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Amiga computer related discussion => Amiga Hardware Issues and discussion => Topic started by: bawsack on March 31, 2010, 11:59:25 PM

Title: Amiga 1200 Memory Expansion
Post by: bawsack on March 31, 2010, 11:59:25 PM
hey people

I should post here more often as Ive just invested in two amigas. Does anyone know where I can get memory expansion for my 1200? I'm not too fussy about processor acceleration, just memory, I'm struggling to run things on WHDLoad except when obviously using the CLI, but even then, some programs dont run.

Any ideas?
Thanks
Justinnnn
Title: Re: Amiga 1200 Memory Expansion
Post by: DyLucke on April 01, 2010, 12:32:50 AM
You could ask here, just the way you're doing. Look on eBay, or AmiBay.
I don't think it would be difficult to get a 4mb expansion for a cheap price.

Enough to mess with WHDLoad
Title: Re: Amiga 1200 Memory Expansion
Post by: bawsack on April 01, 2010, 12:59:21 AM
Quote from: DyLucke;550604
You could ask here, just the way you're doing. Look on eBay, or AmiBay.
I don't think it would be difficult to get a 4mb expansion for a cheap price.

Enough to mess with WHDLoad



Cheers mate.

Any idea how much these go for?

Justin
Title: Re: Amiga 1200 Memory Expansion
Post by: rarefaction on April 01, 2010, 01:33:22 AM
Hey man,

I have a DKB memory expansion and 68882 FPU card with 8mb. I have no idea what it's worth really, theres an Apollo 1260 now in it's place. I'm in Australia btw. Make me an offer i guess =)

Cheers
Title: Re: Amiga 1200 Memory Expansion
Post by: bawsack on April 01, 2010, 02:14:24 AM
thanks mate for the offer, but I'm looking to get something closer to home due to postage costs (just recently lost my job so I dont have loads of cash to part with) and the whole waiting for it to be inspected by customs, I read on AmiBay that a bit of hardware was in customs for three weeks, which is pretty astonishing, and I have no idea how much these things go for really. im sorry, but very very much appreciated.

thanks again
justin
Title: Re: Amiga 1200 Memory Expansion
Post by: Cammy on April 01, 2010, 02:19:06 AM
Since it may take a while to find a trapdoor RAM expanson for your A1200, you should maybe get a 2MB PCMCIA SRAM card in the mean-time. It won't help speed up your A1200, but it will at least let you play those WHDLoad games. When you finally get a RAM board, you can use the SRAM card in your A600. You should also consider getting an A603 for your A600, they're great little boards, I have one in my A600. They'll bump your A600 up to 2MB total ChipRAM, so with the SRAM card as well you'll have 4MB RAM.

You can get the SRAM cards here - http://www.memoryx.net/bgz.html
Title: Re: Amiga 1200 Memory Expansion
Post by: bawsack on April 01, 2010, 02:33:18 AM
thanks mate. does any PCMCIA SRAM cards work with the Amiga? I considered buying a A603 too, its just unfortunate that there isn't a thing for the 1200.

I am completely clueless about this stuff. haha

Cheers
Justin

Edit: Can it only address up to 2MB or can it be expanded beyond that?
Title: Re: Amiga 1200 Memory Expansion
Post by: rkauer on April 01, 2010, 05:27:28 AM
PCMCIA SRAM is good ONLY  for A600. For A1200 prefer a trapdoor RAM expansion or even a cheap accelerator (like the Apollo or Blizzard 1220).
Title: Re: Amiga 1200 Memory Expansion
Post by: crawff on April 01, 2010, 11:48:14 AM
Will the 2MB PCMCIA SRAM card actually make WHDload useable for him though
for his A1200?

That is what he is trying to achieve.
Title: Re: Amiga 1200 Memory Expansion
Post by: Philophus on April 01, 2010, 12:18:44 PM
Yes.
Title: Re: Amiga 1200 Memory Expansion
Post by: DyLucke on April 01, 2010, 12:51:04 PM
He can either go for an A603, AmigaKit sells 'em, or go for the russian project of 8mb RAM, but these sollutions are for the A600.

Not for the A1200, if i was you my friend, i would skip the RAM expansion for the 1200 and i would go directly for some cheap 030 with RAM. I have to say a RAM expansion would double your A1200 stock speed, however, to double the speed of something that crawls it's not much. Go for a x4 speed or more. That means a 020 28mhz, or a 030 25mhz. That's my advice.
Title: Re: Amiga 1200 Memory Expansion
Post by: countzero on April 01, 2010, 12:52:41 PM
Quote from: crawff;550661
Will the 2MB PCMCIA SRAM card actually make WHDload useable for him though
for his A1200?

That is what he is trying to achieve.

yes but these days price different between 1200 RAM cards and SRAM isn't much, so it's better to go for the RAM card if he can find a cheapish one.
Title: Re: Amiga 1200 Memory Expansion
Post by: jj on April 01, 2010, 01:02:45 PM
Quote from: DyLucke;550665
He can either go for an A603, AmigaKit sells 'em, or go for the russian project of 8mb RAM, but these sollutions are for the A600.
 
Not for the A1200, if i was you my friend, i would skip the RAM expansion for the 1200 and i would go directly for some cheap 030 with RAM. I have to say a RAM expansion would double your A1200 stock speed, however, to double the speed of something that crawls it's not much. Go for a x4 speed or more. That means a 020 28mhz, or a 030 25mhz. That's my advice.

