Newbie with an A1200

[stuntmachine]

I recently purchased an A1200 and I'm looking to run WHDLoad, but right now I'm getting memory errors (not enough memory).

What's the best value right now in memory expansion / accelerators for the A1200?

I've checked eBay and it seems like these types of upgrades are tough to find.

Details about my setup are in my sig. Thanks!

[stuntmachine]

It's not available right now. I was looking for something that's more well-established in the community. Is there a de-facto way of expanding the memory on the Amiga with some hardware that is available enough for me to find somewhere?

[stuntmachine]

ACA 1220

It's not available right now. I was looking for something that's more well-established in the community. Is there a de-facto way of expanding the memory on the Amiga with some hardware that is available enough for me to find somewhere?

[stuntmachine]

Keep an eye on ebay for a few weeks, something will pop up.

I'd also suggest cheking the FS section or placing a wanted ad over at AmiBay.

Not sure about the "best value" part - absolute hassle-free WHDLoad'ing for lowest cost would be an old 8MB board. For '030 accelerators, the ACA cards are new and supported, but have no FPU and are known to have their niggles in some cases. The Blizzard boards were probably the best, and there's plenty of them out there if you're a little patient. A GVP with some RAM would be equally well suited for WHDLoad.

I'm noticing a lot of '030 accelerators out there. Any reason they seem to be more prevalent than '060 based stuff? It seems in 2012 we'd be more likely to use the faster CPU, no?

As a side note, living in the United States has proven to be especially challenging with regards to finding reasonably priced hardware for my Amiga. It's Amikit and Vesalia or Ebay, and shipping costs are high. It's tough to be an Amiga user here!

[stuntmachine]

Keep an eye on ebay for a few weeks, something will pop up.

I'd also suggest cheking the FS section or placing a wanted ad over at AmiBay.

Not sure about the "best value" part - absolute hassle-free WHDLoad'ing for lowest cost would be an old 8MB board. For '030 accelerators, the ACA cards are new and supported, but have no FPU and are known to have their niggles in some cases. The Blizzard boards were probably the best, and there's plenty of them out there if you're a little patient. A GVP with some RAM would be equally well suited for WHDLoad.

I wonder if this is a good choice:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Amiga-Blizzard-1230-III-8-meg-upgrade-board-crystal-Battery-tested-working-GC-/310428602086?pt=UK_VintageComputing_RL&hash=item4846fc8ee6#ht_2520wt_1165

[stuntmachine]

I don't usually comment on prices, but I think you can do a bit better for that amount, like a 1230 IV. See here for a list of cards and their features. We'd be happy to steer you in the right direction. :-)

I agree about the '060 boards, they hit the scene when Amiga was already in its twilight years. You definitely want an '030 (or slower) for the best gaming experience.

How about this one? http://www.ebay.com/itm/Blizzard-1230-MK1V-phase-5-8-meg-upgrade-board-030-Battery-tested-working-GC-/310425496514?pt=UK_VintageComputing_RL&hash=item4846cd2bc2#ht_2843wt_1165

[stuntmachine]

Yeah, that second card rocks, and it looks a lot cleaner than the other one. I've bought from that seller in the past (I live in the US) with no problem.

If your fussy about wanting the box/manual/etc, hang around AmiBay a while and one will pop up.

EDIT: Just want to ad, unless you watch demos the FPU is pretty pointless, the ACA cards are new...

I'm at a bit of an impasse now... Do I wait for the Indivision ACA 1220 128MB Accelerator with the '020, or do I grab the    
Blizzard 1230 MKIV that's for sale on Ebay with the '030?

What would you (more experienced) guys do if you were in my shoes?

[stuntmachine]

It all depends on what you want to spend.
That's a good card.  It will do all you need for WHDLoad and even let you play some of the low end FPS games OK...

Which card are you referring to? The one on Ebay or the one on Amigakit?

The FPU isn't (in my opinion) a big deal. Unless you ray trace, you won't notice it.
I had an FPU in my 8M RAM card, and I don't remember finding an app that needed it. (They are out there, but not many)

If you're just looking at WHDLoad, I don't know I'd want to spend that much myself.

One thing that could be important, and I haven't heard an answer yet, about the ACA1220 is PCMCIA compatibility.
The Bliz is PCMCIA compatible.
I'm not sure about the 1220.  If not, that could be a hassle...
Not sure about that..

desiv

What do you mean when you say the Blizzard is PCMCIA compatible?

[stuntmachine]

I play most early 3D games without any trouble on my ACA1231, ALien Breed 3D 1-2, Fears, Breathless, all Gloom games are some of the ones I can run fullscreen Even aDoom runs decent enough after some tweaking

It seems like the ACA1231 might be my best option at this time then, huh? It's not overkill with 128MB like the ACA1220. It's available (the ACA1220 isn't as of this writing). Sure it's more expensive, but it's got an '030 rather than an '020. I don't want to spend money on something that will eventually limit me in some way. Opinions?