Re: Popular Science

[supertimer@aol.com (Supertimer)]

Gabriel Morales <Togega@Yahoo.com> wrote:


>	Cooling the CPU/Motherboard might be more trouble than it's worth, at
least
>with the IIGS's original design. It would serve us much more if the IIGS were
>completely redesigned, with a PowerPC or ARM processor and maybe then cooling
>the CPU/Motherboard might speed it up, although both these chips have a
>reputation for being very cool & efficient.
>
>	Sometimes things have to be reinvented. Sometimes a particular
technology is
>no longer adequate for the task at hand. True, IIGS technology could have been
>improved upon had it been continued, but that was a number of years ago, and I
>don't believe the technology should be pushed to today's standards when there
>are far more adequate & efficient alternatives.
>
>	Although I doubt it, if anyone's up to the task of literally
redesigning the
>IIGS, I'd definitely support the effort and purchase such a machine were it to
>work out. The problem is, frankly, I don't think anyone's both determined and
>skilled enough to undertake such a project.

I don't think anyone is trying to turn a IIGS into a PowerMac or a Pentium II
unit.  Rather, we are all tinkerers and want to tweak the IIGS plus accelerator
designs to its maximum potential.  It is the fun factor.  ;-)

But going back to the Popular Science article, it is a simple matter of
physics.  If you can take a IIGS motherboard and accelerator and cool
it down to lower than -40 degrees C with liquid nitrogen or something
and assuming you can do this evenly without cracking any solder joints,
you are going to be able to ramp the old 65C816 up to dizzying speeds.

That's why you can do the same think with an AMD K6 or a PowerPC.
It is all the same from a physics point of view.  Cool the chip, lower
the resistance, etc.