How to speed up your Blizzard1260 --------------------------------- ********************************************************************** WARNING: Don't try to make this hack, if you are not experienced in soldering and electronic circuit design. This hack invalidates your warranty. I am not taking any responsibility for any computer or turboboard damages due to this hack! ********************************************************************** My friend has bought Blizzard1260 turbo board. What we made first was testing of it's speed. Yeah! Great boost, but... slower to Pentium machines! So I was desperated to think out something to speed up it yet more. Solution is simple: Replace 50MHz clock generator with faster one. Yes, I know - CPU will be overclocked then, but it's so common in PC world! So, let's begin... What you will need: i.c. named MX8315 capacitor 47nF three resistors 10kohm quartz oscillator 14.318MHz three jumpers MX8315 is an integrated PLL clock generator. You can get a different output frequency by changing settings of JP1, JP2 and JP3. I've removed this chip from my old, defective Pentium motherboard. Every Pentium motherboard must have this or similar circuit. Oh, yes! I forgot to explain, why to use this instead of replacing original clock generator chip with faster one. Of course, this was my first choice too. I checked 66MHz generator first. Wow! Amiga was over 90 times faster to A500, but... it didn't worked too long. My computer went crazy after a few minutes. I've found it's too fast. So I tried to buy little slower generator and... I managed to buy only 55MHz one. It worked fine but I wanted to check 60MHz! So I had to make circuit I describe below. Ok, now you know the whole story. How to assembly this stuff (see iff picture for schematic): Bent all pins of U1 around. Leave only pins 1, 7, 8 and 14 (with orange bullets), with those pins you will insert generator into a socket on a Blizzard1260 board. Connect pins with a thin wire as shown on the picture, then mount other elements (oscillator, capacitor and resistors). Resistors are optional. You can tie pins FS0, FS1 and FS2 directly to 5V (DVDD) or 0V (DGND). For 60MHz output clock (CLK) connect FS0, FS2 to 5V, FS1 to 0V. Now the most difficult part: Unsolder and remove original 50MHz clock generator (square metal element). Remember this invalidates your warranty! You may need some special equipment here. Be careful! You may damage your board! You must be 100% sure you are able to do this. In the other case leave this job to your experienced friend. OK. You made it! Have you realized, that there are two more drill holes reserved for "big" generator on Blizzard board. Now clean two top and two bottom holes and place the socket for our generator. Pins 1, 7, 8, 14 are compatible with pinout of generator, so you can insert it into a socket with these pins (I hope you know what I mean). Remember to check orientation of a chip. Pin no. 1 is marked by a square both on my picture and on the board. That's all! My Amiga works fine with 60MHz clock and now it is almost 20% faster. I hope you will not have any problems either. Anyway you can always replace the original generator. Also, try to find 60MHz chip first. You are happy man if you have this, your task will be much simpler. Artur Muszynski (AMST/Union) e-mail: muszynsk@ipeneuro.ipe.pw.edu.pl