Amiga.org
Amiga computer related discussion => General chat about Amiga topics => Topic started by: AmiGeezer on December 11, 2006, 05:12:56 PM
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Hi All,
I'm thinking of getting myself an Amiga again in the new year after a few years away.
I'm fancying an A4000 (Desktop or Tower) although I know it's memory access is slower than a 1200's.
As I want to get a graphics card would I be better getting an A1200 and towering it, accellerating it, getting a backplane (which one?) and then getting a card (Cybergraphics?) or would I be better getting a 4000 and the gfx card so I don't break my wallet with the 1200 costs and put up with the slower memory?
What other things should I consider?
I used to have a towered A1200 that I was proud of but sold that a couple of years ago. :-(
Cheers all!
Matt
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You should consider the fact that you are going to be spending a lot of money.
Graphics cards and accelerator cards are hard to find and expensive, unfortunately. That is, unless you are lucky and find one in a boot sale. Otherwise on Ebay they go for high prices.
Maybe in the U.K. it is different - I think Amigas held on a little longer there.
Here in Canada though, you're only likely to find one even at a flea market or in the local classified ads once in a very blue moon.
Good luck though!
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My modest opinion is: you should consider getting an emulator instead, such as WinUAE and/or Amithlon. Performances are far better on a modern PC with an emulator than you would get with an already outdated Amiga.
With WinUAE emulator compatibility issues with games is less problematic than with Amithlon. Amithlon is more suited to serious users who want to do development and other thiings other than playing (old) games with the Amiga.
WinUAE is more suited to general purpose as well as games but can also be used for playing games. Amithlon is also a bit more performing as far as speed is concerned.
So, it's up to you and depends also on what you are planning to do with the Amiga.
Regards.
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My modest opinion is: you should consider getting an emulator instead, such as WinUAE and/or Amithlon. Performances are far better on a modern PC with an emulator than you would get with an already outdated Amiga.
With WinUAE emulator compatibility issues with games is less problematic than with Amithlon. Amithlon is more suited to serious users who want to do development and other thiings other than playing (old) games with the Amiga.
WinUAE is more suited to general purpose as well as games but can also be used for playing games. Amithlon is also a bit more performing as far as speed is concerned.
So, it's up to you and depends also on what you are planning to do with the Amiga.
Regards.
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Geezer, I would say wait for an A4000. You've already had an A1200. All you need to do is get an A4000D and a gfx card. Don't worry about memory, you can sort that out later with an 040 or 060 accelerator. That's what I would do, I would want novelty, I would want something I hadn't owned before. And I think the A4000D is a neat package if you don't need loads of drives. Just make sure it has an unblemished motherboard (no battery problems).
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http://cgi.ebay.com/Amiga-4000-Tower-4000T-CyberStorm-060-Picasso-IV-XSurf_W0QQitemZ140063691675QQihZ004QQcategoryZ4598QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
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ral-clan wrote:
You should consider the fact that you are going to be spending a lot of money.
I can vouch for that. Amiga isn't a hobby, it's an obsession. I must have spent over $1000 on my A4000 by now, all on second-hand hardware. It's nearly complete, expecting the final touch (68060) any day now.
Then I will start working on my A1200 project which has been on the drawing board for a couple of months.
Just as a friendly warning :-)
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I don't like the look of that one. Firstly he doesn't include the keyboard and mouse. Secondly the bezel has a missing button and has no door. This is a relisting so he could have taken new pictures showing that the door is intact, but he hasn't done it.
Lastly, the backplane dividers there are bent and that means there is the possibility of some bending or ham-handedness going on.
It is going to go for a lot, too, because it has a PIV and an 060 board. (Those are highly sought-after items).
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Yep I saw that one - very expensive and a long way away!
The A4000 desktop goes very cheap over here, I've just missed out on a couple on eBay (#150066076509 for 102 GBP and #220054577208 for 113 GBP).
It's the accellerators and gfx cards that are expensive.
I've used UAE but didn't like the lack of 'feel' you get with the actual hardware. That's why I've still got a Dreamcast and have owned the following long past their sell-by-date... C64/VIC20/ZX Spectrum/CDTV etc etc (all gone now) and still have a Grandstand "Astro Wars" and a "Puckmonster" game.
Cheers!
Matt
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Does anyone have a preference between PIV and CGfx cards? If so, why? Is there any difference in cost these days?
M
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The PIV comes with a very good scandoubler and flicker fixer. I would say that the PIVs are generally more sought after than the Cybervisions. They tend to fetch more on ebay.
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AmiGeezer wrote:
...still have a Grandstand "Astro Wars"...
Heh! Cool, I've got one of those too!!! :-)
- Ali
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De dooo di do di doo - de dooo di do di doo .... did-it.
Very loud sounds on it but great fun!
:-)
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I have just been giving a 2500 and a 500.
I am waiting for the 2500 to come in.
4000's just are way overpriced because of the Ebay crap. So I will wait until I find a 4000 at a resonable price. Or better yet hopefully a new amiga :)
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AmiGeezer wrote:
I'm fancying an A4000 (Desktop or Tower) although I know it's memory access is slower than a 1200's.
