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Fizzbinn’s Finds

Fizzbinn

Well-known member
I think the main hard drive is missing, this is just the board of it pictured there. 
Ah, you're right. I've never seen a hard drive removed like that... certainly more difficult than pulling the whole thing out. Maybe they thought someone might want the board to swap with a drive of the same model with good mechanics but failed electronics...

 

bibilit

Well-known member
@fizzbinn

yes probably, if the hard drive was shot, not a big deal anyway. 

I managed to keep all those boards for years when the hard drive was bad (crashed heads...)

so  far I have managed to repair a few units swapping boards around, so probably worth keeping it also. 

 
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Fizzbinn

Well-known member
Nice find! Curious what speed the accelerator will be. 


I think it’s 33Mhz based on a closer look at the picture, the CPU marking looks like it ends in “25M”, and the clock chip looks like it’s 16.6Mhz. Pretty sure the CPU speed is double the clock on these and that DayStar used 25Mhz 68040 in their 33Mhz cards adding the heat sink to compensate for the overclocking.  
 

I’m not sure if there would be way to tell if there might be Cache daughter card on the other side. I shouldn’t be greedy. Great deal as is.

0E15BD2C-1442-4CDE-90AC-92C58A09D6E7.jpeg
 

 
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Daniël

Well-known member
I don't think the '040s liked being overclocked, and most were heatsinked even at 25MHz. It could be clock multiplied by 1.5x, which would right around 25MHz. An 8MHz overclock would be pretty extreme, I figure Daystar would have put a 33MHz '040 on it if they wanted it to run at that speed, but I could be wrong. 

EDIT: I am probably wrong, looking for more pictures, I found a 25MHz model that lacks a heatsink, and has a crystal running at 12.5MHz, so it'd make sense for this to be OC'd to 33MHz. Still, I figure this is somewhat later in the '040's life, where it probably ran a little cooler?

 
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Fizzbinn

Well-known member
@Daniël Oosterhuis I'm fairly certain that the clock chips for 68040 CPUs are half the CPU speed. I've seen this on numerous forums and discussions on overclocking the 68040. I can see if I can find it again but there is a good thread on here about the different 68040 production models/versions where the consensus seems to be that there really isn't any physical difference between 25Mhz and 33Mhz 68040s from the same production run (mask version?). Later models use smaller processes and generate less heat to you can potentially run them at higher speeds with less need for heat sinks/fans.

Generalizing from what I recall (I haven't checked dates when the versions were released or anything):

68040 version 1 ~1991

25Mhz - Need heatsink

33Mhz - Need heatsink + fan

40Mhz - Need heatsink + fan and luck

68040 version 2 ~1992

25Mhz - Can run bare

33Mhz - Need heatsink 

40Mhz - Need heatsink + fan

68040 version 3 ~1993

25Mhz - Can run bare

33Mhz - can run bare

40Mhz - Need heatsink 

Of course the particulars of the specific computer case and airflow design would mean the above would just be a rule of thumb.

 
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Fizzbinn

Well-known member
I picked up a DayStar PoweCard 601 (100Mhz) for BIN $61 shipped on eBay.  Would make a pretty interesting upgrade for my Quadra 605 (smallest desktop PPC?) ...of course there is a pretty big catch. As advertised there are 4 missing, broken off, pins for the motherboard connection (040 socket). 
 

E5E754CC-1837-49F8-AEA5-170E37CE5C85.jpeg

7D785996-95FE-45B0-AF7B-0AA9C5CAEFC7.jpeg

And the damage from two angles:

727DA42A-3A38-4F5C-B6CA-DF5A0194F928.jpeg

FADA5DA2-8D40-42DC-BD6A-DB81156C8D2A.jpeg

I’m well aware I might have a useless, but interesting to me, piece of history, but still think there might be way to fix the pins or maybe bodge wire around it?  
 

Any one have any experience with something like this? Thoughts/opinions/advice?

 

CC_333

Well-known member
Well, I don't know, but since it appears to be a regular '040-type socket, maybe you can simply replace it?

It'd be a huge chore to desolder all those pins, though...

Or maybe, as an alternative, you can drill out the broken pin stubs and solder appropriately thin header pins in their place?

c

 

Fizzbinn

Well-known member
Or maybe, as an alternative, you can drill out the broken pin stubs and solder appropriately thin header pins in their place?
Thanks @CC_333, I think this is the path I’m going to take, probably going to start a separate thread when I get to it. 

