Newbie with an A1200

[stuntmachine]

Keep an eye on ebay for a few weeks, something will pop up.

I'd also suggest cheking the FS section or placing a wanted ad over at AmiBay.

Not sure about the "best value" part - absolute hassle-free WHDLoad'ing for lowest cost would be an old 8MB board. For '030 accelerators, the ACA cards are new and supported, but have no FPU and are known to have their niggles in some cases. The Blizzard boards were probably the best, and there's plenty of them out there if you're a little patient. A GVP with some RAM would be equally well suited for WHDLoad.

I wonder if this is a good choice:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Amiga-Blizzard-1230-III-8-meg-upgrade-board-crystal-Battery-tested-working-GC-/310428602086?pt=UK_VintageComputing_RL&hash=item4846fc8ee6#ht_2520wt_1165

[Damion]

I wonder if this is a good choice:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Amiga-Blizzard-1230-III-8-meg-upgrade-board-crystal-Battery-tested-working-GC-/310428602086?pt=UK_VintageComputing_RL&hash=item4846fc8ee6#ht_2520wt_1165

I don't usually comment on prices, but I think you can do a bit better for that amount, like a 1230 IV. See here for a list of cards and their features. We'd be happy to steer you in the right direction. :-)

I agree about the '060 boards, they hit the scene when Amiga was already in its twilight years. You definitely want an '030 (or slower) for the best gaming experience.

[stuntmachine]

I don't usually comment on prices, but I think you can do a bit better for that amount, like a 1230 IV. See here for a list of cards and their features. We'd be happy to steer you in the right direction. :-)

I agree about the '060 boards, they hit the scene when Amiga was already in its twilight years. You definitely want an '030 (or slower) for the best gaming experience.

How about this one? http://www.ebay.com/itm/Blizzard-1230-MK1V-phase-5-8-meg-upgrade-board-030-Battery-tested-working-GC-/310425496514?pt=UK_VintageComputing_RL&hash=item4846cd2bc2#ht_2843wt_1165

[som99]

I wonder if this is a good choice:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Amiga-Blizzard-1230-III-8-meg-upgrade-board-crystal-Battery-tested-working-GC-/310428602086?pt=UK_VintageComputing_RL&hash=item4846fc8ee6#ht_2520wt_1165

Feels a bit to expensive for it, it's just 20 pounds under the ACA-1231/42Mhz, I would rather go for the ACA then since you get a 42MHz 030 CPU and 64MB memory and MMU also the ACA is new and in stock.

[Damion]

Yeah, that second card rocks, and it looks a lot cleaner than the other one. I've bought from that seller in the past (I live in the US) with no problem.

If your fussy about wanting the box/manual/etc, hang around AmiBay a while and one will pop up.

EDIT: Just want to ad, unless you watch demos the FPU is pretty pointless, the ACA cards are new...

[stuntmachine]

Yeah, that second card rocks, and it looks a lot cleaner than the other one. I've bought from that seller in the past (I live in the US) with no problem.

If your fussy about wanting the box/manual/etc, hang around AmiBay a while and one will pop up.

EDIT: Just want to ad, unless you watch demos the FPU is pretty pointless, the ACA cards are new...

I'm at a bit of an impasse now... Do I wait for the Indivision ACA 1220 128MB Accelerator with the '020, or do I grab the    
Blizzard 1230 MKIV that's for sale on Ebay with the '030?

What would you (more experienced) guys do if you were in my shoes?

[desiv]

It all depends on what you want to spend.
That's a good card.  It will do all you need for WHDLoad and even let you play some of the low end FPS games OK...

But that's a lot of money.

The FPU isn't (in my opinion) a big deal. Unless you ray trace, you won't notice it.
I had an FPU in my 8M RAM card, and I don't remember finding an app that needed it. (They are out there, but not many)

If you're just looking at WHDLoad, I don't know I'd want to spend that much myself.

One thing that could be important, and I haven't heard an answer yet, about the ACA1220 is PCMCIA compatibility.
The Bliz is PCMCIA compatible.
I'm not sure about the 1220.  If not, that could be a hassle...
Not sure about that..

desiv

[Damion]

Purely for WHDLoad, the 1220 is more than adequate. The FPU is useless for old games, but quite a few demos will take advantage.

The 1230 would be a significant step up, but maybe overkill just for games.

[stuntmachine]

It all depends on what you want to spend.
That's a good card.  It will do all you need for WHDLoad and even let you play some of the low end FPS games OK...

Which card are you referring to? The one on Ebay or the one on Amigakit?

