Well, the Vampire 1200 does not exist yet, and probably won't be available for at least "two weeks".
And the current Vampire2 video implementation is pretty limited (basically a very fast, dumb frame buffer).
However, while there are several conventional accelerators available, none comes close to the potential performance of an FPGA based accelerator.
Also, when you get to a certain cost level, replacing the entire system with an FPGA based solution seems more practical.
I can get a Mist board cheaper than a Vampire2.
And the end goals of the Vampire project seem to be in line with replacing the entire system with a stand alone board anyway.
So...IF I was in your position, I'd be sorely tempted to just use real hardware upgrades (like a conventional processor and possibly a PCI expansion like the Mediator), with the realization that eventually your system is likely to be surpassed by something that effectively eliminates the legacy hardware.
