An A1200 accelerator to run Doom clones smoothly full screen.

[rvo_nl]

Well.. if you are going to save up and get that expensive 060 board.. you might aswell get the ppc. thats an easy way to get RTG graphics later on. yes, I know they are even more expensive, rare, and prone to failure.. but I still wanted to point it out. Im a big fan of those. And ofcourse the ppc chip renders doom much faster than the 060 can, in higher resolutions, too. Just a thought.

[bhindi_bhaji]

Lots of options to think about!
 
The PPC option certainly seems like something to think about, but what sort of compatibility issues might there be, if any? And would it fit into a  standard A1200 or would I need to consider a tower mod?
 
I'm extremely out of touch (over a decade) with anything Amiga at the moment! I need to do a bit of research.

[rvo_nl]

will fit a standard a1200 desktop but certainly not recommended (cooling issues). see, its only the start of a much bigger investment. before you know it you'll be wanting a tower conversion, better PSU, cdrom/dvd, bigger harddisk, idefix/powerflyer, indivision, zorro slots etc.. so choose wisely

compatibility on the 68k side is ofcourse as good as any 060 accelerator. ppc-wise it will cause you quite a bit more trouble to set up all the software like warpos, warp3d, cybergraphx etc. but once its running you will love it. and it runs OS4.x, too..

I will be flamed for recommending this to you, so please make up your mind yourself its a big investment, which will give you lots in return, but you need to take a bigger risk, thats for sure.

[bhindi_bhaji]

I'm an IT guy (PC's mostly), but most of what you just mentioned went right over my head!! :eek:
 
Currently I have a 4GB CF card installed that I recently brought from a guy on ebay with WB 3.1, WHDload and over 2000 games.
 
My experience is literally just gaming on the Amiga, my Workbench knowledge is pretty much limited to executing programs, this needs to change!

[rvo_nl]

In that case, definately stick with 68k. If all you want is play a game now and then, I would even recommend just getting a blizzard 1230/IV (50mhz), a very nice card that is almost able to run the mentioned FPS games fullscreen. Almost..

Ofcourse, games that require RTG graphics or PPC processor (Wipeout, Quake, Heretic II etc) wont run, but for that you probably have a pc or mac anyway.

[Frags]

Don`t forget that Jens has offered the mach chips for sale now so any old apollo 040/060 is suitable for the 100MHz treatment.  You just need a revision 6 060, a 100MHz oscillator and a PSU with plenty current at 3.3~3.5VDC plus some basic geek skills (and maybe the mach chip).

[Cosmos]

105 Mhz treatment, please...

[Frags]

Only the brave heh...

[utri007]

Get 040, it might be quite much cheper than 060 and you can play doom style games, without problems. Doom/Heretic/Hexen/Breathles/Genetic Species/Nemac IV etc

Almost is really annoying I've had 030 50mhz

[bhindi_bhaji]

Ofcourse, games that require RTG graphics or PPC processor (Wipeout, Quake, Heretic II etc) wont run, but for that you probably have a pc or mac anyway.

Yep got a fair bit of gaming hardware, PC's and consoles!

I think I'll try to get hold of an 060 accelerator, probably won't be easy (or cheap) to find one though. That said what sorting of cooling issues would I get?

I'll put a post on the buy/sell forum when I'm ready to take the plunge and learned a bit more about my 20 year old A1200!

[rvo_nl]

060 generally runs much cooler than 040. unless you overclock it..

[bhindi_bhaji]

Good to hear!

There's an 060 on Ebay at the moment, here:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Amiga-1200-Apollo-1260-68060-Accelerator-66MHz-64MB-RAM-/350579617292?_trksid=p5197.m1992&_trkparms=aid%3D111000%26algo%3DREC.CURRENT%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D14%26meid%3D538776492691794091%26pid%3D100015%26prg%3D1006%26rk%3D1%26

However it looks a touch chunky to fit into the trapdoor, and does say for a tower only.

Is £380 the sort of price I'd be looking at or is that overpriced?

[paul1981]

Good to hear!

There's an 060 on Ebay at the moment, here:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Amiga-1200-Apollo-1260-68060-Accelerator-66MHz-64MB-RAM-/350579617292?_trksid=p5197.m1992&_trkparms=aid%3D111000%26algo%3DREC.CURRENT%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D14%26meid%3D538776492691794091%26pid%3D100015%26prg%3D1006%26rk%3D1%26

However it looks a touch chunky to fit into the trapdoor, and does say for a tower only.

Is £380 the sort of price I'd be looking at or is that overpriced?

Unfortunately they've gone up in price this past couple of years, still, £380 seems very high, and £220 - £280 would be more like it.
Yes, you'd need a tower conversion for that particular card because the 2nd simm socket is in the way of the keyboard.

I'd also look for a (revision 6) MC68060RC50 with the 71E41J mask (printed in top right of chip) as these run much cooler/draw less power and can be overclocked up to or above 80MHz (that CPU probably can't run above 66-70MHz).

One good thing about that card though is that the CPU looks to be socketed, so it would be easy to replace the CPU with a later version 71E41J at a later date.

[bhindi_bhaji]

Thanks for all the info, you've all been extremely helpful!

£220 - £280 is definitely a much more attractive price!

The hunt for an 060 begins!

[rvo_nl]

good luck amibay is your safest bet imho..

[bhindi_bhaji]

Someone further up (Xdelusion) mentioned contacting a member called Stachu, I'll PM him first and go from there.

Cheers!!