Phase 5 and the Blizzard PPCs

[CU_AMiGA]

Phase 5 included a 604 on their Cyberstorm PPC, but only included a 603 on their Blizzard PPC. Why was this? Couldn't they just include a 604 on their Blizzard PPC? Why couldn't Phase 5 just make both of these accelerators at the same spec instead of just leaving us Amiga 1200 owners constantly lagging behind our Amiga 4000 buddies?!

[bloodline]

Heat and Power Supply issues with the 604... even though the 603 killed my PSU and melted my A1200, the 604 would have been much worse.

[lempkee]

yup as bloodline refers to , but the problem for most would be...you HAD to have a tower and most of all we would be stuck with a 32mbx4 system.

so a1200 aint lagging

i have 256mb on my ppc...impossible on an a4k

so BLEH!

but then again... 604 is waaaay faster indeed ;(

cheers

[CU_AMiGA]

Wouldn't it have been possible for 2 versions. One for the desktop A1200 (603) and the other for tower A1200 (604). Is it possible to add a Cyberstorm card to your A1200 via an adaptor of some sort?

Regards,

[Mad-Matt]

The A1200 laggs behind the A4k by design.  I guess it comes down to how much people spend/spent on there miggies.  The A1200 was baught by those that couldnt afford the big box of happiness that is the a4k, so it was safe to assume the a1200 users wouldnt/couldnt pay for a full on 604 processor card with it being so expensive, yet those that spent thousands on their a4k would/should be able too.  so for a1200 we get the much cut down /cheaper 603 bassed system , and even then, still pricies higher then most can afford to spend on an aging a1200.

[CU_AMiGA]

Mad-Matt wrote:
The A1200 laggs behind the A4k by design.  I guess it comes down to how much people spend/spent on there miggies.  The A1200 was baught by those that couldnt afford the big box of happiness that is the a4k, so it was safe to assume the a1200 users wouldnt/couldnt pay for a full on 604 processor card with it being so expensive, yet those that spent thousands on their a4k would/should be able too.  so for a1200 we get the much cut down /cheaper 603 bassed system , and even then, still pricies higher then most can afford to spend on an aging a1200.

Shame! Oh well! I guess thats what you get for buying a "toy" A1200! ;-)

[CU_AMiGA]

Having said that though, before the PPC the Amiga 1200 matched the Amiga 4000, via the Blizzard 1260. So why did it happen when the PPC came out?

[Chunder]

Mad-Matt wrote:
The A1200 was baught by those that couldnt afford the big box of happiness that is the a4k

Dunno about anyone else, but I've never even had to opportunity to get hold of an A4000 - neither love nor money worked :-(.

[that_punk_guy]

You need love, money and a sacrificial goat, I believe.

[x56h34]

CU_AMIGA wrote:
Having said that though, before the PPC the Amiga 1200 matched the Amiga 4000, via the Blizzard 1260. So why did it happen when the PPC came out?

Well, the A1200 is short of Zorro III slots, compared to the A4000. On the other hand, there's no built-in RF modulator on the A4000. :-)

The thing is, when both machines came out, the superiority of A4000 over A1200 was obvious, however, as time went by, 3rd party manufacturers such as Phase 5 really made the A1200 shine by releasing cool expansions. That also goes for the tower makers such as Elbox, etc.

Nowadays when Zorro III is not as important as it used to be, I don't see much difference between A1200 and A4000, other than the PPC chip on CyberstormPPC and BlizzardPPC. Both machines can be towered. Both can be expanded with PCI busboards. Both can use the fastest 68060 accelerators. Both can be expanded with lots and lots of Fast RAM. They are about the same.  :-D

[Nickman]

CU_AMiGA wrote:
Is it possible to add a Cyberstorm card to your A1200 via an adaptor of some sort?

I belive this is what you are looking for.
Micronik Z-3i MkII

[Kronos]

@lempkee

Which off-course has nothing to do with 604/603, and all to do with the fact
that the blizz was developed after the PS/2-SIMM-spec was upped with
64 and 128MB modules,while the CS was done before.

Add to that,that a 604 will only work at full speed when it has the simms
in pairs (for 64bit-access).

[Eddie]

>Which off-course has nothing to do with 604/603, >and all to do with the fact
>that the blizz was developed after the PS/2-SIMM->spec was upped with
>64 and 128MB modules,while the CS was done >before.
>
>Add to that,that a 604 will only work at full speed >when it has the simms
>in pairs (for 64bit-access).

I've read something about the reason for the 128mb ram limit is due to the memory address space of the CPU expansion.  

I think the biggest benefit of the CyberstormPPC cards vs Blizzard is the SCSI3, I also seem to remember people at the time complaining about the cost of wide scsi cables  ;-)   After spending 800 ukp on a accelerator card....

[CU_AMiGA]

Nickman wrote:

CU_AMiGA wrote:
Is it possible to add a Cyberstorm card to your A1200 via an adaptor of some sort?

I belive this is what you are looking for.
Micronik Z-3i MkII

Thats brilliant! I may buy it! Would this mean, if i get this, i would be able to use a Cyberstorm PPC and Cybervision instead of the Blizzard PPC and Blizzardvision? How come no-one else has tried this?

[Kronos]

@Eddie
....and the RAM-limit for the A1200-trapdoor is ?


8 MB !!!  :-P

More RAM is possuble, it is just invisible for the mobo and Z3-slots, which is
only a prob with DMA-cards (like Fastlane/4091).