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Amiga computer related discussion => Amiga Hardware Issues and discussion => Topic started by: ple3003 on February 23, 2003, 05:08:28 PM
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I'm thinking of upgrading my 1200, which i by the way haven't used for like two years from now.
I just don't know what to buy.
Just for gaming, a blizzard 030 64mb RAM + a HD would be nice.
If i should go for towerizing it with a 040/060, just how fast are they really? gimme some numbers plz! Thougt it would be cool to rock with an old A1200. Of course i would add a PCI-board as well.
The downside is that it will be a rather expensive computer relative to what you get for an A1.
As i understand it, IDE sucks performance out of the system, but what about UDMA/ATA? Is there even such a controller to the amiga. (yeah yeah... SCSI = Expensive).
The raw speed isn't really the issue here, the responsiveness, gaming and of course nostalgia. I already got a XP2600 to watch/encode DivX and such things.
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First of all, upgrading an A1200 can be quite an addictive hobby, so watch up!
The most usefull upgrade would be an IDE-interface and OS3.9. This will bring you access to big HD´s and CD-rom, which is most usefull.
One drawback here is that OS3.9 needs more memory than an unupgraded a1200 has, so you will also need an accelerator card. 68030-based cards are really cheap, and could make a good upgrade, and would let you play most old games from HD.
If you wan´t to play MP3 and watch video, you´ll need a much faster processor like 68060 or PPC. These processors are fast, but cannot use there full potential without a graphics card.
If you´ll go for a PPC based card, a BlizzardVisionPPC would be a good choice, and no matter what a PCI-based solution like mediator+graphics card would give you quite a nice workbench.
Prices for all these?
I´ve got my IDE-interface from:Power Computing (http://www.powerc.com), and bundled it with OS3.9+3.1 Rom chips. Around 50£
I´ve got PPC accelerator + BVision gfx card used fromAmibench (http://www.amibench.org). Around 200£
With all these peripherals you´ll also need a better power supply. Around 20£.
That´s it, happy upgrading!
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Also check out Eyetech for add-ons, they do good towers, Apollo accelerators (which don't like my a1200), and a lot of other things.
Eyetech's website (http://www.eyetech.co.uk/)
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There is a huge difference between a stock A1200 and a
towerized PCI enhanced A1200.
The numbers are difficult to spit out, but I would suggest at least an
040/40 in the system to drive everything. I can't explain why, but my
tower 1200 with a Mediator and Voodoo3 has a better display than my PC
with it's GeForceII (Winders/Linux/Amithlon).
If you aren't worried about the money, an A1200 with gfx card is a
good "bridge" system to an A1, Pegasos, or Umilator. Because, you'de
have to get used to running applications in RTG ;-)
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I went for the 030 with 64mb RAM. Felt kinda right. I'll wait for the peggies/A1:s for more serious applications.
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In case your still interested in speed comparisons. My Blizzard
1260/66 Sysinfo speed rating is 50.25 Mips and 36.03 MFlops.
Sysinfo rated it:
39.55 x faster than an A1200 68020EC 14Mhz.
10.40 x faster than an A3000 68030 25Mhz.
2.63 x faster than an A4000 68040 25Mhz.
An 030 is a pretty good choice if your not doing anything too serious
though. I remember getting an 030 and thinking what a great
improvemnent it was and that was with 8Mb rather than your 64Mb.
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Have you tried UAE?
Anyway try www.ggsdata.se for the only swedish amigashop left.
Graphics card is a must, i don´t have any on my 060 A1200 and it really holds me back from using my amiga.
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The 1260 is an excellent piece of hardware. I
was really surprised at how fast games like
Quake were, even in crappy AGA. Retro Mac
emulation is also great with the 1260.
A 1230 though is the ultimate for playing
old games and software. You can also get
most things to work with the 1260, it just
may take a bit more work with some old games.
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I used to have a towered A1200 with Blizzard 1230/4 50/50 and 96 Mb Ram, Zorro4 busboard, Cybervision64/3D gfx, X-surf ethernetcard, Powerflyer IDE controller with 2 superfast IDE ports for up to 4 devices, and ofcourse also scsi on my Blizzard. Burning cd's is easy this way, playing games too, but it's true what is said about getting addicted to working with a gfx card. AGA suddenly looks so old ...
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Should you upgrade?
No.
Get an A1 or a Pegasos. Play with a new OS and get AmigaOS in the (not too) distant future,
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Could be cheaper buy Pegasos or A1 as someone suggested and run UAE on it... :) 040 is relatively slow and difference to 030 is rather small. 060 is fast but expensive when even the slowest PPC can emulate 68k in speed of 68060@150MHz... Really, 68k platform is slow and outdated. Get out of it :)
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A Blizzard 1230 IV with 16 or 32 MB of ram is GREAT!
Don't forget to ad a 68882 fpu and it ROCKS!
As for the IDE/ATA a Power Flyer Gold is the choice.
Add a Tower Case, A HUGE Hard Drive AND A FAN COOLER ON BLIZZARD and you have a dream machine! :-D