Amiga.org
Amiga computer related discussion => Amiga Hardware Issues and discussion => Topic started by: Desolator on February 13, 2003, 07:54:22 PM
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So it's time to upgrade a computer... but I can not decide on which one I should upgrade first, my PC or my A1200.
I can spend 300$ and I can choose between this:
A 1,8 or 2.5 ghz AMD processor and motherboard for my PC...got a P450 so that would be a nice speedchange.
Or I can buy this:
A1200 desktop with Blizzard 1230-III@50Mhz + FPU/MMU 68882@50 Mhz, 16MB fastmem,SCSI-Kit III
External 5,25" cabinet, Seagate 4.2GB SCSI disk, 24X SCSI-cdrom,121 Mb 2,5" HD with OS 3.5 installed.
Probably will be the Amiga but is all that worth 300$ or is that too expensive or too cheap? :-D
I have more fun with my Amigas but the PC need that darned upgrade for games. :\
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Best guess? Buy what gets you what you want to do. That's the best advice anyone can ever offer.
I personally would never spend $300 USD on *any* classic Amiga unless I knew I could turn around and resell it on eBay to turn a profit.
Then again, you may actually have a use for one, where I have none.
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Upgrading the x86 is definitely worth it and would be better value to the user than a expensive slow 030 machine,
Ask yourself will you need the power or not.
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Forget upgrading your A1200.
A1 & Aos 4 should be out next month... Get that (or Peggie)
I have been tempted by nForce 2 chipset MoBo's & >2ghz Athlons etc lately as well !! I'm gonna wait until the "IDE'S of March" are through... No A1 then...
No ME !! :-o
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I'd buy the Amiga for that price (if I had the money to spare)... but then I've got a PC that's working ok for my needs already
I think it will be hard to find it cheaper than that in Sweden. And that system would cost like $100 for just shipping if you buy it from abroad.
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Yup, it's the cheapest one I've seen in sweden and is sold in a city just a few miles from mine so there is no shipping cost whatsoever...but then again, being able to play Morrowind wouldn't be bad either but that could wait another month... :) *really hard to decide*
And while I'm at it, what does the Mediator offer? PCI card support I know of, but I read in an AmigaActive (the issue before they went Digital.) that one could buy a TV card and watch TV on the workbench and plug in a gameconsole and play that too on a window. Anyone tried that?
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but but but, that Amiga can't actually *DO* much....
its been five years ago now, but I spent a HUGE amount getting the 060/50 accelerator, only to find out the machine was still too slow, only now the AGA chip was the bottleneck.
That was 5 years ago...I shudder at the thought of using AGA today......
and an 030???
You must have a PCI or AGP graphics card, PPC chip at a minimum, and doing that on a classic amiga is possible, but still wayyyyyy to expensive.
I wouldn't buy that amiga, unless it was near free.
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Seems like it's going to be a PC upgrade after all... guess the trouble deciding what to get is that I only own unexpanded A1200's and always wanted an upgraded one. (mmmm, having Os3.9 running natively without an emulator would be sooo nice...) But as you people say, that would be very expensive and money isn't something I get a lot of. ;)
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Get Amithlon and UAE and run Amiga software fast as hell without paying silly amounts of money for so little.
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Yesterday, I ordered an xp2600 (the xp2400 are a far more economical choice, but what the hell ... :-D ) with a epox nforce2 mobo to go with 2 sticks of 256mb cas2 2700 memory. It all ended up @4800 SEK (would have been 3800 if i'd bought the xp2400).
I'll buy my peggie when it gets shipped in larger quantities, but as for now it seems to take forever... So until then ->
And about morrowind - it is fully playable on a xp1600 with 256mb RAM and a Radeon 8500. And that can be done with way under 300 dollares.
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Get Amithlon and UAE and run Amiga software fast as hell without paying silly amounts of money for so little.
