Amiga A600 SRAM upgrade: Any point?

[Spi]

Hi all. Aside from WHDLoad and a 33% speed increase (?) is there any point in adding SRAM to my A600? Are there any other cool applications I can run? Does it make a difference to anything else?
 
 I don't plan on buying any other upgrades as they don't take my fancy. I'd like to keep my hardware as classic as possible. I have the A604 and was considering SRAM.

[ChaosLord]

If u can do hardware mods then putting a big glob of SRAM on a 50Mhz 68030 or 25-40Mhz 040 or 50Mhz to 110Mhz 060 would be rocking awesome!

The SRAM would provide a giant speedboost to those chips!
A 90Mhz 060 with 16MB SRAM would be like having 16MB of L1 cache! Zoooom!
A 90Mhz 060 could access the SRAM on every single cycle!

[freqmax]

Very nice until the disc controller DMA dumps some data into memory and the CPU cache thinks there should be something else at the same location. The DMA writes, the CPU writes and then some software uses that data, then saves.. OOPS!

How is this solved?

[Spi]

I don't plan on upgrading the processor (although it sounds fun). I understand you can add 4MB of SRAM via the PCMCIA slot and figured I may do so if it has more applications than WHDLoad.

[ChaosLord]

I don't plan on upgrading the processor (although it sounds fun). I understand you can add 4MB of SRAM via the PCMCIA slot and figured I may do so if it has more applications than WHDLoad.

If u r talking about adding memory via the PCMCIA slow then you can forget everything I said in my first post.

PCMCIA slow is slow and only 16-bit wide.  But it is 100% suitable for a plain Jane A600 and would definitely help it.  Is someplace selling PCMCIA memory modules cheap?

If its cheap go ahead and get it.

Its memory.  It has infinite applications.

[psxphill]

I don't plan on upgrading the processor (although it sounds fun). I understand you can add 4MB of SRAM via the PCMCIA slot and figured I may do so if it has more applications than WHDLoad.

Your best bet is to see if there is any software that you want to use and you run out of ram. Most productivity software will use it, but are you going to use your machine for word processing etc?

[amiman99]

The SRAM cards are quite expensive, so you should get one of the $39 4MB RAM upgrades from http://kipper2k.com/amigaforsale/ or accelerator for $106 from AmigaKit http://amigakit.leamancomputing.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=1102

The more RAM the better in your system, and you could use the PCMCIA port for a CF card adapter, so you can transfer easily programs from PC to Amiga.

[ChaosLord]

Amiman99 have the best ideas

[Spi]

The 4MB kipper upgrade looks tempting. I wonder if my HDD would be in the way though.
 

 I was considering using a null modem cable to connect my Amiga to my PC via Amiga Forever.

[Spi]

At the moment the only thing on my HDD is Scorched Tanks. I need to add Gravity Force 2 to that.

[amiman99]

I was considering using a null modem cable to connect my Amiga to my PC via Amiga Forever.

Don't do that with A600, get a Sandisk PCMCIA-CF adapter and CF card, like 512MB and use that to transfer files. You do need drivers, but we can help you with that.

[Spi]

Null modem cables are bad? Or just not as effective as CF cards?

[amiman99]

Null modem cables are bad? Or just not as effective as CF cards?

Very slow, slower then floppy drive, why torturing yourself?

[ChaosLord]

If u do end up getting the $106.00 Accellerator+16MB RAM combo from AmigaKit then you will have the 68020 CPU and memory to play the game I coded for A600.  It requires 68020 CPU + 4MB RAM + 30MB HD space + OS3.0+ and multitasks.

Game is on Aminet here: http://aminet.net/package/game/2play/ChaosHeavy

[paul1981]

The 4MB kipper upgrade looks tempting. I wonder if my HDD would be in the way though.

Yes, with the Kipper2k 4MB memory expansion for the A600 the HDD cradle and upper RF shield both need to be removed. Most people like to use CF cards so that's no problem anyway. Me on the other hand, I secured my hard disk with just two screws directly onto the two RF shield tabs (there's two tabs towards the back left of the A600...part of the lower shield).

Then I'd recommend getting a PCMCIA wireless card or a CF adapter to solve your file transfer issue.