Accelerator Recommendations.

[sjprohaska]

I'm looking to get an accelerator my new A1200.  I know most people would say I should go for a Blizzard card, but it's out of my price range.  I have narrowed it down to an E-Matrix 1230/40Mhz  (a bit pricey) from Amigakit and an Apollo 1230/40Mhz (more affordable) from Softhut.  Is either one better than the other?  The Apollo board has a SCSI option, however I have a scan doubler installed and its port is sticking out of the back where I guess a SCSI connector would go.

Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks.

[gizz72]

I'm looking to get an accelerator my new A1200.  I know most people would say I should go for a Blizzard card, but it's out of my price range.  I have narrowed it down to an E-Matrix 1230/40Mhz  (a bit pricey) from Amigakit and an Apollo 1230/40Mhz (more affordable) from Softhut.  Is either one better than the other?  The Apollo board has a SCSI option, however I have a scan doubler installed and its port is sticking out of the back where I guess a SCSI connector would go.

Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks.

Hi sjprohaska,

It all depends on your needs. If you need more math-coprocessor power and FAST Ram for graphic intensive apps, programming, surfing the net, playing demoscene, rendering, PCEmulation and almost high-end 3d-games? Go for the one with more RAM and coprocessor power. Or if you just want retro-game playing? A simple '030 processor and 8mb~16MB memory does the job. Run for the buck, of course, the cheaper one. You can sell it later to get something better in the future. As for the ScanDoubler, if you like to drill a hole at the back of your amiga, that would be up to you. I don't see any other way to hang a loose socket at the back.
Cheers!

Regards,
GiZz72

[Karlos]

If you can find one for sale (second hand for example), the Blizzard 1230 is one of the finest 030 cards for the A1200, though the SCSI kit is separate. It does, however, support DMA transfers IIRC. I don't think the Apollo does.

If you want to do more than retrogaming and relatively simple tasks, you might find an 030 insufficient. If you can find one (and it won't be easy), an 040 or better still 060 is in a completely different league. A lot of demos and even a few games were written that can take advantage of these.

[NovaCoder]

If you just want to build a retro AGA WHDLOAD machine running OS3.1 then you only really need a 4MB memory card.  A 1200 with the standard 2mb is next to useless unless you like playing with floppy disks.

If you want to run 3.5/3.9 you'll also need an accelerator because that's the only way of adding more than 4mb of FASTRAM and keeping your PCMCIA slot (even an 020 can run 3.9 if you have at least 8mb of FASTRAM).

If you want to run the later (post 93') AGA demos they you'll need at least an 030.

If you want to run some of the later AGA software (esp PC ports) you'll need more grunt than the standard 020 but then again, even an 030 will start to struggle (hello Mr 060...$$$).

Don't bother with an 040 and don't bother with a PPC.

[Karlos]

Don't bother with an 040 and don't bother with a PPC.

Damn, if only I knew that before I bought my BlizzardPPC/040

[NovaCoder]

Damn, if only I knew that before I bought my BlizzardPPC/040

Hey don't feel too bad, you can always upgrade it to an 060 which is more than I can do with my Blizzard 030