Yeah, but use BeOS, Linux or whatever when surfing the web. Windows is a lot like a "window" (hehe) which opens up automagically to all whos interested in your computer. Cannot belive the amounts of crap i deleted from doing nothing special, just surfing today. ActiveX, popups, Security holes - gaaaaaaahaaaahhhhhh..
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PC processor temperatures have been getting silly for quite a while. I'd be inclined to wait for a Intel CPU core change or the AMD Hammer/Opteron (whichever is their 64-bit architecture change move). Otherwise you'll be spending significant amounts of money cooling and keeping the PC quiet, which believe me, is irritating :-)
That Amiga spec, at least for my 'primary computer' requirements needs a processor upgrade, an 060 or better would start to meet my requirements. My 040/40MHz accelerator doesn't, particularly with MP3 playback, although that's not just the CPU, but audio hardware that's the problem there.
Do you use your PC or Amiga primarily? Is there a game or set of games you desperately want to play, or is your Amiga just a machine you like to play around with occasionally?
(If I had to guess the rest of your PC spec, I'd say to get decent games performance you'd have to spend a good deal more than $300, but I don't know american prices that well. If it were 300 UKP it wouldn't be enough, IMO)
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Well, I have to say that if you can spare the jack (money) do both.
I am still in the process of upgrading my A1200 and fully intend to get a C1.
I want to get an A500+ so I can upgrade that too!
If speed is what you NEED use a Windows box. They are up to 3.0 GIGA hertz!
I don't care what anyone says. Windows is not so bad. My compaq has never let me down, other than a crapped out HD.
If you have the moola (money) to do so, start a hobby and upgrade some old stuff. It's fun.
No, you will not make a profit on ANY computer you buy. Once bought, it's value plummets faster than a Falcon at full dive.
I used to build and sell computers (386, 486, P1) I got out of this business when I realised that I was more or less breaking even.
Do it for the LOVE! This is one great hobby and a great bunch of people to be around.
I can't understand why everyone has to "Bail out" of Amiga. SO WHAT if it's old. So is the C64 and it's still got a following.
This is not life or death, fer crissake! It's only computers you're talking about.
I like to LOOK at my Amiga, I love to take the cover off and see all the upgrades I've put into it.
It's fun to solve problems on a nearly forgotten piece of hardware.
Do it for yourself!
"And she'll have fun-fun-fun till her daddy takes her 'miggy away!!"
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The Amiga seems to be expensive for me... I think you can get an Amiga4040/25 with rom 3.1 and buster 11 for that price, just search... I sold mine for a little less some time ago (to buy my actual Amiga 4060T which btw was quite cheap too). I don't like A1200s much... it's ok if you don't plan to expand it, but an A4000 is way better.
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I think you can get an Amiga4040/25 with rom 3.1 and buster 11 for that price, just search
Probably not in Sweden though. I've never actually seen an unexpanded A4000/030 for sale for anything less than $500 over here. :-(
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Hmm, well, do both. The games performance on the PC depends more on the GFx card, wich loses value VERY quickly. I'd advise you to not spend big money on the PC, you'll be very dissapointed within moths:)
An Amiga with that spec for that price?! Go to the 2nd hand market on the net, there are great deals sometimes. Have the patience and you'll get one.
Or wait till OS4 is out and get a PPC machine to go with it.. Now that would be a killer ugh? I think in the end it all depends on if you're doing it for needing it or pleasure. In either case it still depends on you. There are people still using Amigas professionally that prefer its characteristic features. If you can join fun with professional necessities, why not? Personally the thing I most like about the Amiga is multitasking and the responsiveness of the OS. Windows sucks in that respect.
