tirsdag 3. juli 2012

My AmigaOne 500 on the way!




Now it has been done! The AmigaOne 500 black complete system has been ordered from GGSData in Sweden. IBAN-payment is happening these days you read this blog, so the machine should arrive to Norway by the next week! I'm so excited about it!



In the meantime, i have already ordered black AmigaOne keyboard, mouse and case sticker from AmigaKit, and have also paid for the package tracking and for the new Radeon HD v1.0 license that was announced last week. This should allow me to download the latest Radeon HD driver, using other series than the now obsolete Radeon HD 4xxx serie.



But keyboard, mouse and sticker are not the only items i have ordered. Through ACube, i ordered the Radeon HD 4650 LP card that is on the way. The distance between Italy and Norway might be a bit long, so there it might take some time.



However, i did the smart thing by ordering 2 very important and useful cards from the Norwegian Komplett Data's homepage. You might wonder why i have dropped the Chieftec NEC PCI-riser card i actually bought, too. Because even if it will fit into the 3.3v PCI-slot on the SAM460ex motherboard, the 3 PCI-slots on that riser card are 5v only, and can't therefore be used, as they will damage the motherboard. A PCI-combo card, which we call a Universal PCI riser card supporting both 3.3v and 5v, or a 3.3v ONLY riser card can be used for the only PCI-slot on the motherboard. However, these 2 useful cards are:





*Sunsway Lab Sillicon Image 3132 SATA2 PCI-E x1 controller (once ACube have finished driver for it.)







*HIS Radeon HD 6570 2GB DDR3 PCI-E x16 graphic board




(which can be used with the new Radeon HD v1.0 driver!)



Having both 2GB of system DDR2 RAM and 2GB DDR3 graphic memory, as well as useful add-on cards once driver for the PCI-E SATA2 is ready, will make the AmigaOne 500 quite expandable, almost on the pair with the X1000 in expandability!



As you will understand, speed isn't everything. Most important is flexibility and a lot of memory to use! 2GB of graphic memory will help a lot, and will come quite in handy!



When driver for the PCI-E x1 based Sillicon Image 3132 SATA2 controller is completed,

my good, old SB Live 5.1 PCI audio card (which supports 3.3v) can be used with the latest

AHI-driver for it, and be plugged into the PCI slot that will then become available. This one currently has the PCI-based Sillicon Image 3512 SATA2 controller plugged into it.



It's tempting to put another PCI audio card that is SB Audigy 2, but it would seem that the AHI-driver that supports the SB-cards works best with the SB Live 5.1 card. That's probably something to keep in mind.



I look forward to be using my AmigaOne 500 as soon as it arrives. The AmigaOne 500 blog should also by then be up and running. Stay tuned!



Written by

Helge Kvalheim, Norway

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