How to get 2Mb chip RAM on an A2000?

[ErrethAkbe]

Hi all,

Some WHDLoad games require 2Mb Chip RAM to run. Easy on WinUAE, but how to do it on my A2000? If it matters I am on a version 6.2 motherboard with 3.1 ROMs. I have the 1Mb PAL/NTSC Agnus chip at present.

There is a "DKB MegaChip 2000" for sale on eBay, is this a good solution or is there some better way to do this?

I really want to play some of these games on real Amiga hardware! :-D

[amigadave]

Yes, get a DKB megachip with the proper required fatter (or is it fattest) Agnus chip to get the 2mb chip RAM you are looking for.  The correct Agnus should come with the board.

[Jose]

I know you probably love your A2000 but IMO it's not worth the money(EDIT: to get the MegaChip that is...). Get a cheap A1200 instead and you'll also be able to play AGA games;)

[Matt_H]

2MB of Chip is cool and all, and the MegaChip is the way to do it, but do you really need it for WHDLoad? I was under the impression that only AGA stuff needed more than 1MB of Chip.

Still, I suppose having 2MB will guarantee that you'll have enough available.

[aardvark]

It's also an easy way to get 2 megs of ram on a CDTV. There are also similar devices to the DKB unit, but not as available.

[TjLaZer]

Yeah the Megachip 500/2000 and it' clones are the way to go but expect to always pay ebay prices for them.  The way I ended up getting one was in a 2000 that did no have it advertised.  So I didn't have to remove my arm for it.  

[Argus]

There is another way to add 2MB to an A2000.  In principle, you'd be in essence duplicating the megachip or similar.  The hardware hack involves piggybacking ram chips on top of others, rewiring, cutting traces, etc. and adding a 2MB Agnus.  There are instructions on Aminet, usenet, etc.  afaik it only works on Rev 6 A2000s which have the larger capacity dip ram chips already on the board.  Same applies to Rev 6 A500 motherboards as well.

again, this is not for the faint of heart...but it's a fun experiment and since another A2000 m/b on ebay is cheaper than a single megachip, you risk little if it doesn't work.

[ErrethAkbe]

Jose wrote:
I know you probably love your A2000 but IMO it's not worth the money(EDIT: to get the MegaChip that is...). Get a cheap A1200 instead and you'll also be able to play AGA games;)

I thought about this as well, especially to get the AGA games. The problem with this idea is that I have several cards in my 2000 that won't fit into a 1200. For example, a GVP 030/40 card and (soon to be installed) a video toaster.

Besides, most of the 1200s I have seen on eBay are going for well more than the cost of the  MegaChip. Then I'd have to buy a hard disk to store the WHDLoad games, too! ;-)

I also noted the suggestion to mod the motherboard--I would not be afraid to do this but it sounds it wouldn't save a ton of money and it would be a lot of work.

Thanks for everyone's suggestions, looks like I will just watch eBay for a MegaChip.

[patrik]

@Matt_H:

For example the Sensible Soccer WHDLoad slave does for some unknown reason require a full 2MB of chipmem. This even if the original game only requires 512kB chip and 512kB other.

Given the requirements of the original game, that 4x chipmem requirement shouldnt be needed.


/Patrik

[ErrethAkbe]

patrik wrote:
@Matt_H:

For example the Sensible Soccer WHDLoad slave does for some unknown reason require a full 2MB of chipmem. This even if the original game only requires 512kB chip and 512kB other.

Given the requirements of the original game, that 4x chipmem requirement shouldnt be needed.


/Patrik

Precisely, this is one of the games at the top of my list.

[patrik]

@ErrethAkbe:

Try this older HD-installer for SWOS. It atleast works here on my 1MB chipmem + 4MB fastmem A500+. It supports up to the 96/97 version of SWOS - check the readme.


/Patrik

[Xanxi]

The MegaChip is very expensive. I bought one for my A2000 PAL, discovering that it was equipped with a NTSC only version of Agnus that turned my PAL Amiga into a NTSC machine.
I have tried to replace the original 318069-11 Agnus with a 390544-01 from an A500Plus but it works with a lot of graphic bugs. Only a 318069-10 is good and i can't find one.