@Invisix
OK - you have the Mediator SX already so if you add a Voodoo graphics card, this will radically change your A1200's capabilities. AGA/ECS is one of the main performance constraints on an A1200 system (even with an 060). If the system has PCI with Voodoo added, this will exceed performance of any Zorro graphics card in an A4000. The Voodoo chipset is far faster than the Virge DX in the Cybervision 64/3D and the Cirrus Logic GD5446 in the Picasso IV. Similary a 100MB PCI network card would outstrip the X-Surf and Ariadne.
Of course A4000s can be the better system when they have a Mediator added, but that would require re-investment in a different Amiga system for you. The performance differences may not justify the cost differences between systems.
The benefits of a high spec A4000 (Mediator+Cyberstorm PPC) over a high spec A1200 (Mediator+Blizzard PPC) are:
- A1200 Mediator has 8MB transfer window constraint - this only affects when large amounts of data need to be sent. A4000 Mediator doesnt suffer from the low limit.
- A4000 Cyberstorm PPC has superior PPC CPU to A1200 BlizzardPPC - may not be that important as very little software makes use of the performance benefit of the 604
- A4000 Cyberstorm PPC has superior SCSI to the A1200 BlizzardPPC - this is one main difference that requires consideration if you wish to use SCSI devices
- A4000 has slightly higher performance access to chipram - only used for legacy AGA/ECS applications- not used when using RTG and RTA.
- A4000 has Zorro III - you will have to decide if Zorro III is relevant to your intended use of the system.
- One small point: the Blizzard PPC and (Blizz 1260+SCSI kit) can have maximum 256MB Fast Mem, whereas the Cyberstorm can have a max 128MB of Fast Mem. May be relevant if you use Pagestream or similar applications that consume a lot of memory.
