GVP 1230-II versus Blizzard 1230 IV

[amiga1260]

I can get a GVP 1230 II cheaply from E-bay, I want to know what the Pros and Cons of the GVP. I know the pros and cons of my Blizzard 1230IV

[iamaboringperson]

 

[cap]

Gvp take their own format memory
68 pin asgainst the standard 72 pin.

So it would be best to make sure it comes with enough memory that you think you'll ever need.

I have found the odd program doesnt function quite right on a Gvp.
The blizzard is a lot better card in my experience and faster slightly.

[Damion]

Cons that I'm aware of:

Somewhat "custom" simms

May not be able to use Blizkick


Pros:

GVP product quality was on par with anything
else out there. The overall build and "finish"
quality of the old GVP card I had was actually
*slightly better* than my DCE 1260 card, and
that says quite a lot IMO (surprised me anyhow).

-edit-

GVP made some solid boards, if the price is
reasonable I say "go for it"...

[Brian]

Pros for GVP is the SCSI module that doesn't requier opening of the case. These days however it's unlikely that many have A1200's with guarantee left so this isn't a big plus. Apart from that I don't think there's anything that GVP beat the Blizzard on but a few the other way around.

Cons are as stated already, custom simms that only goes to 32Mb and some progs doesn't like the GVP resulting in system crashes.

[amiga1260]

I can get a SCSI-kit and 16 MB SIMMs  (64 pins) for the GVP 1230-II. They are new, but very expensive. Take a look at:

For memory:

http://www.amigis.nl/prijslijst.html#geheugen

And SCSI-kit:

http://www.amigis.nl/prijslijst.html#scsicont

 

[x56h34]

Blizzard 1230-IV is much better. I've had a GVP 1230+ II and my current Blizzard 1230-IV beats it in all important aspects.

Pros of Blizzard:

- Compatible with BlizKick
- Uses standard 72-pin SIMMS
- You can close the A1200 trapdoor nicely
- Can use up to 256MB of ram with the addition of the SCSI kit.
- Jumper set maprom

Cons of Blizzard:

- GVP SIMMS run at 50ns however are very expensive due to propriatery nature.

The GVP cad also makes it hard to close the trapdoor nicely unless you trim it down a bit (seriously!)

Also, it would be nice to know if GVP SCSI is  DMA like Blizzard's?

[Matt_H]

I've got a 500 and 2000 with GVP accelerators with SCSI onboard. I'm pretty sure it's DMA; GVP SCSI was quite possibly the best you could buy at one point. Here's the page from GVP themselves: link