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Amiga computer related discussion => Amiga Hardware Issues and discussion => Topic started by: Linchpin on January 19, 2004, 06:59:30 PM
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Dudes... i am still completing my a1200T, it now has 040/28, 32mb ram, CDrom, HDD, PCMCIA NIC, Keyboard adaptor, SD, ATPSU, etc, but im still not happy with its performance. Is it better to sell it all and get an a4000 and put a GFX card in, or maybe get a Mediator or BPPC and Bvision?
Cheers
Kev
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You might want to sit back for a second and weigh your performance expectations against the hardware's intended use. An Amiga 4000 system with an updated display adpater might pretty up your Workbench and speed up the display of a few things, but you're going to get about the same performance CPU-wise. But if you're thinking about getting a PCI busboard, then why not put one in your 1200 tower?
Trev
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Hmm yeah - its just they are pretty dang expensive,,, and im kinda trying to get an amiga one also...
Im just thinking of the best possible setup :-)
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Hmmm... Well, an A4000 would be a nice option, but you've already put a lot into your machine. Using the native graphics is gonna yeild similar performance on a 4000 with an 040/28, so right now your best option I'd say would be to get a graphics card of some kind. Absolutely essential add-ons for any Amiga:
1) Hard Drive
2) 040 CPU or greater
3) Graphics Card
A graphics card make such a difference to my machine (Also a custom-towered A1200) that I can't beat to use the AGA modes, even on 16 colour. You won't regret it, trust me!
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SO what sort of GFX card do you recommend? I can go the Bvision route, but i dont really need a BPPC...
Mediator maybe and a voodoo?
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Get a mediator 1200 LT which is considerably cheaper, however it only allows for 2 PCI slots, and get a cheap Voodoo 3 PCI from eBay and possibly a network card or sound card.
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Well i have a 10mbs NIC in my PCMCIA slot.. so 2 PCI cards would be ample :-)
Maybe this is an option after all..
Im also led to beleve that not using AGA GFX will also speed up the machine???
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You say you want to speed up your machine, and are not happy with your machines performance.
If that's the matter, why don't you want a BPPC or 060 then? Sound strange to me....
A graphics card will only speed up your graphics on Workbench, as you can't use the graphisc card to normal native screenmodes.
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Indeed, its workbench apps i want to use more than anything else. With reguards to PPC... aint that where the a1 steps in :-)
I just want to get the classic amiga running next to my future a1 :-)
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Okay, you will sure benefit from a graphics card then; I have great pleasure from my Voodoo Banshee.
As for PPC and A1, I don't think you can compare them in such way, but if you buy OS4 for A1, then you can use it on your classic Amiga as well with the PPC board.
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Indeed - thats the plan :-)
Looking at JC's amiga 1200T, its looking shcweet (nothing against OS4 tho)
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doctorq wrote:
You say you want to speed up your machine, and are not happy with your machines performance.
If that's the matter, why don't you want a BPPC or 060 then? Sound strange to me....
A graphics card will only speed up your graphics on Workbench, as you can't use the graphisc card to normal native screenmodes.
Just a question on this subject:
I have a towered A1200 with 32mb ram but i only have a Blizzard 1230-IV 50mhz with an fpu. I mainly play around in workbench and play the odd classic game. General operation is fine, but the graphics update speed is terrible! Would it be worth me getting a Mediator and a voodoo or should i upgrade the Accelerator first?
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Would it be worth me getting a Mediator and a voodoo or should i upgrade the Accelerator first?
Get at least an 040 first, When i used me mediator in my 030 A3000 it was so bad. Trust me.
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Hmm with my 040 and aga like above, its hard to explain but the CPU speed is not the problem, its the graphics refresh rate that sux i think :-)
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Get a graphics card.
I went from an A4000 25Mhz 030/AGA to A4000 25Mhz 030/CV64 3D, and it was a huge improvement. Better even than going from 030/CV643D to 060/CV643D (although that was also a huge leap).
Now I have a Voodoo 3 in there and its just amazing. Get a Voodoo/Mediator now, then save up and get an 060 or PPC. You won't regret it!
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Actually, it would be better for you to sell it all and get yourself an Amiga 4000. That's what you should have done in the first place. You can buy a nice Amiga 4000 on eBay for less then $350.00. Just think about how much money you have spent putting together your Amiga 1200 Tower.
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Yeah... well no not really. I only paid £25 for the a1200, £40 for the 040, £25 for the kbd adaptor, nothing for the tower and PSU, so i aint really on a looser here. Maybe i will get it all back up and running nice and flog the lot... dunno yet tho. My ideal setup is a nice amigaOne networked with my a1200T via my router, and on monitor,kbd,mouse on one of those switch boxes. Nice eh?
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I think your cheapest option (peformance versus cost) would be to get a graphics card solution for your a1200 tower. When people say get an A4000, you should know they mean get an upgraded A4000, including a CPU upgrade as well as graphics card solution b/c the stock A4000 040 will be cpu wise slower than yout A1200 because of the slow commodore cpu board. Such an upgraded A4000 will not come cheap. Also your ide interface will probably be faster than the a4000 IDE interface (mine was), unless you intend to uprade that on the A4000 (eg to scsi, but then you need scsi drives)
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Yeah... i intend to stick to the a1200. I suppose the performance aint that bad... could be a lot better tho :-)
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Well if you sold the A1200 and got an A4000 with a mediator 4000DI (desktop version) you can get some more performance. The A1200 will only let you use 8MB max of the voodoo 3 memory, all 12 is used in the A4000. If you have any PCMCIA card in the 1200 then you only get to use 4MB of its RAM.
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yeah, atm there is a 10mbps network card in the PCMCIA slot, and 32mb ram on the apollo 040 card, so thats OK.
I think im going to keep the a1200. Any more advice is well appriciated :-)