Best graphics solution for an A2000.

[mchaggis]

Hi all,

I'm refurbishing an A2000; it's a Rev6.2, 1Mb + 4Mb on 2 2091 SCSI cards.

I've purchased and configured, although not without a fair share of drama a nice new Buddha card. Supplied by Amigakit. Admittedly the drama's were all...me ;-)

So now armed with IDE, thus a huge 160GB HDD and CD-ROM. The intent is to next secure a good graphics solution. Output of 'modern' resolutions is essential, as is using an LCD monitor.

So quite simply...what is the best graphics card to go purchase for it?

Oh and I 'won' a Progressive Periferals 68040 card with 32MB on flea-bay, hasnt arrived yet, but hope to see it soon.

[countzero]

Picasso II.

[mchaggis]

So what makes them superior to a "Cybervision 64/3D", which is still listed at the softhut?

[countzero]

it has a passthrough port. when/if you get a scandoubler for your A2000, you can route the native graphics from there to have a single monitor solution. The CV3d lacks this.

But please avoid Picasso IVs. They are expensive and breaking that scandoubler from the board for a measly A2000 is sacrilege. Believe me you will get fussed and bored with your A2000 soon, and go for a A4000 in the future, and you will regret breaking the scandoubler.

[mchaggis]

OK point taken, so what about the ToastScan, again at the softhut?

Yes, I may get board of the A2000, but that will be essentially left 'classic', and i'll move onto something else.

[countzero]

what about it ? it's an external scandoubler. Good for an A2000. Internal ones will give you better results as they don't do the AD conversion at the RGB port. But really external ones are also good as they are.

But, I suggest you don't rely on softhut website for your upgrade plans. They don't update for ages and most of the stuff listed there are out of stock. Just FYI.

[mchaggis]

But, I suggest you don't rely on softhut website for your upgrade plans. They don't update for ages and most of the stuff listed there are out of stock. Just FYI.

Yeah and I just discovered the "Contact Us" email bounces....

Internal scan doublers are rare; OK so the Picasso II is the good's, plus a scan doubler. thanks. Would a 2320 do, or is there better from other hardware manufaturers?

[zipper]

 and go for a A4000 in the future, and you will regret breaking the scandoubler.

So? You have to do 2x 2" IDC extension stubs, didn't find it too hard to do. Of course it were neater unbroken.

[Crumb]

@mchaggis

You could get a CV3D or a PicassoIV (with the scandoubler module "broken" to please CountZero ;-)  )

If you got a CV3D scandoubler you'll need to build a small adapter or simply add a 28Mhz signal to it.

I would avoid PicassoII as the poor cirrus is slow when you want to use 16bits and 800x600.

[Sandman]

My Picasso IV had been 'snapped' when I aquired it and as I wish that this hadn't been the case, I made some custom short ribbon cables to attach it back together in my A4000.  

You have to really look close to see that it was separated and the attaching cables look really cool.

Just my .02

Tim

[murple]

mchaggis wrote:

So quite simply...what is the best graphics card to go purchase for it?

An Amiga 1200 or 4000.

[save2600]

AGA & the Zorro III bus rocks, but that was harsh! lol

I gotta give some love up to the Picasso II here for a moment. In fact, I am quite enamoured with this card. Having sold my last A1200/030/Indivision, I used the proceeds to soup up my A2000. And I'm glad I did. The two systems should not be compared. The Picasso allows Workbench to look simply gorgeous. And I'm quite happy with the speed (much faster than AGA). Of course, I'm running an 060 in my system, but still. For the average price of a Picasso II ($100-$150), this is a no-brainer purchase for the A2000 owner looking to upgrade from the OCS/ECS chipsets. And as advertised, Chip Ram is no longer a problem with the Picasso II!

[cv643d]

Even with 060, Zorro 2 is slooooooooooooow..

(Ok, its not so bad if you run WB in 8 colors with no background image).

[countzero]

Crumb wrote:
@mchaggis

I would avoid PicassoII as the poor cirrus is slow when you want to use 16bits and 800x600.

Zorro 2 is the bottleneck here, not the Cirrus2. It does quite well in 16 bits 800x600. Picasso II is just the right choice for a Z2 system. PIV is overkill.

[rattlehead]

Well I have to admit I went with the Picasso IV solution when my system was new and I never regretted it.  Sure I did feel a little quizy when it came to snapping the scandoubler unit from the card..... LOL.  But I love the look and feel I get from my system.  I know it doesn't have AGA support, but remember this is an A2000 not a A1200 or A4000.  I like my P-IV card and it makes my Classic Amiga look modern.

Rattlehead.

A2000 Rev. 6.2.
GVP 030 / GVP 4008 SCSI Max'd Ram / Bhudda IDE / IO-Blix / Picasso IV.  Maybe an 060 Board Someday.