell for how many addons I put on.

2. I have a TF536 (about to sell it) and TF534 that I was going to use one in a A500 and another in an Atari.. but seems that Might not be worth i

I will do my first picture when the kit arrives from exxos.

Re-capped PSU’s work fine. If you want a very low noise supply that generates very little heat I would consider Exxos’s supply. The TF536 works great in my H4/H5 machines.

[Bikerbob]

1. No reason why I cannot use a good re-capped PSU? Will it put out enough juice? I guess only time will tell for how many addons I put on.

2. I have a TF536 (about to sell it) and TF534 that I was going to use one in a A500 and another in an Atari.. but seems that Might not be worth i

I will do my first picture when the kit arrives from exxos.

Re-capped PSU’s work fine. If you want a very low noise supply that generates very little heat I would consider Exxos’s supply. The TF536 works great in my H4/H5 machines.

Paul are you using the ST version of the 536 or the original? with an Atari clpd programmed?

James

[PaulJ]

Paul are you using the ST version of the 536 or the original? with an Atari clpd programmed?

I'm using the original, I believe the only difference is Exxos has moved the boot rom to reside directly on the 68030 buss so it doesn't need to accessed it on the ST buss. Really doesn't matter though because TOS gets moved into 68030 memory space. Anyway the TF536 is fast. Notice that its running out of alt-ram. With Exxos's board you don't need the 2.06 and above decoder board or equivalent.

IMG_2666.jpeg (672.33 KiB) Viewed 7952 times

[exxos]

The original TF536 only runs at 50MHz when accessing alt-ram. Mine runs at 50Mhz all the time. So if you use a TF536 original without anything in alt-ram, it won't make anything faster at all. With mine running 50MHz, all software will get a boost in speed, not just alt-ram software.

[PaulJ]

@exxos with everything in alt ram wouldn't the speed be similar. Any chance of posting a bench6 for your board Exxos. I'd be querious to see the difference.

[Bikerbob]

well that is interesting.. Maybe going the PAK030 route, now that I dont have to build a tower of addons anymore, that might work better.

Have to do some searching for Mongrel boards with PAK installs. Wonder if Name of the Game will do that?

James

[exxos]

@exxos with everything in alt ram wouldn't the speed be similar. Any chance of posting a bench6 for your board Exxos. I'd be querious to see the difference.

Like I said, alt ram runs at 50mhz in both boards. Most stuff doesn't run altram. It depends what you're wanting to run and where you want the speed. I think most people don't understand the differences between the boards. I keep repeating myself and already posted benchmarks months ago.

[PhilC]

The version 2b TF536 is a good board without a doubt but to get the most out of it you need to run all your apps from fast ram.

It's difficult to compare gembench benchmarks between the 2b and rev 5 because all tests are shown running from fast ram, which is as we know, when both boards run at 50mhz. The difference is noticeable between the 2b and 5 when doing anything that does not use fast ram. For instance blitter times and desktop updates are significantly faster with the 5 due to it being fixed at 50mhz.

Of course the problem comes when you have to try and locate a cheap cpu that will run at 50mhz permanently. Not all cpus that run on a 2b will run on a 5 and a heatsink is a must on a Rev 5 IMHO.

[PaulJ]

@exxos ,@PhilC , I'm sure Exxos's board runs great but not to the point where one should run out and replace TF536s unless they have a specific need for the advantages Exxos's boards offer.. I have two, one I purchased from Greg and one I built and both have operated flawlessly at great speeds and I am using the IDE interface on both. Absolutely no complaints. If I were to purchase another I would most likely give Exxos's a go since it appears to have an advantage in operating all memory at 50 mhz. I was just telling Bikerbob I wouldn't get rid of my TF536 to get Exxos's board especially if the IDE is non functional at this time. Any new boards I buy would be from Exxos since they are specifically tailored for the ST but at this time I am quite pleased with the TF536 and Bob should be to.