Amiga.org
Amiga computer related discussion => Amiga Hardware Issues and discussion => Topic started by: AmigaMance on April 10, 2006, 06:55:18 PM
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...If:
1. I raise my Amiga 3cm's from the ground and remove the trapdoor.
2. Remove the metal EM shield.
3. Get rid of the upper part of the plastic case.
4. Remove the original keyboard and use an external one with an adaptor.
I have already done all of these things and i want to know if a Mediator or a Grex will fit now and if there are any possible complications. I am more inclined in buying a mediator and adding just a Voodoo3 on it, nothing else.
I don't care if it will look ugly, only if it's possible.
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It's possible. Only demand is that there isn't anything covering the motherboard. Some of the plastik might come in the way of the busboard though.
I wouldn't recommend doing it though; if you get a G-Rex, the whole thing will be rather wobbly unless the Voodoo is secured to a frame in a tower. The Mediator would be more stable.
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If you only need a graphics card, why not go for a BVision instead. Then you can have everything in the case (if you have the PPC board you state in your signature.
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Why on earth would you want to do that? :-o
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moto
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@doctorq
It's possible. Only demand is that there isn't anything covering the motherboard.
Good to hear that it's possible. I don't mind about the exposed motherboard.
Some of the plastik might come in the way of the busboard though.
Hmm.. That can be a problem. Are you talking about both BusBoards?
If you only need a graphics card, why not go for a BVision instead.
Because i already have one, but it's a little slow. Specially in 3D operations.
@motorollin
Because good Amiga towers are expensive and the post expenses are also high because of their weight.
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Hmm.. That can be a problem. Are you talking about both BusBoards?
Some of the plastik on the desktop case.
Because good Amiga towers are expensive and the post expenses are also high because of their weight.
Get a PC tower and house everything in there. If you already are hacking up your Amiga, continue with the tower.
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Get a PC tower and house everything in there. If you already are hacking up your Amiga, continue with the tower.
Ok. I was reading that this requires lots of work like cutting parts of the tower with a saw and i don't feel very confident in doing do-it-yourself stuff. :-D
Anyway, what whould be the requirements of this pc tower in dimentions, psu, etc.? How should i ask it, in a computer shop?
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Besides the height of the card, the connector that fits on the expansion port of the motherboard will shift the accelerator card a few cm to the right, so it probably won't fit in the case any more.
This project would leave everything exposed and wouldn't be physically stable, which will only lead to system instabilities. If you want to expand with a PCI bus then you should at least consider getting a PC tower and converting it.
The D-Box tower is expensive, but it's worth it.
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moto
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Ok. I was reading that this requires lots of work like cutting parts of the tower with a saw and i don't feel very confident in doing do-it-yourself stuff. :-D
Anyway, what whould be the requirements of this pc tower in dimentions, psu, etc.? How should i ask it, in a computer shop?
Well, it involves some work, but it's not impossible.
The inside requirements for the tower would be the size of the desktop case, preferable with a 4-5 cms more, so you don't get into troubles with the Mediator extension and installation of the accelerator.
The inside of the tower shouldn't have the PSU or hdd and cd mounting rails covering the mounting side of the tower. The mounting side must be a plain area, otherwise it will be difficult to install the A1200 motherboard.
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hi,
AMIGACenter seems to still have to back plate if you want to modify a AT/aTX tower ;-)
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Why not go all the way and remove the case completely, use rubberstopers where neccesary, secure everything with ducttape and put the whole thing in an old cardboard box ?
Hacking up an Amiga is one thing, but what you want to do is plain nuts.
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You could always get one of these (http://www.treehugger.com/files/2005/10/fully_recyclabl.php) - at least it'll be easy to modify, just use scissors! :-D :-D
- Ali
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I have housed my a1200 in a Compaq deskpro, they are a faily large desktop are very in expensive, I have had to make some mods and a new backplate but achived this for £15 inside i have mediator sx, hard drives, cd rom etc via ide express and also with a slot cut in the side i can still use my pcmcia card.
i do agree you will have a problem with power if you do not have an alternative source.
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Quote:
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If you only need a graphics card, why not go for a BVision instead.
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Because i already have one, but it's a little slow. Specially in 3D operations.