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if u have an amiga , then i would upgrade that to 060 or ppc or mediator etc.
but as i have said before i am an amiga user and i dont use pc , i used to have a pc...but i killed it on purpose to get back the real pleasure of computing.
you can email me if you are interested in a better offer...i still have some hw around which i dont use , a1240/40/210ppc , gfx cards , etc...stuff... and an a1260/50 (blizzard) ...etc , but no motherboards etc...price..well if you will use it and take good care of it....then its worth it, anyway i only sell to amiga people and not to people who will sell it on ebay 2 weeks later or what ever...
enjoy
pps: my amiga setups are: a1260/66/240ppc/mediator/voodoo5500/sb128/10/100mbit/usb/fastata/tvcard etc ..128meg ram .....bla bla
and a a4k 060/66/240...which is soon to get an mediator....also... and my a1240ppc will either be sold or kept....depends on how serious the buyers are...
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btw yes i used both my ps2 and GC on my amiga wb , in a window or fullscreen via my tvcard in the mediator...works fine, but mostky i use it as a PAL ecs/aga convertor/view .. for classic stuff like WHdLOAD etc...with a nice arexx script it opens auto when i hit an whdload icon or what ever....pretty neat stuff... :)
enjoy
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@MachineHead
I agree 100% with what you say. I'm using an 060 A2000 to browse with, not for any other reason than I LOVE using the damn thing. It's just plain FUN! That's something that there is definitely not enough of in this day and age. My idea is, if something makes you happy, even if it's more expensive to do, than do it anyhow. Better to be happy than "unhappy and cost effective!"
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Seem like much for a 030 though..
I have a PPC@160,040@25 and a BVisionPPC in mine. I bought the parts for 100£ each on amibench... So if I got PPC+BVisionPPC for 200£, then you should be able to somewhere near the same...
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I personally would never spend $300 USD on *any* classic Amiga unless I knew I could turn around and resell it on eBay to turn a profit.
Likewise with me, just the other way around. I allways know some freinds who have some pretty fast, but obsolete PC part lying around. Therefore, i´ve never spend a single dime on PC, but if I too needed to play games, then I´d have trouble (Or had to stick with those nice amiga games :) ).
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When I read the title of this thread, I´d really hoped that it was some asking:
I have the money, what should I order, a Pegasos or a A1?
Now that would have been some dicussion :) :) :)
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I wouldn't upgrade the PC for 300usd, Id replace it
with another PC and keep the old one as a
network gateway or something.
I don't know how you can consider upgrading your
A1200.
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Buy a Mac
*strobe hides
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Since youre from sweden i would highly suggest reading also qxl.no and if there is something of value email the seller and ask if he ships to sweden! an A4000/030 or 040 goes there for 300USD or about.
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"Read My Post"
Yes. You guys with all the advice can tell anyone to avoid upgrading stuff.
If you want to invest money, DON'T buy a computer.
If you are using a computer to make money, that's one thing. But nearly everyone I meet that has a computer is using it to:
1. Cruise the Internet
2. For music
3. Or Porn
If they are not doing any of the above mentioned, they are playing Games.
Why not upgrade an A1200??? There are TONS of APPS and Games that run on it.
The A1? Send me a list of Games and Apps for this thing, feel free to use both sides of your PostIT note.
Quit telling us what you think about upgrading this or that. I for one could care less about the latest and greatest stuff.
Anyway, where is your "certificate of upgrading stuff"? I would like to see it.
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@4pLaY
Why not just use qxl.se ;-)
I use qxl.dk and I can se "everything" from qxl.no (and all other countries) :-D
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I have to say that as much as I love my Amiga I have put way more into it then most people. I'd get the PC stuff myself as well. I have a nice P4 1.6GHZ now as well as this Amiga and I use them both about as much as the other. For What you have in the 1200 now the PC would be best to upgrade.
My A3000:
Mediator 3000
Cyberstorm MK III 060 with 128MB
voodoo 3000 graphics
SB 128 sound
10/100 Ethernet
I paid over $7000 for all this over the years!!!
but have been an A3000 owner since it came out.
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@ machinehead
Yes. You guys with all the advice can tell anyone to avoid upgrading stuff.
The original poster asked for advice. People are giving advice. What the heck are you complaining about?