The FPU isn't (in my opinion) a big deal. Unless you ray trace, you won't notice it.
I had an FPU in my 8M RAM card, and I don't remember finding an app that needed it. (They are out there, but not many)

If you're just looking at WHDLoad, I don't know I'd want to spend that much myself.

One thing that could be important, and I haven't heard an answer yet, about the ACA1220 is PCMCIA compatibility.
The Bliz is PCMCIA compatible.
I'm not sure about the 1220.  If not, that could be a hassle...
Not sure about that..

desiv

What do you mean when you say the Blizzard is PCMCIA compatible?

[Damion]

Which card are you referring to? The one on Ebay or the one on Amigakit?


What do you mean when you say the Blizzard is PCMCIA compatible?

Some of the old RAM cards and accelerators would address their memory in such a way as to rule out use of the PCMCIA slot, if you had over 4MB installed. You won't have to worry about that with the Blizzard, or (from what I gather over at the EAB) the ACA 1220, either.

The Blizz 1230 IV was the "king" of '030 cards, with a 50MHz CPU and a fast chipset interface, you can get away with playing some of the earlier FPS games at reduced settings.

[som99]

Some of the old RAM cards and accelerators would address their memory in such a way as to rule out use of the PCMCIA slot, if you had over 4MB installed. You won't have to worry about that with the Blizzard, or (from what I gather over at the EAB) the ACA 1220, either.

The Blizz 1230 IV was the "king" of '030 cards, with a 50MHz CPU and a fast chipset interface, you can get away with playing some of the earlier FPS games at reduced settings.

I play most early 3D games without any trouble on my ACA1231, ALien Breed 3D 1-2, Fears, Breathless, all Gloom games are some of the ones I can run fullscreen Even aDoom runs decent enough after some tweaking

[lassie]

I play most early 3D games without any trouble on my ACA1231, ALien Breed 3D 1-2, Fears, Breathless, all Gloom games are some of the ones I can run fullscreen Even aDoom runs decent enough after some tweaking

Hi how do you tweak aDoom to work better? if i may ask

[stuntmachine]

I play most early 3D games without any trouble on my ACA1231, ALien Breed 3D 1-2, Fears, Breathless, all Gloom games are some of the ones I can run fullscreen Even aDoom runs decent enough after some tweaking

It seems like the ACA1231 might be my best option at this time then, huh? It's not overkill with 128MB like the ACA1220. It's available (the ACA1220 isn't as of this writing). Sure it's more expensive, but it's got an '030 rather than an '020. I don't want to spend money on something that will eventually limit me in some way. Opinions?

[runequester]

I've been extremely happy with my ACA, though it does work more smoothly with 3.1 ROM's.
 
It'll be a good card for the price, and you get new hardware rather than something used off ebay

[desiv]

@stuntmachine - I was looking at the one on e-bay.

I've been extremely happy with my ACA, though it does work more smoothly with 3.1 ROM's.
 

I've also been REALLY happy with my ACA (1230/28).  Great card.  I know some people have had "timing fix" issues with some of their 1200's, but mine didn't need any.
(It's not specific to the ACAs, and related to the inconsistencies of Commodore's quality control, but some 1200's need a "timing fix" (removing a few resistors), and a lot don't.  Just something to be aware of...)

As for 3.1, one of the nice features of the ACAs is that it lets you "softkick" a ROM.  So you can off of a 3.1 ROM.  You do need a copy of the ROM and a line in your startup-sequence.  Also, you need to set a jumper on the ACA to tell it you are running 3.0 originally.

Of course, a actual 3.1 rom in your machine is a bit nicer, but the option for the softkick is nice to have...

desiv

[som99]

@stuntmachine - I was looking at the one on e-bay.


I've also been REALLY happy with my ACA (1230/28).  Great card.  I know some people have had "timing fix" issues with some of their 1200's, but mine didn't need any.
(It's not specific to the ACAs, and related to the inconsistencies of Commodore's quality control, but some 1200's need a "timing fix" (removing a few resistors), and a lot don't.  Just something to be aware of...)

As for 3.1, one of the nice features of the ACAs is that it lets you "softkick" a ROM.  So you can off of a 3.1 ROM.  You do need a copy of the ROM and a line in your startup-sequence.  Also, you need to set a jumper on the ACA to tell it you are running 3.0 originally.

Of course, a actual 3.1 rom in your machine is a bit nicer, but the option for the softkick is nice to have...

desiv

I am also happy with my ACA 1231, I had to do the dreaded timing fix, but it was no biggie