Amiga.org
Amiga computer related discussion => Amiga Hardware Issues and discussion => Topic started by: JonoPike on August 20, 2004, 07:28:07 PM
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Hi!
I have a question for anyone who has/had an Viper1260
accelerator card.
I just have bought a standard A1200 with no accelerator
or memory-upgrade card. But you know: it's too slow!
Now I was thinking about buying a new Viper1260 with 64MB from Vesalia for about 237EUR.
My question is:
Is this a good reliable card? Is it running OK with
no cooling-fan in the trapdoor slot of the a1200?
Is 237EUR a fair price for this item?
Has anyone had good/bad experiences with this
type of accelerator card?
:-?
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Don't do this, buy a blizzard 1260 from ebay like this (http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=8142&item=5116070876) one, you will most likely save money and get a board of much higher quality. Also you can add a scsi2 controller(also with a 2nd simm socket) to the blizzard. I don't know if the viper offers a scsi kit, but I doubt it.
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I have no personal experience from the Viper1260 but as it's an overclocked 060 (and the chance is there are some with XC's CPU) I'd say put some cooling on the chip asap. As far as I know and can see it should fitt nicely inside the desctop even with the trapdoor closed though due to heat I sugest either to modify the trapdoor for better airflow or compleatly remove it (or as I did with my B1260... make your own custom one). Save the extra € the simm cost and trow on a much cheaper 32Mb simm from the nearest discarded PC. 206€ for a 060 card for the A1200 is pricey but you're not likely to find one much cheaper even used so go for it if you got the cash.
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206? for a 060 card for the A1200 is pricey but you're not likely to find one much cheaper even used so go for it if you got the cash.
I once got a blizzard 1260 for around 140Eur on ebay including scsi.. Its all about how long you are willing to wait to make a good deal.. for 250Eur or something one might even get a cheap blizzppc..
But if you have no time to wait, the only way is to buy a new one or to bid on the blizzard1260 from ebay..
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Basicly from what i have seen of those cards is they are reworked Apollo boards. I did have an Apollo 040 back when I had my A1200 and I had the SCSI kit for that. I never once had any problems with it. I knew a ot of other did report problems though. Maybe I was just lucky. If you can get a blizzard060 you will have much better luck though.
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I might be totally wrong, but I rember I have read somewhere that the Apollo scsi has no dma support, so its basicly useless.. But like I said, I might be completely wrong and just talking bull**** just to get my post count up ;-)
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@rayt:
Its not more useless than the internal IDE controller or a Powerflyer or any of those non-DMA solutions. Though all these solutions eats lots of cpucycles and can only be considered as low-performance solutions if you plan on running other programs than sysinfo and the likes while accessing the harddrive ;).
/Patrik
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Thanks for your replies guys.
Well, I'm still not sure what to do.
Buying a (second hand)Blizzard1260 on eBay
cost almost the same as a new Viper1260.
But then I get a 2 year warranty on that one.
If I buy a Blizzard on eBay, and the thing
is gonna collapse or something, then I lost
a lot of money... No warranty at all...
I'm gonna sleep another night over it before
I deside what to do.
:huh:
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Brian wrote:
I have no personal experience from the Viper1260 but as it's an overclocked 060 (and the chance is there are some with XC's CPU)
What is the difference between XC's CPU's
and the "regular" ones anyway?
:-?
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bOiNgHeAd wrote:
What is the difference between XC's CPU's
and the "regular" ones anyway?
:-?
XC is just a chip that hasn't yet reached full MC qualification. Most of a chips life is at the XC level, then once Motorolla is satisfied that all of the bugs are out they move it to MC status. On the 040 and 060 this took somewhere around 5-6 years each. Functionally and physically they are exactly the same chip. I don't believe there are any errata that effect any of the Amiga accellerators.
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OK, thanks dude!