 
Fist ram card I ever had for my A1200 was the blizzard 1220/4 .  Which was 28mhz 020 with 4mb of ram.   Must say this gave a massive speed  boost for years, well until i got an 030 years and years later.  It was all I could afford when the A1200 came out, was only 15 :)
 
These should be cheap to pick up, though i dont see them around very often.
Title: Re: Amiga 1200 Memory Expansion
Post by: crawff on April 01, 2010, 02:01:33 PM
But do the SRAM cards work with the A1200 and not just the A600?

Someone said it would work and then another is saying it is only for the A600?

Somebody please confirm the correct information for the poor chap.
Title: Re: Amiga 1200 Memory Expansion
Post by: Philophus on April 01, 2010, 02:11:30 PM
They work on both...but it works slowly on the a1200.
 
On the a600 it alone will double the speed of the a600.
Title: Re: Amiga 1200 Memory Expansion
Post by: jj on April 01, 2010, 02:12:15 PM
The SRAM cards work in both the stock A600 and stock A1200.  The ram can potentially slow the A1200 down, but for playing games the extra ram will help with WHDload and will not make a difference
Title: Re: Amiga 1200 Memory Expansion
Post by: Cammy on April 01, 2010, 04:11:31 PM
I've been using a 8MB RAM expansion card in my A1200 for years. I go online, use plenty of applications, and played every WHDLoad game out there. There is no need for an accelerator if you don't plan on anything more than this.

Amigas can address up to 4MB SRAM, but 4MB cards are hard to come by compared to 2MB cards.

There are no brand new A1200 RAM expansions.

There are brand new A600 ChipRAM expansions in the form of the A603.

There will be 8MB FastRAM expansions for the A600 in coming months in the form of the A608 from Zetr0 (based on the Russian design).

There are some expensive, new-old-stock accelerators available for the A1200.

SRAM will speed up an A600 a small amount.

SRAM will slow down an A1200 a small amount.

SRAM will not affect the speed of regular games, but it will allow you to play them.

Here are some SysInfo results to help you make up your own mind:

A600 (2MB Chip, No FastRAM)
526 Dhrystones
0.54 MIPS

A600 (2MB Chip, 2MB PCMCIA SRAM)
699 Dhrystones
0.72 MIPS

A1200 (2MB Chip, No FastRAM)
1092 Dhrystones
1.13 MIPS

A1200 (2MB Chip, 2MB PCMCIA SRAM)
840 Dhrystones
0.87 MIPS

A1200 (2MB Chip, 8MB FastRAM)
2819 Dhrystones
2.94 MIPS
Title: Re: Amiga 1200 Memory Expansion
Post by: crawff on April 01, 2010, 05:32:10 PM
Thanks Cammy,

It's all much clearer now.

As long as you only want to play normal A500/A1200 games on WHDload then the 2MB Card is fine.

If you want to play other games which require a bit more speed (i.e Breathless, Doom,Flight Sims etc..) then a larger Ram or Accelerator card is required.
Title: Re: Amiga 1200 Memory Expansion
Post by: desiv on April 01, 2010, 05:43:57 PM
Quote from: countzero;550666
yes but these days price different between 1200 RAM cards and SRAM isn't much, so it's better to go for the RAM card if he can find a cheapish one.

Great!  I paid about $45 for the PCMCIA 2M SRAM card I have now.
Where can I get this 1200 Fast RAM card you are aware of for about that price?  :confused:  :)

It seems to me that 1200 RAM cards are selling for around/over $100.
Is fast RAM much better?  Of course.
But, if you don't have the money/time, a 2M PCMCIA SRAM card will work in the 1200 for playing whdload games (I know, I'm doing it).

I will eventually get a 1200 FAST RAM card, but in the mean time, this does work, and it works pretty good.  Cammy's numbers show a small decrease, but nothing noticeable (to me).

desiv
Title: Re: Amiga 1200 Memory Expansion
Post by: rkauer on April 01, 2010, 10:40:15 PM
Most trapdoor RAM cards (and Apollo/Blizzard 1220) for A1200 pops every now and then on Amibay.

 Normal price is around £74, but may vary.
Title: Re: Amiga 1200 Memory Expansion
Post by: desiv on April 01, 2010, 11:13:49 PM
Quote from: rkauer;550725
Normal price is around £74, but may vary.
£74 = $112.72 USD
Then there's shipping to the U.S. for us.
Apparently, 1200 memory/CPU expansions were more popular elsewhere..

desiv
Title: Re: Amiga 1200 Memory Expansion
Post by: bawsack on April 02, 2010, 01:08:30 AM
thanks all. im just gonna keep my eyes open for an expansion pack and I'm probably better off and saving up for a decent accelerator card, but I think i'll go for the SRAM option for just now as its easier to obtain than the trapdoor cards.

thanks for everyones help. :D
Title: Re: Amiga 1200 Memory Expansion
Post by: bawsack on April 02, 2010, 05:40:17 PM
hey cammy, i just realised that I'm friends with you on youtube haha. my name is jeremykyleftw on there. i didnt realise until now! anyway thanks again to everyone.
Title: Re: Amiga 1200 Memory Expansion
Post by: Cammy on April 03, 2010, 03:20:18 AM
Hey Bawsack, that's awesome! It's a small world afterall :p

I hope you'll take some videos of your Amiga setups yourself once you get them all running smoothly!
Title: Re: Amiga 1200 Memory Expansion
Post by: RetroAmigaMan on October 03, 2010, 08:38:54 AM
Quote from: rarefaction;550612
Hey man,

I have a DKB memory expansion and 68882 FPU card with 8mb. I have no idea what it's worth really, theres an Apollo 1260 now in it's place. I'm in Australia btw. Make me an offer i guess =)

Cheers


Have you still got this?  I've just bought an A1200.  How much are you looking for?  (I'm in Melbourne.)