Exxos PSU + CT2B Falcon

mikro · Post by **mikro** » Thu Jul 12, 2018 10:10 pm

I guess this will be the first Exxos PSU in such Falcon. I must say I'm really impressed by its thermal characteristics -- the CT2 is draining power as crazy leading to very hot air inside the case when used the original Atari PSU. With the new PSU it is much, much better. And I think we all agree that the CT2 simply deserves the best PSU around.

: IMG_20180712_225724.jpg (3.71 MiB) Viewed 6189 times

I'm little bit worried about the wires so close to the caps (and the SIMM for that matter), what do you guys think?

Post by **exxos** » Thu Jul 12, 2018 10:21 pm

mikro wrote: ↑Thu Jul 12, 2018 10:10 pm I'm little bit worried about the wires so close to the caps (and the SIMM for that matter), what do you guys think?

As long as nothing is straining then shouldn't be a problem really. Not sure if the red wires are long enough to route behind the caps on the PSU or not ?

Steve · Post by **Steve** » Fri Jul 13, 2018 8:10 am

What does the Ct2b do for the Falcon, is it an 040 CPU? I really like how it allows you to keep the original PSU unlike the ct60. Honestly I think that is a much nicer option.

Post by **exxos** » Fri Jul 13, 2018 11:11 am

I don't think we have a GB6 benchmark of CT2...

mikro · Post by **mikro** » Fri Jul 13, 2018 3:28 pm

Steve wrote: ↑Fri Jul 13, 2018 8:10 am What does the Ct2b do for the Falcon, is it an 040 CPU? I really like how it allows you to keep the original PSU unlike the ct60. Honestly I think that is a much nicer option.

It does a lot but it's not an 040 CPU, no. It's an 030@50 MHz + FastRAM + basically everything clocked at either 50 MHz (FPU, Videl, DSP, Blitter, hard disk access) or 25 MHz (data bus, SDMA).

I must say I love this card even more than the CT60 and there are even benchmarks in which the CT2 still beats the CT60! (ST RAM access, blitting, hard disk access, ...). Even in standard mode you can still get faster results because the GALs are replaced by the CT2's.

Really nice piece of hardware but extremely tricky to install. Got it with a Falcon from Canada for $200 CAD as non-functional (took three months on a ship to get here

).

dhedberg · Post by **dhedberg** » Fri Jul 13, 2018 10:10 pm

mikro wrote: ↑Fri Jul 13, 2018 3:28 pm Really nice piece of hardware but extremely tricky to install. Got it with a Falcon from Canada for $200 CAD as non-functional (took three months on a ship to get here ).

Oh, I can give you double that if it works! Haha!

mikro · Post by **mikro** » Sat Jul 14, 2018 8:20 am

dhedberg wrote: ↑Fri Jul 13, 2018 10:10 pm Oh, I can give you double that if it works! Haha!

It works indeed.

I just need to replace the header+flat cable as it has many loose contacts. Really a nice piece of hardware.

dhedberg · Post by **dhedberg** » Sat Jul 14, 2018 8:31 am

Yes indeed. I have a boosted Falcon myself (Nemesis) but I'd really like to have some FAST-RAM. If Atari just had releaaed the Falcon at 25/50 MHz and with the possibility to add FAST-RAM it would have made such a difference.

mikro · Post by **mikro** » Sat Jul 14, 2018 9:58 am

dhedberg wrote: ↑Sat Jul 14, 2018 8:31 am If Atari just had releaaed the Falcon at 25/50 MHz and with the possibility to add FAST-RAM it would have made such a difference.

Totally agreed. When you think about it, the CT2 is made of quite common components, there's no special magic involved as the CPU/FPU/new GAL functionality could have been part of the Falcon from the beginning. It really feels like "hell, this is how they should have done it" instead of having a foreign accelerator card in the Falcon.

Post by **exxos** » Sat Jul 14, 2018 10:08 am

mikro wrote: ↑Sat Jul 14, 2018 9:58 am
dhedberg wrote: ↑Sat Jul 14, 2018 8:31 am If Atari just had releaaed the Falcon at 25/50 MHz and with the possibility to add FAST-RAM it would have made such a difference.
Totally agreed. When you think about it, the CT2 is made of quite common components, there's no special magic involved as the CPU/FPU/new GAL functionality could have been part of the Falcon from the beginning. It really feels like "hell, this is how they should have done it" instead of having a foreign accelerator card in the Falcon.

Of course old debate here

if the Falcon had faster CPU 50MHz 030 then it would have been a lot better. But I think the Falcon was rushed onto market as Atari was heading towards bankruptcy at the time. So I think we are lucky we had this machine at all. Of course not many people mention it does not even have 32bit access to ROM for example. It would have made huge increase in OS speeds simply to do that, and it is not really much work either.

I think Atari were working towards more of a music creating computer and the time. Of course we have better resolutions, better audio systems, DSP etc but it is like the CPU side of things never got any attention at all. In terms of music applications which are running TOS , it would have made perfect sense to use 32bit ROM. It just seems like they ran out of time and were cost-cutting and the Falcon simply never as good as it could have been.

I actually like the CT2 type design. I would really like to design a similar one, maybe not as advanced. Simply a 030 running at 50MHz, with 32 bit access to fast-ram and ROM... But again no time in my world for such projects

Exxos PSU + CT2B Falcon

Exxos PSU + CT2B Falcon

Re: Exxos PSU + CT2B Falcon

Re: Exxos PSU + CT2B Falcon

Re: Exxos PSU + CT2B Falcon

Re: Exxos PSU + CT2B Falcon

Re: Exxos PSU + CT2B Falcon

Re: Exxos PSU + CT2B Falcon

Re: Exxos PSU + CT2B Falcon

Re: Exxos PSU + CT2B Falcon

Re: Exxos PSU + CT2B Falcon