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Amiga computer related discussion => Amiga Hardware Issues and discussion => Topic started by: dfreniche on July 05, 2011, 12:31:10 PM

Title: ACA 030 feedback wanted
Post by: dfreniche on July 05, 2011, 12:31:10 PM: Want to buy this accelerator for my A600:
http://amigakit.leamancomputing.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=1003

Any feedback? Anyone using it?

Thanks in advance!
Title: Re: ACA 030 feedback wanted
Post by: digiflip on July 05, 2011, 03:24:00 PM: i think the aca630 are more stable to fit than apollo's. Has the Apollo's apparently need glueing to the mainboard to perform well.
Title: Re: ACA 030 feedback wanted
Post by: mfilos on July 05, 2011, 05:33:44 PM: It's the best investment you can make for your A600 and totally worth every penny.
- Full 68030 with MMU
- 32MB of really fast memory
- MapROM feature for loading kickstart in RAM or loading custom Kickstarts on the spot (full of win)
- Enable/Disable header (that you can use with a switch) that completely makes ACA invisible to the A600
- NMI header (what you can use with a push button) for HRTmon freakz (Action Replay software clone)
- Awesome design with passive heatsink that also gets secured via mountholes in mobo
- Stable as a rock without extra needs of hacks or extra power
- Made @2010 with warranty and support (from your favorite Amiga Online Store)

If you need further info or pictures/videos you can check a thread about my custom A600 incl. ACA630 here (http://www.amibay.com/showthread.php?p=132991#post132991).
Title: Re: ACA 030 feedback wanted
Post by: XDelusion on July 06, 2011, 12:43:12 AM: I love mine. Run your desktop in 16 colors at blazing speeds. Seems very compatible with games and apps too!
Title: Re: ACA 030 feedback wanted
Post by: dfreniche on July 06, 2011, 09:18:27 AM: Wow! That's what I call feedback :-)
Thanks a lot. I'm sold. Will buy mine as soon as I get back home (on vacation mode now)

When you talk about one switch you mean a physical one, making one hole in your case?
Title: Re: ACA 030 feedback wanted
Post by: dfreniche on July 06, 2011, 09:21:09 AM: Thanks a lot! Soon will be using mine, I hope!
Title: Re: ACA 030 feedback wanted
Post by: XDelusion on July 06, 2011, 07:43:42 PM: One apology, I meant it flies in 8 color mode. Anyhow, either way you'll see drastic improvements.
Title: Re: ACA 030 feedback wanted
Post by: Cammy on July 07, 2011, 03:40:31 AM: Here's my ACA630 recommendation. You can run Photoshop on your A600 with one!
(http://www.amiga.org/gallery/images/5087/1_A600Photoshop.JPG)
Title: Re: ACA 030 feedback wanted
Post by: XDelusion on July 07, 2011, 04:15:57 AM: What's the most advanced Mac game you've been able to run on your 600 Cammy? Also, are there any must have apps aside of the one shown in your photo?

Maybe I should have a stab at installing Shape Shifter on my 600 as well.
Title: Re: ACA 030 feedback wanted
Post by: digiflip on July 07, 2011, 10:05:03 PM: how many colours can you display when using indivision ecs with aca630?
Title: Re: ACA 030 feedback wanted
Post by: mfilos on July 07, 2011, 11:06:36 PM: Indivision doesn't affect colors in any way.
So you can use the same colors as you could use on an RGB-->Scart Cable or Composite on an ECS machine.

That means for PAL:
- Low-Res: 320x256 --> Max: 32 colors
- Low-Res Int: 320x512 --> Max: 32 colors
- Hi-Res: 640x256 --> Max: 16 colors
- Hi-Res Int: 640x512 --> Max: 16 colors

You can get some special modes with 256 colors in ADoom 1.4 which uses the IndivisionECS features.
Title: Re: ACA 030 feedback wanted
Post by: XDelusion on July 08, 2011, 12:05:37 AM: Ya, sadly there are no gfx cards for the 600 or 1200 .
Title: Re: ACA 030 feedback wanted
Post by: Cammy on July 08, 2011, 06:20:41 AM: I took some screenshots of various Mac games running on my A600 and uploaded them to my Flickr gallery if anyone would like to see. Unfortunately it seems that site re-saves them as JPEGs even though they were 16 colour GIFs to begin with. I'll have to find somewhere else to upload them, I don't have my FTP space anymore. Anyway, here is the gallery - http://www.flickr.com/photos/24340362@N08/sets/72157627019146701/

Here's a screenshot of MacOS displaying some of the games I've got working on the A600 so far:

(http://www.amiga.org/gallery/images/5087/1_MacOS.gif)

And here's a screenshot of Workbench running IBrowse on my A600, to show you that you can browse the web if you get an ACA630!

(http://www.amiga.org/gallery/images/5087/1_AmigaWorldIBrowse.gif)

Sorry about the AmigaWorld site in the screenshot, it's a nice site to visit through IBrowse.
Title: Re: ACA 030 feedback wanted
Post by: Roondar on July 11, 2011, 09:07:15 AM: I have one for my A600 project.
(kind of inspired by A600.de, I currently have the ACA 630, the A604 and a CompactFlash IDE drive in there. I plan to add a Subway and Indivision ECS :))

Personally I'm quite impressed by it. Installation went flawlessly and it is quite a bit faster than I expected for a 25Mhz 68030. Maybe it's due to ECS limiting you to 16 colours, but it feels faster than my A1200 with Blizzard Mk IV.
(Note that it isn't actually faster according to benchmark tools like Sysinfo and AIBB, but it feels quite zippy :D)

Boot up speeds are really quite high, Workbench flies and Elite II:Frontier is suddenly a lot more playable.

Last but not least, WHDLoad really seems to like this particular configuration (A600, 2MB chip & ACA 630) - it loads just about anything non-AGA. Much better than my A1200 with the Blizzard MK IV manages, strangely enough. Even the quit button works, which was a bit hit & miss before on my A1200 ;)

I'd say it's highly recommended!