 

Fizzbinn

Well-known member
Nice find! Curious what speed the accelerator will be. 
The IIsi arrived super well packed, thick bubble wrap cocoon, but something was rattling inside... and yep it was the Turbo 040 card! Ugh. Must have shook loose during shipping. (Note to self, remember this for future shipping instructions to sellers...)

I put it in my known good IIsi, crossed my fingers and yep it booted right up, noticeably faster... The Happy Mac boot icon has a little “Turbo 040” marking now!  I installed the DayStar QuadControl Control Panel and it’s a 33Mhz model with 128KB cache, firmware 4.01.  :lc: :lc: :lc:

 
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Fizzbinn

Well-known member
DA205F49-0B99-4500-8747-555271806351.jpeg

So I tested my new Turbo 040 using my known good IIsi with its known good DayStar PDS to Cache slot and PDS pass through adapter card. The similar adapter card that came in the “new” IIsi had a problem, a missing capacitor on the back of the card that I found under the floppy drive...

Top - my good adapter, bottom the new one:

CDBA045F-C8D2-4D3E-8B94-00FFE7CE6064.jpeg
 

The broken off capacitor next to the damaged pad:

FB8FE5BB-F118-42DD-AB2E-C6FAB7160CEE.jpeg

Zoomed in:

3B368512-32DD-4617-9BD3-440C39AB61E0.jpeg

And my repair:

47A49B7F-5C94-485A-A333-8AD5088C395D.jpeg

I used a smaller package size 10uf capacitor since it’s what I had but since one of the pads was lifted/snapped off with the wrecked capacitor and I had to use a wire from the via to the pad it didn’t really mater. Swapped it in and everything seems to be working/good!  :lc:
 

One thing I’m excited about with the new adapter is it’s Cache connector is offset/set back which means I can use an Asante Ethernet PDS card and it’s rear external port board (which is blocked when using the other adapter board with aligned Cache and PDS pass through connectors.
 

Unobtainium obtained! (...after a year of scouring eBay)

 
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Fizzbinn

Well-known member
I found a Centris 610 on eBay that looked to have something interesting inside, a Sonnet QuadDoubler. I jumped on it just for the QuadDoubler, thinking it might be a great upgrade for my 605 or 700.  :)
 

B79AAFDF-A618-4771-94DF-EB3F1AE821B0.jpeg

27CB3B75-7915-49B5-9F2F-E44B60F13975.jpeg

I hadn’t looked at/thought about these case style Macs much but they are actually somewhat interesting on their own. I just wish they had soft power, I guess I give the 605 a pass due to its smaller size?

True to the description it wouldn’t boot, start up chimes followed by death chimes. I spent the a bunch of the weekend cleaning up the motherboard, re-soldering some chips with loose pin legs, and recapping. As I have to remind myself happens sometimes this all turned out to be for naught, startup behavior unchanged.  :(
 

 
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Fizzbinn

Well-known member
With the Centris 610 down for the count I gave the QuadDoubler a try in my 605.

A815AF57-B60F-4600-9D88-D3CCA9A1E8D3.jpeg
 

...and it booted just fine, 50MHz!  Things seemed good and then after 15 min or so, crash. Overheating likely since it’s probably only meant to run at 40Mhz (2x20Mhz speed of the C610).  As a test I moved the case fan on top of the heat sync and it seems stable now.

BD19FF53-8E55-4514-8A27-9EA8841BCFD6.jpeg

I’d need to figure out a better solution make this work longer term (be able to close the case). But oh so snappy! Benchmarks:

7515661A-F8B6-4539-9F67-FC7CBD2BC510.jpeg

 

jessenator

Well-known member
Bummer about the 610. Seems this form factor us reaching its halflife of sorts, what with the problems posted so specifically about this board.

Any luck testing the QuadDoubler in another machine?

Edit :Ha! Simulpost :lol: Or so I thought.

Oh well. Nice numbers!

 
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Fizzbinn

Well-known member
Bummer about the 610. Seems this form factor us reaching its halflife of sorts, what with the problems posted so specifically about this board.

Any luck testing the QuadDoubler in another machine?
Just posted on that, silver lining on the weekend!

 

Fizzbinn

Well-known member
So picked this 68040 upgrade card up on eBay BIN (with an Dayna PDS Ethernet card) for $61 shipped:

C6E96EE5-A13E-4D53-86E6-4BD505E2A6ED.jpeg
 

Anyone know anything about these? Applied Engineering Transwarp/TW 6400 from 1993. Looks like it’s 33MHz, didn’t have a pic of the other side, wonder if there is an optional cache module? Googling doesn’t really turn up much, info or driver wise....

 
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