First of all: my Vampire 2 has finally arrived :)

The package was sufficient to keep my boards intact during the trip from Canada. One board is the Vampire 2 and the other is 1MB Chip RAM expansion with RTC, ordered from Kipper2k :

And this is my cleaned and recapped Amiga 600 ready to take the Vamp inside:

 

Vampire 2 description

So… the Vampire 2 is an accelerator card for Amiga 600 with extremely fast CPU and 128MB of RAM.
But it has got no Motora MC68k CPU on board, instead it uses a FPGA chip, which you can call a flexible chip. It can be programmed (multiple times) to perform functions of your choice, for example to act as MC68040 CPU + graphics card + sound card :)
Only CPU + RAM functionality is enabled so far but FPU and GFX card functions will be added in the near future. Additionally sound card, SAGA (AGA emulation with high-res modes through HDMI output) and SD card storage controller will join at later time.
Your can read full specs here and some videos on Kipper’s YouTube channel

Vampire 2 has been created by:

• Majsta – board design
• BigGun – FPGA core
• Kipper2k – production/soldering

 

Installation and first impressions

I’m strongly recommending using Kipper’s mounting kit. It’s pretty easy to install and it gives a good grip to the card. It requires you to remove your A600 mainboard from the case and shielding but you do this one time only – removing/installing V2 next time will be as easy as taking care of 2 screws mounted on the top. Look at the photos below:
Take notice that top and bottom screws are different – bottom ones are smaller!

First benchmarks on the first boot – 100MB/s Fast RAM transfer speed:

CPU has been recognized as MC68LC040 (so no FPU)
SysSpeed CPU: 103 MIPS
SysInfo CPU: 86 MIPS

 

My observations about Vampire 2:

• low power requirements (working fine on 3A power supply)
• very low heat generation (a bit warm but not hot, comparable to A600’s MC68000)
• Kipper’s mounting kit is simple but it’s doing the job
• V2 card is blocking angled 2,5” IDE to CF adapters (for now I’m using 3,5” CF adapter + IDE cable + 2,5” to 3,5” converter)
• no Kickstart ROM chip required to boot Amiga (V2 has it’s own built-in 3.1 Kickstart – this is why Majsta and Kipper want you to send your ROM image as a proof of ownership and licensing)
• I have to do clean OS install because my ClassicWB installation from A1200 has some troubles with A600 + V2 (not compatible with FBlit, FText and some icon libs/hacks)

 

Good job Majsta, BigGun and Kipper2k – thank you for making it a reality :)