You're thinking of the A4000's standard CPU board - the A3640 - which had throttled memory. As soon as you stick an accelerator in there (Which you have to do really) there's no difference or the 4000 has faster memory. If you get a Cyberstorm PPC for instance you'll get the 64-bit wide memory interface rather than the BlizzardPPC's 32-bit (but of course you have to buy SIMMs in pairs!)
If you want a solid Amiga, the 4000 is a much better bet than the various expansions plied on top of each other you'd need to get a 1200 up to speed.
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I have an A2000 toaster, 18MB, 86040, 2MB chip ram, extra retina graphics card, OS3.1 if you are interested.
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Get an A4000, it's so much more solid. The A1200 tower conversions with zorro /pci bus extenders are inferior to the A4000's in design and have inferior transfer rates. You'll also probably be able to use AOS4/MOS with them, wich probably won't happend with the A1200.
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You're thinking of the A4000's standard CPU board - the A3640 - which had throttled memory. As soon as you stick an accelerator in there (Which you have to do really) there's no difference or the 4000 has faster memory. If you get a Cyberstorm PPC for instance you'll get the 64-bit wide memory interface rather than the BlizzardPPC's 32-bit (but of course you have to buy SIMMs in pairs!)
Ah right - I hadn't realised that - maybe I'll keep an eye out for another 4000D in the new year then. Not sure how I'll fare trying to get the accellerator but I'll start with the base unit! There's some old AGA games that I'll have to dig out again but mainly I've always wanted to run a 'proper' Workbench in 16/24 bit - then I'll be a happy bunny!
:-)
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sdyates wrote:
I have an A2000 toaster, 18MB, 86040, 2MB chip ram, extra retina graphics card, OS3.1 if you are interested.
If it wasn't for wanting AGA for reliving some of my old stuff then I may have been, thanks for the offer. Out of interest, what value would you put on that?
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My modest opinion is: you should consider getting an emulator instead, such as WinUAE and/or Amithlon. Performances are far better on a modern PC with an emulator than you would get with an already outdated Amiga.
It is faster in raw cpu perfomance, but it still sucks when it comes to chipset emulation. The gfx does not run as smooth, the sound is either choppy or lagged even with the most modern pc. When it comes to classic games, it is just not an option if you are picky about such issues. It annoyes the hell out of me to play a game with sound lagging some ms behind the graphics. It also annoyes the hell out of me when some background process makes the graphic jerk. Winuae is however a good option if you want to for example use cpu intensive software like 3d rendering programs and similar. The main advantage of AmigaOS is the fact that it is lightweight and only needs a few seconds of boot time. With winuae you lose all that due to the fact that it is hosted ontop of another OS.
An a4000 is a great choice in my opinion if you have the cash.
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Jose wrote:
Get an A4000, it's so much more solid. The A1200 tower conversions with zorro /pci bus extenders are inferior to the A4000's in design and have inferior transfer rates. You'll also probably be able to use AOS4/MOS with them, wich probably won't happend with the A1200.
That is odd, because from what i heard it is that OS4 on the a1200 with ppc is what is going to be released first of those two. And betatester has already OS4 running on their a1200 for quite some time now. And MOS already runs on a a1200 i think?
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Tomas wrote:
Jose wrote:
Get an A4000, it's so much more solid. The A1200 tower conversions with zorro /pci bus extenders are inferior to the A4000's in design and have inferior transfer rates. You'll also probably be able to use AOS4/MOS with them, wich probably won't happend with the A1200.
That is odd, because from what i heard it is that OS4 on the a1200 with ppc is what is going to be released first of those two. And betatester has already OS4 running on their a1200 for quite some time now. And MOS already runs on a a1200 i think?
MOS runs on all PowerUP board equipped classic Amiga's
(MorphOS PowerUP) :roll:
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I have plenty of Amigas..what would you like..lol..just kidding..
Im not selling(EVER)..Just want to welcome you.and I hope you
find what your looking for..
In my opinion get a 4000D..you'd be much better off.
Getting a 1200 + towering it..and adding all the cards adapter cards..etc.
seems like a lot of work..and Im sure fun as well. I would like to tempt
that feat someday myself..but for now the 2 4000Ts are just perfect for me.
Really buy best you can afford.
More pics of the free tower I got soon..!!
Take care
Matt
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AmiGeezer wrote:
De dooo di do di doo - de dooo di do di doo .... did-it.
Very loud sounds on it but great fun!
:-)
Hehe!!
Err... this is going a bit OT, but do you have the mains adapter for it? If so, any idea on the voltage and polarity?
I'm guessing it's 6 volts DC, but not sure of positive or negative tip/centre of plug.
- Ali
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InTheSand wrote:
Hehe!!
Err... this is going a bit OT, but do you have the mains adapter for it? If so, any idea on the voltage and polarity?
I'm guessing it's 6 volts DC, but not sure of positive or negative tip/centre of plug.
- Ali
'fraid not - but I'll take a look tonight to see if I can figure it out - Mine is boxed so it may be on the box.
M
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Oops, forgot to check, will remember this time!
:-]
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I've always had the dream of one day owning an Amiga 4000. I already have a few A500's, A600 and an A1200 in a tower, with Voodoo 3 2000 and 060 accelerator, but I still want to find myself that biggest monster of them all!
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It's not all that bad. Get the stuff you need. Go ahead and get a spare motherboard too. Hell I even have a few Amiga's and I'm even selling a motherboard too.