From: jiang@andromeda.rutgers.edu (Mingchang Jiang)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.hardware
Subject: Re: Thinking about accelerating your 68000-based Macs?
Keywords: 68000, accelerate, Total Systems
Date: 31 Dec 92 01:51:53 GMT
Organization: Rutgers Univ., New Brunswick, N.J.

This is a followup to my own posting regarding compact Mac accelerators,
in response to some inquiries.

(1) Total Systems can be reached at

BY MAIL:

Total Systems
1720 Willow Creek Circle
Eugene, Oregon 97402-9152

BBS at 503-344-8709 (modem MUST be 2400 or faster). After connecting, log on
as GUEST, with the same password.

PHONE NUMBERS

(503)345-7395 
(800)874-2288
(503)343-6293 (Fax)
 
(2) Several people asked about the price of a Gemini Classic (50mhz).

To make a long story short: an issue of MacWorld listed the price of
this model as $980 without an FPU. An FPU running at the same clock
speed cost $121 extra.  When I called the sales department, I was 
actually quoted a higher price ($1075 without FPU). Of course I let
corrected them. (Some salesmen there are not good technically
or even in talking to their potential customers).
You should indicate that you see a lower
price somewhere in case you are quoted a higher price.

This seems to be a very good price. But there is a catch: You will have to
use 50ns or 60ns SIMMS. They have 4MB 60ns SIMMS for $189 each.
Considering that 4MB 70ns SIMMS can be had for about $130 each,  this
price was much too high. After ordering from them, I phone around and
found a place that was selling similar SIMMs for $145 each. Well, I called
Total Systems back. The Sales Manager agreed to adjust the price to
$162 each. He said they just didn't buy such SIMMs in enough quantities
to go lower than that. Besides, the SIMMs they had in stock had been
well tested with the accelerators.  OK, the SIMMs are from Motorola, 
so I was willing to pay about $20 more for the convenience.

So the moral of the story is, you should always negotiate for a better
price.

I think this product is excellent choice if you do a lot of math and
CPU intensive tasks on your Mac and don't care much about other things.
If you want a big screen, the Mobius package has long been known as
a good value. If you want 32-bit QuickDraw capability, you need a
Classic II upgrade. To me, the price of Classic II upgrade is unjustified.
First of all, it is too slow. Secondly, it can only hold 10MB of RAM.
Although it can use VM, but it is really impractical. With Gemini Classic,
the total RAM is limited to 16MB but I usually have almost 12MB
available for applications. 

Then again, you have the option of buying a newer Mac. But for the 
time being Gemini Classic is the most inexpensive way to get
maximum speed and RAM capacity (Connectix Compact Virtual
is included with Gemini Classic) from you Classic. It seems that only
the Quadra line exceeds the overall performance of Gemini Classic.

(3) One person asked if I benchmarked the improvements. Appended below
is the Speedometer3.1 report. Enjoy.

%%%%%%%%%%% SPEEDOMETER 3.1 REPORT.

Speedometer Report for Mingchang Jiang. Prepared December 30, 1992.

Machine Record Version #: 5


User Comment:
Macintosh Classic with
Gemini Classic and FPU
(both at 50mhz)

System Information:
Computer: Mac Classic
CPU: MC68030
FPU: MC68882
MMU: MC68030 MMU
Color Quickdraw: 0.00 (Original QD)
System Version: 6.0.7
Finder Version: 6.1.8
MultiFinder Version: 6.0.8
AppleTalk Version: Not Loaded
LaserWriter Version: Not Found
Laser Prep Version: Not Found
ImageWriter Version: Not Found
ROM Version: $0276
ROM Size: 256
Bit Depth: 1
Horizontal DPI: 72
Vertical DPI: 72
Primary Screen Size: 512 x 342
Physical RAM: 16384K
Logical RAM: 16383K

P.R. Results (Uses Mac Classic as 1.0):
CPU: 13.730
Graphics: 6.975
Disk: 1.809     Name of Hard Disk tested: YPWMCJ
Math: 49.235
Performance Rating (PR): 12.870

Benchmark Results (Uses Mac Classic as 1.0):
KWhetstones: 800.000     109.589
Dhrystones: 10869.565     11.155
Towers: 10.576
QuickSort: 12.560
Bubble Sort: 15.283
Queens: 15.266
Puzzle: 16.562
Permutations: 12.241
Fast Fourier: 49.125
F.P. Matrix Multiply: 51.484
Integer Matrix Multiply: 13.030
Sieve: 16.990
Benchmark Average: 27.822

FPU Tests (Uses Mac II as 1.0):
FFPU Fast Fourier: 4.025
FPU KWhetstones: 3000.000     4.200
FPU F.P. Matrix Mult.: 4.018
FPU Test Average: 4.081


-- 
M\'{\i}ngch\=ang J\={\i}ang

%%%%%%%% If it ain't broke, fix it.
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.hardware