In my post on this thread, I tried to point out the bad points of spending money on either the PC or the Amiga, and tried to be impartial. At the end of the day, it's not going to be something we can help the original poster resolve, as we don't know what computer he 'loves more', uses more, etc.
Personally I think it's a bad time to be doing major upgrades on either PC or the Amiga. Reasons for the PC I stated in my previous post, but the Amiga should be fairly obvious, as the AmigaOne is coming out, and OS4 isn't out yet. And no, I'm not going to get into a discussion about my opinion. If people want to run Linux, that's up to them. Personally I buy an Amiga because I want to run Amiga software :-)
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Bezzen wrote:
Probably not in Sweden though. I've never actually seen an unexpanded A4000/ 030 for sale for anything less than $500 over here.
I bought my unexpanded A4000/ 040 for about $250 (2500sek) in sweden, I think it was '99 ... it had some sound issues though (well infact, no sound :/ )
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The amiga is worth the money but an pc that fast would be equal in speed in UAE, I think I have an A1200 060 32MB but have almost given up on it in favor for my Duron 900Mhz 120MB WinXP PC and UAE. Picasso96 emulation makes all the difference. UAE is undoubtly slower in processor speed than my amiga but i think the faster graphics makes up for it.
It depends, if your satisfied with AGA thensure buy the amiga if not upgrade your pc.
what other parts do your pc have? what kind of graphiics card?
If it isnt an advanced 3Dcard then you can consider buying a whole new pc for a little more then that.
Are you going to upgrade the amiga more with graphis cards and stuff?
the next thing forme to buy will be
1 more memory
2printer
3 cd-writer
4scanner
5 amigaone or pegasos or mediator with cards which ever is availble by that time
Are you going to buy aamigaone or pegasos then it would be a waste to spend anything on the amiga.
If you get a new processor and motherboard for the PC then you probably would have to get new RAM too, the PC people invent new types of ram everytime you turn your back PCs is almost as bad as the PowerMacs in this kind of "inventions" its as the consulted a mobilphonebattery maker.
"Yes if you change the connetor, the voltage and frequency every week yuo will make more money "
If I was you I would upgrade the PC and run UAE/Amithlon.
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Don´t spent your money in Classic Amigas, keep or sell wath you have, but don´t buy more OLD hardwares :-D .
I have a $ 3.500,00 (Just the hardware) Amiga Classic setup and have almost no suport, programs with i payed and can't use "iCrapFusion", and all the bad side of this community like have a PPC card for almost 5 years now and still don´t have a ppcOS to use with it, well i have a beta (MOS 0.4) but is to OLD and i doubt will be another beta to play with my PPCcard, so my hardware is almost useless and i do have a updated setup with Grex Voodoo3, Terrac128i bla bla bla, i will only have the old stuffs with this hardware, so if you want to use OLD and EXPENSIVE stuffs, fell free to upgrade your AMIGAs :-D, "to be honest i can sell you my system for $300 :-P " this will probably depend on how much you like your AMIGA or how much you need your PC.
I will never spend a coin in Classic hardware again, they are dead for me, and if the community situation keeps like now, not even in New hardwares probably :-( .
i have saved some money for this new mobos like Aone and Pegasos, but the situation in this community is so crazy, i give up, i spent the money in a NICE SONY LCD 17' monitor and a good X86 setup P4, they are available in everywhere and anytime with a very low price and a very high performance as my current x86 computer is a pentium 233MMX with 128MB and 8MB SVGA card and is very old and i guess AROS will not run good in this OLD machine, i never want to invest money in a X86 machine but time is going and we are not getting younger and "amiga" is allway going to the hard path, so maybe in one year or more this community will be in a good state to try to spent some money here again, will see if will be a future.
So now i will wait and wait and wait till i see if spent money with Amigas will worth, and for now try to use AROS and the A-emulators of course.
Sorry i´m not mean to offend anyone, just my "sick view" of this community.