Selecting an accellerator (A1200)

[Oliver]

Hyperspeed wrote:

Argus/Jiffy: IBrowse 2.3 is very slow with javascript but it gets you there (and informs you it's thinking about it!), I too am eagerly awaiting IBrowse2.4. Surfing without an RTG card is dead slow, I think the ChipRAM bottleneck slows downloads, particularly with serial transfers.

humppa: How do you get a GFX card in an A1200 without spending the equivalent of a 1260 on just a new case, busboard and adaptors etc.?

I previously wanted to get my 1200 online, but then I thought, the benefits one gets for the costs invloved are just ridiculous.  Putting and 060, RAM and gfx card into a 1200 costs rather a lot.  I only wanted to do it because I could (maybe if I'm rich one day).  I tried with UAE, and the browser situation is as much an issue as the hardware.  The only reason I would put my 1200 online now, would be to make it easier to grab some downloads directly into it, rather than transfering via a PC.  Now, I'm more interested in using Yellow TAB's Zeta for net access.  Hope it should be fun and fast.  I'm rather sick of XP and its shabby programming, poor security, and sluggish response.

[gizmomelb]

Hyperspeed wrote:

For retro gamers I would reccomend the Blizzard 1230-IV over the 1260. It doesn't need any modifications to SetPatch or the libraries and dummy libraries associated with a 1260. It also works at full speed without having to enter Workbench for the libraries to take effect. The downer is that Alien Breed 3D/3D2 will be 4x slower on the 1230-IV and so too games like Nemac-IV, Breathless, Quake, Doom, XTreme Racing etc.

Hi Hyperspeed,

please forgive me if this is a widely known issue, but I'm a returning Amiga user (after at least 10 years) - but why would Alien Breed 3D and the other 'Doom' clone games be slower on a Blizzard 1230-IV (I'm assuming slower than a stock standard A1200)?.

Thanks,
Gizmomelb

[TiredOLife]

 What's with the warning?
What's your beef with Analogic?

[Hyperspeed]

Well the Blizzard 1230-IV uses a Motorolla MC68030 and the Blizzard 1260 uses a Motorolla XC68060. The latter is at least 5x more powerful (and costs 5x the $$$).

Also, the '060 (as it is abbreviated) has an internal FPU as standard (some economy models lacked it) so with this 'Floating Point Unit' games that use 3D calculations will run a lot faster. The '030 boards had an extra chip which the user could add called the 68881 or 68882 PGA/PLCC FPU (Pin Grip Array or Plastic Leaded Chip Carrier).

A typical Blizzard 1230-IV if I remember would have a 50Mhz FPU installed for just 20 GBP extra. You will notice a speed increase just with FastMem but with the '030 and FPU you will be delighted. The jump in performance isn't noticed as much when you go from '030 to '060 as when you had gone from '020 to '030.

You only notice an '060 board when things get really intensive - like web browsing, 3D games, MP3 and MPEG. Housekeeping on Workbench only gets faster after the '030 when you have a GFX card due to AGA's limits.

I would reccomend Blizzard boards primarily but the craze for them will mean you can pick up bargains if you keep your eyes open!

As for getting a RAM expansion board I'm not sure that is of much use these days. Back when I first got my A1200 I would have killed for 8MB of extra RAM but nowadays there's so much more to be done (better games, better demos, MP3 music etc.) you need extra speed too!


Oh and the 'WARNING!' signature is regarding a problem I had with Analogic 10yrs ago to this month. Never have I encountered such an incompetant, blithering bunch of monkey-men in my entire life. They took 50 bucks for not fixing my A1200 and sent it back to me. When I went down to London to sort the matter out personally, the Manager stares at me with a notepad and takes notes, then tells me "You can't have the cake and eat it!". It took a few months to get the machine back and in the end Wizard Developments/Compute! found and fixed the problem in 3 days.

[Tomas]

gizmomelb wrote:

Hyperspeed wrote:

For retro gamers I would reccomend the Blizzard 1230-IV over the 1260. It doesn't need any modifications to SetPatch or the libraries and dummy libraries associated with a 1260. It also works at full speed without having to enter Workbench for the libraries to take effect. The downer is that Alien Breed 3D/3D2 will be 4x slower on the 1230-IV and so too games like Nemac-IV, Breathless, Quake, Doom, XTreme Racing etc.

Hi Hyperspeed,

please forgive me if this is a widely known issue, but I'm a returning Amiga user (after at least 10 years) - but why would Alien Breed 3D and the other 'Doom' clone games be slower on a Blizzard 1230-IV (I'm assuming slower than a stock standard A1200)?.

Thanks,
Gizmomelb

I guess he means slower than the 1260, which would make sense as it is a faster card.

[Hyperspeed]

Oh, yeah sorry... that's what I mean. The 1260 is 5x faster than the 1230... the 1230 is about 8x faster than the stock A1200.

A1200 - *
B1230 - *********
B1240 - *******************
B1260 - ***************************************

There, that's a sort of graphical depiction to give you some idea why the Blizzard 1260 is so expensive!

:-)

You could probably get an '040+PPC cheaper than a 1260.