Benchmarks MSX2+ and Turbo R

Supporter (10)

25-04-2018, 22:47

Hi,

I’m curious whether I should invest into something faster than my NMS 8280. (okay, okay, I can imagine the answers …)

But how much should I … and what do I get from it. I’m not so much a game addicted, so it‘s more about terminal software, packers (Lharc, Zoo, Arc …). Are there benchmark examples of a 5-MHz mode FS-A1WX vs. my 8280 vs. a Turbo R machine, to see how fast it can compress or uncompress from a RAM disk e.g.? Can’t find useful information.

Thanks in advance.

By Grauw

Ascended (10772)

25-04-2018, 23:15

TurboR is fast. Really really fast. Like 5-10x faster than older generation machines. 5.37 MHz machines will be 1.5 times as fast as a 3.58 MHz machines. I used to have a 7 MHz upgrade on my MSX2 in the past, I remember that was also quite noticeable.

If your interest lies with application software, then you will definitely have benefit from the speed. A while back I posted decompression benchmarks for gunzip. When I load compressed VGMs (they use gzip), on the turboR I hardly ever have to wait for any significant amount of time. Also doing things like listing directory contents, starting MultiMente, compiling in Compass, etc. will all speed up.

By the way, you can also give it a try in an emulator… I have a turboR, but I don’t know much about the Panasonic MSX2+ turbo mode for example, when or how it’s enabled, compatibility, etc., but if you try it out in the emulator then you can get familiar with it and see if you like it.

By meits

Scribe (6544)

26-04-2018, 03:53

Give me anything to test. I have all the hardware you want tested. Well, the MSX2 (with 7MHz option) isn't home yet, but all 2+es and turbo R are here.

By hamlet

Scribe (4106)

26-04-2018, 09:19

Don't forget the Zemmix 8,06mhz mode.

By sd_snatcher

Prophet (3659)

26-04-2018, 13:32

The OCM & Zemmix also have a turbo blitter option. It makes all the difference in the world for games that do intensive blitting. Many games will run faster than on Turbo-R because of that.

By Parn

Paladin (837)

27-04-2018, 14:30

Turbo blitter is impressive indeed.

By Manuel

Ascended (19469)

27-04-2018, 18:28

You can also experiment with it in openMSX if you like ("set cmdtiming broken")...

By erpirao

Paragon (1315)

27-04-2018, 21:42

sd_snatcher wrote:

The OCM & Zemmix also have a turbo blitter option. It makes all the difference in the world for games that do intensive blitting. Many games will run faster than on Turbo-R because of that.

yes, but when it comes to performance per CPU, as in the benchmarks that have been linked, the blitter does not mean any improvement.

and in fact, the ocm / zemmix when doing the 5 / 8MHZ overclock distorts the performance, precisely because of the x5 blitter.

that the 9958 blitter had to have gone at that speed, that's indisputable.

By malloc-3rz

Supporter (10)

28-04-2018, 17:05

Thanks for the benchmark links.

Are there any recommended CPU accelerator cards for my NMS8280?

By meits

Scribe (6544)

28-04-2018, 17:15

Cards, no. Build in kits, yes. Turbo 7MHz kits.
You've to change the z80 by one that accepts higher speeds. In de old days the choice always was a z80H.
Then there needs to be a little pcb mounted on top of it and an on/off switch needs to be led to the outside of the case since you really don't want the 7MHz to be switched on 100% of the time.

User Repair Bas might still have some on sale. If not, I've no clue where to look.

By l_oliveira

Hero (534)

10-05-2018, 20:35

Turbo R is a lot faster because of two things:

R800 has a 16bit ALU which makes it complete instructions which uses the ALU in a lot less cycles than on a normal Z80 with a 4bit ALU. Additionally R800 run at twice the clock rate than the regular Z80 (7.15Mhz). Along with that, if you don't mind making the program Turbo R-specific you can use the multiplication instruction R800 has.

Along with the powerful CPU, it has write protection system for DRAM which it uses to simulate ROMs while it is running on R800 DRAM mode and finally, it has a sort of megarom emulation system built into the S1990 chip which it uses for running the embedded firmware in the RAM. That can be used to load game megaroms.

The difference of speed from a normal MSX2/2+ to the Turbo-R is shocking. So anyone who say the Turbo-R is not worth it, doesn't have a good idea of what the Turbo-R actually is.