Blizzard PPC - is it worth it?

[amigamad]

Expect to pay around a 170 pound from ebay that is what a blizzard ppc 160mhz ppc with a 25mhz 040 with blizzard vision graphics card went for.Even an 060 fetches more than a 130 pound on ebay .most of the time mine uses the 040 only some software uses the ppc .1024x768 workbench with 16 bit resolution is nice and faster than aga graphics and art programs are great on this i would sell mine if i thought an a1 could run my old ppc software but from what i have heard it wont.it is worth it if you can find one try amibench much cheaper i doubt one would be that cheap though .i got acyberstorm 060 +scusi controller and 82 meg of memory for 70 pound including postage for an a4000 .Same thing on ebay went fo 155 pound. :-)  :-D

[MarkTime]

I kind of/sort of agree with most of the statements here...but I will point out, that while AGA is too slow to be acceptable...that when you get the mediator installed with the graphics card, don't forget it will allow you a high res workbench, but you may discover the overall system is still slow.
It's still goes tick tick tick as it hits the hard drive and you watch the icons draw....and windows move around herky jerky, not like paper sliding under glass...which is what you expect of any modern pc.

It's true that a speed clocked 060, fastATA upgrade, faster hard drive, mediator/voodoo3 kind of/sort of gets you an amiga that thanks to some efficiencies in the os and assembler programming everywhere, is sort of acceptable usable on some taks.....its way expensive, and you may just sit there and go 'ITS STILL SLOW'

if you are willing to go with the 68k only route, then buy a cheapo PC and Amiga Forever, you will have the fastest amiga around.

It's not quite as satisfying as the Mediator 060 setup...but in many ways its better and less costly, and faster and more reliable.

I'm just going to get a pegasos, if I ever get off my duff and do it...(soon)

[DaveP]

I have to ask you Marktime, in your avatar, is the little boy feeding the bear with a dove or something?

[MarkTime]

THANK YOU FOR NOTICING....I kept waiting for someone to ask.

Yes, I call it

'Little Boy throws a Dove into the mouth of a bear'

And...originally it looked nice, but then when we lost all our avatars a while back, I did it again, uploaded it again, and somehow I got some monster compression (too much), got some kind of barely 1k thingy that looks bad.

I should change it, but it's too much effort for an avatar.  the full size picture looks quite nice, although when you see the whole picture, it almost gives you the impression the boy is just chasing after the dove with the bear just kind of just surveying the whole scene.

[amigamad]

I kind of/sort of agree with most of the statements here...but I will point out, that while AGA is too slow to be acceptable...that when you get the mediator installed with the graphics card, don't forget it will allow you a high res workbench, but you may discover the overall system is still slow.

my ppc + blizzard updates fast even icons updating .and i always used 1024x768 80hz. :-)  :-D

[Ponos2D]

400 EUROs! :-o Don't do it! It's tooooo much!

I bought mine BlizzardPPC+/040 240MHz(now 300Mhz)
for mere 140 Euros 18 months ago. That was good
bargain I think.

My advice is:
Save it for A1 or Pegazoz! :-D

[cgutjahr]

@Jaruzel:

I bought a BlizzardPPC in 1998 and a BVision in 1999. First recommendation: Forget about buying a PPC card only, always get both a BlizzardPPC and a graphics card.

A BVision (or a Mediator+Vodoo) is expensive, but there's a cheap alternative: Eyetech still seem to have their single slot Zorro adaptor in stock. These were originally intended to be used with their A1200 rack cases: the graphics card practically "lies" on top of the motherboard. Such a setup might even fit into your Sun desktop case. Any cheap second hand Zorro gfx card should work with this adaptor. Of course, such a card won't have 3D accelleration and it will be slower due to the limited Zorro2 bandwidth - but it's still a vast improvement over AGA.

If I was to put a PPC into my A1200D, what improvements would I expect to see?

The overall speed of your system would still be completely dictated by the power of the 68k CPU. Another recommendation: The SCSI host on Phase5 accellerators is the best (fastest) HD controller for the A1200 (the FastATA device from Elbox is pretty fast too, but it doesn't do DMA - i.e. your CPU will have to manage IDE transfers). Try to get a BlizzPPC with onboard SCSI host, it really makes a difference.

What software actually uses the PPC, or would most of it still run on the 68k cpu ?

There are very good datatypes, movie players, and mp3 players/encoders. Many gfx and audio editing tools support the PPC. Not to forget the games (Doom, Heretic, Heretic 2, Hexen, Quake, Quake2, Descent, Descent Freespace, Shogo, WipeOut etc.).

Is it worth it? Well, getting a graphics card is highly recommended: the high resolutions, true color display, the speed...

Getting a BlizzPPC? Buy one if you're interested in AmigaOS4 and convinced that a BPPC version will be released. Or if you regularly use 2-3 applications that need as much horse power as possible and support the PPC. Or if it is your only option to add a gfx card to your A1200.

[Brian]

I don't know what you pay for the BlizzVision but I've seen two BlizzVision cards here in Sweden go for 45Euros, and one is in my possesion. :-D

[Franko]

I don't know what you pay for the BlizzVision but I've seen two BlizzVision cards here in Sweden go for 45Euros, and one is in my possesion. :-D

Gawd... I've been hunting around for years trying to find a BVision card even back here in 2003 and I never found one, let alone at 45 Euros...

(still haven't found one here in 2010 either !!!) :confused: :crazy:

[tone007]

I've seen 2 or 3 sell on eBay in the last couple of months between $100 and $200. I was not drunk enough to bid on them myself.

[nicholas]

(expect to see the free release of morphos for BPPC this year still).

This is a definate thing or are you just hoping it will be released?  1.4.5 is very old now.

[Golem!dk]

This is a definate thing or are you just hoping it will be released?  1.4.5 is very old now.

So is this thread

[runequester]

Holy thread resurrection batman!

[Franko]

I've seen 2 or 3 sell on eBay in the last couple of months between $100 and $200. I was not drunk enough to bid on them myself.

@tone007

Gawd, I'll need to change my ebay settings to worldwide instead of just the UK. if you spot one for sale again could you please let me know as I'm the kind of numpty who will gladly pay silly money to get hold of one (drunk or sober)

(PS:from your new avatar, the advice would be, don't drink and walk or you could end up being hit by your own car and landing on the roof (ouch)...:biglaugh:)

[tone007]

Gawd, I'll need to change my ebay settings to worldwide instead of just the UK

That's the best advice you could give yourself.  One was in Germany, and one or two were in Australia.  Shipping cost on such an item would be negligible.

..and that roof was quite comfortable.