Amiga.org
Amiga computer related discussion => Amiga Hardware Issues and discussion => Topic started by: MarkAshley on October 14, 2005, 01:29:02 PM
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I need to towerise my A1200. I say need to rather than want to, because currently my A1200 is propped up on a floppy disk box with the Blizzard hanging out the trapdoor because the SIMM is too big to put the cover back on :-o
£140 for a D-BOX is really too much at the moment, so I am considering a custom case. I want to add a Mediator at some point, so am hoping for some advice on custom case jobs with the Mediator in mind. I've never seen the mediator board, so need some info on motherboard mounting and alignment, and how best to make sure the PCI slots line up.
Cheers
Mark
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see for your self:
http://www.amiga-hardware.com/showhardware.cgi?HARDID=1371
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Wow, I never wanted to towerize my 1200 but the prospect of having a Voodoo PCI card in there is exciting! How fast is a 256 color desktop with a PCI video card on an A1200 (say 50mhz 030)? Is it fast? Hmmmmmm!!!
I wonder how difficult it would be to build a "mini" mediator which is just a small PCB and cables to connect a PCI video card and stuff it inside the original A1200 case?!
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vic20owner wrote:
Wow, I never wanted to towerize my 1200 but the prospect of having a Voodoo PCI card in there is exciting! How fast is a 256 color desktop with a PCI video card on an A1200 (say 50mhz 030)? Is it fast? Hmmmmmm!!!
I have no idea - but I'll be sure to let you know when I get it set up :) My Voodoo 3 3000 is on its way, so as soon as I can afford the tower and the mediator we're in business!
vic20owner wrote:
I wonder how difficult it would be to build a "mini" mediator which is just a small PCB and cables to connect a PCI video card and stuff it inside the original A1200 case?!
Hmmm I'm not sure it's as simple as that. If a PCI bus can be home made, why am I considering spending £110 on a Mediator? :-)
Even so, a desktop A1200 with a VGA out would be cool!
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Thanks for the link Keropi. Looks like I will need the Mediator before I build the tower so I can make sure it all lines up properly. Looks too fiddly for me - think I'll just wait until I can afford the D-BOX :roll:
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Well, as long as those chips aren't custom or PLA's on the mediator, I dont see any reason why one couldn't build a "single slot" version using the same chipset which has a connector (and passthrough) for the A1200 and a wide cable to connect to the PCI card which could then be stuffed in the case where a 3.5" HD would normally get stuffed.
That mediator looks pretty simple to me, but I have no idea what those IC's are since I don't own one :(
A nice high resolution front and back image of the card might help.
vic20owner
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A Mediator and Voodoo are well worth it. You could try www.amibench.org as the site is a great place to find Amiga hardware.
I bought an Elbox tower case there for £35, which houses my A1200, Mediator and Voodoo etc.
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Well, voodoo card on 1200 with mediator it's reallllly faaaaaaaaast!! :-D
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Stop it, you're making me want it now. Don't make me use my overdraft. I'll do it you know, just watch me.
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Arrrgh I really want one just for a video card but I just don't know if I'm willing to give up my classic desktop A1200... I love the compactness of the A1200! :cry:
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@vic20owner:
If you don't like messing up your original Amiga case too much, yet you want more power, then perhaps it's time to move to A4000 and create something like this. :-D
Pic 1 (http://www.x56h34.com/amiga/a4000/a4000xxx_pic01.jpg)
Pic 2 (http://www.x56h34.com/amiga/a4000/a4000xxx_pic02.jpg)
Pic 3 (http://www.x56h34.com/amiga/a4000/a4000xxx_pic03.jpg)
Pic 4 (http://www.x56h34.com/amiga/a4000/a4000xxx_pic04.jpg)
Pic 5 (http://www.x56h34.com/amiga/a4000/a4000xxx_pic05.jpg)
Pic 6 (http://www.x56h34.com/amiga/a4000/a4000xxx_pic06.jpg)
Pic 7 (http://www.x56h34.com/amiga/a4000/a4000xxx_pic07.jpg)
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@x56h34 ,I wonder if he's loaded enough for that challenge..
:-D
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everyone knows g-rex kix mediator's a$$ ... lol
nice setup x56h34 , I envy u :-o
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And you can run MorphOS which I can't....waahh :boohoo:
Should have went for the G-rex solution instead of the Mediator :crazy: but then I couldn't have towerized my A4000 :-)
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I'm toying with the idea of selling my A1200 Power tower if your interested? It has a blizzard 1230IV with SCSI module, 10GB Hard drive, CD-ROM, 256MB RAM, Amiga keyboard (possibly from an A2000?), and OS3.9 installed. PM me and i will send pics if your interested?
All in excellent condition.
Thanks
George
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Whilst the D Box seems an expensive option everything fits like a glove - there is nothing worse than everything not lining up and any loose component wil create booting problems.
A Power Tower is also an option and they appear quite regularly on E Bay. They however the old type AT style cases so are heavy, have an AT power supply which are becoming scare and are more awkward to build in.
Once you've fitted a Mediator you've got the possibilities of dedicated graphics and sound cards and the Spider is excellent for USB devices. Obviously this helps as spares become difficult to source and in my experience a lot of the add ons do not have the life span of the A1200 motherboard.
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@keropi:
everyone knows g-rex kix mediator's a$$ ... lol
Hehe, well...in m opinion Mediator is a much better product, at least in the A1200 range. I've had nothing but bad luck with Grex1200. My original one worked great, however since selling it, until today I've gotten 3 more units which all failed to work due to poor design. They were basically DOA. A.org user "lempkee" was telling everyone of this for years, but since I've had success with my original Grex1200, I figured he was on crack. :-) However he was right. You can search his comments on Grex1200 in the archives of this website. If it weren't such a poorly made product, then yes, it would have kicked the Mediator's ass due to beign faster, and for not limiting Voodoo 3 video ram to the ZII address space, however since it breaks and dies so easily, and since it's got less drivers out for it...Mediator1200 clearly wins. :-)
Grex4000 on the other hand is a totally redesigned product compared to the original 1200 version, and it's an amazing piece of hardware. It's faster than the A1200 version (I think twice as fast) and it offers DMA in all slots, unlike the A1200 version with only 1 or 2 DMA slots if you've got a patched Grex1200.