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Youll get the shock of youre life when youve destroyed your amigas case and found that you have gained absolutly no performance boost over the bvision ;) especially with the med and voodoo3 where youll lose performance due to the zorroII bottleneck. Its not the gfx procesor thats slow, its the amiga thats simply not fast enough to drive it any faster.
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@Mad-Matt
If you only need a graphics card, why not go for a BVision instead.
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Because i already have one, but it's a little slow. Specially in 3D operations.
Youll get the shock of youre life when youve destroyed your amigas case and found that you have gained absolutly no performance boost over the bvision ;) especially with the med and voodoo3 where youll lose performance due to the zorroII bottleneck. Its not the gfx procesor thats slow, its the amiga thats simply not fast enough to drive it any faster.
What you say does shock me indeed! Are you sure about this? I keep hearing that the Voodoo3 is faster than the BVision!.. *shrugs* :-?
Also, have a look at this site: http://www.amigaspeed.de.vu/ Both the 2D benchmarks and the 3D games performances are suggesting that Voodoo3 is faster..
Edit: Hmm, on a second look, some 2D functions are a bit slower on the Voodoo3 but most of them are faster.
Edit2: Anyway, i will be glad if you are right, because this will save me from a lot of trouble and money :-D
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I just have my computer on polystyrene feet with no case, it`s convenient for fiddling and easy to keep clean. It`s also easy to cool properly so if it doesn`t bother you then just forget the case altogether and arrange everything on the desk.
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What you say does shock me indeed! Are you sure about this? I keep hearing that the Voodoo3 is faster than the BVision!.. *shrugs*
Also, have a look at this site: http://www.amigaspeed.de.vu/ Both the 2D benchmarks and the 3D games performances are suggesting that Voodoo3 is faster..
Edit: Hmm, on a second look, some 2D functions are a bit slower on the Voodoo3 but most of them are faster.
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The vooodoo gfx processor is certainly faster then the permedia2 used on the bvision, but its the amiga itself thats not fast enough to use the voodoo to its full potential. The difference in 2d speeds are in my mind are down to what 2d acceleration functions are used in p96 and cgfx4 so not neccesseraly comparable (as you cant used p96 on bvis) Personaly I find cgfx the best in regards to supported hardware acceleraton. As for games, the only 3d game thats faster is the voodoo specific BlitzQuake which runs 2-3 fps faster with all effects enabled then the basic glquake on bvision. Allother warp3d games are faster on the bvision.since the ppc processor has direct access to the bvis. Grex is the best choice for a ppc system, the gfx driver no less developed then the mediator voodoo driver, but I have no personaly experience of grex unfortunatly to compare, but mediator is deffinatly no fun with a ppc card. The loss of the built in Mode promotion to see boot menus and such makes mediator less fun to use also, as you need to connect a second monitor to get thing set up or fix boot faults.
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The benefit of the Mediatot/VooDoo3 combo over the BVision is that the framerates does drop slower when you rise the resolution as the fillrate of the VooDoo3 is much higher.
In lower resolutions the BVision can actually beat the Mediator1200/VooDoo3, because then the transferrate from processor to GPU is the limiting element not the GFX-Chip performance itself.
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The other advantage for the GREX is the MorphOS support up to Voodoo 5 - 5500 in 3D mode !
But you need to have a BPPC rev2 to enjoy well your system.
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@Frags
I just have my computer on polystyrene feet with no case, it`s convenient for fiddling and easy to keep clean. It`s also easy to cool properly so if it doesn`t bother you then just forget the case altogether and arrange everything on the desk.
Is your computer a Amiga 1200? If it is and you have some pictures of it, i would like to see them! :-)
@Mad-Matt and Lemmink
Thank you for the information. My biggest motive to buy a PCI busboard was to get noticeably faster graphics. So, it's probably better for me to stay to my current configuration.
Btw Matt, you can run BlitzQuake on a BVision. It works under MorphOS.
@CLS2086
The other advantage for the GREX is the MorphOS support up to Voodoo 5 - 5500 in 3D mode !
But you need to have a BPPC rev2 to enjoy well your system.
Yes, i know. That's indeed a good reason to buy a grex. In my case i have to send my rev0 BPPC to france first and i'm to scared to do that. Not because i don't trust the guys in the repair center of course. Let's hope that someone will grab the bounty for the permedia2 3D driver.