Which is the best '030 accelerator for A1200

[kirk_m]

In you opinion, which Blizzard 1230 model is was the best one they made?  I know I can get an 040 or an 060 as well, but, I haven't gotten my 1200 recapped yet, and, I have been lead to believe that if you wish to add that kind of power to an old 1200, you'll need to recap the amiga first.

Thanks!

[smerf]

Been using an Amiga 1200 for the past 15 years with a blizzard PPC 603e 250 mhz, and a 68040 35 mhz, never had it recapped, and it works very well. One thing though is if you are going to use this card in a keyboard case do like I done, I raised the Amiga off the desk by using some 3/4 inch nuts hot glued to the bottom to raise it up and get the darned heat sink off the desk. this gives about 1/8 to 1/4 inch clearance and cuts down on heat problems. Maybe one of these days when I get off my lazy butt, I will take a picture of it. Still like the 040 better then an 030.

[kreciu]

I will answer this question best I can:

CHEAP and working.



Why? No matter what you put into your A1200 (as far as 030), it is going to be painfully slow e.g. loading 640x480 picture in 256 colors take soooooooooome time. OK. To be more serious... there are differences between 030, but I would not care about it.

[kirk_m]

I will answer this question best I can:

CHEAP and working.



Why? No matter what you put into your A1200 (as far as 030), it is going to be painfully slow e.g. loading 640x480 picture in 256 colors take soooooooooome time. OK. To be more serious... there are differences between 030, but I would not care about it.

Would you say that iComp's 1233 accelerator with a 55 MHz cpu would be not so good of a choice, and finding an 040 is better?

[Fizza]

Been using an Amiga 1200 for the past 15 years with a blizzard PPC 603e 250 mhz, and a 68040 35 mhz, never had it recapped, and it works very well. One thing though is if you are going to use this card in a keyboard case do like I done, I raised the Amiga off the desk by using some 3/4 inch nuts hot glued to the bottom to raise it up and get the darned heat sink off the desk. this gives about 1/8 to 1/4 inch clearance and cuts down on heat problems. Maybe one of these days when I get off my lazy butt, I will take a picture of it. Still like the 040 better then an 030.

Before I tower-ized mine way way back, I had four upturned deodorant can lids blu-tacked to where the rubber feet were on the case, they were just the right height and did the trick, but I didn't like the fact the card was hanging horizontally off the connector as I couldn't keep the trap door on either, probably didn't do any harm though I imagine.

As to the original post, I always thought that the Phase 5 accelerators were the most compatible, I had a microbotix (sp?) before and I had lots of trouble with it till I took it back and switched to the 1230 50mhz 030. That was a great board and Frontier ran great on it, it did the trick until I got the aforementioned Blizzard PPC card.

[Rob]

Would you say that iComp's 1233 accelerator with a 55 MHz cpu would be not so good of a choice, and finding an 040 is better?

Jen's 030 boards were so much cheaper in the past.  He must be paying through the nose for them or something.  Maybe it's time he started looking at FPGA soft cores too.

[kirk_m]

Jen's 030 boards were so much cheaper in the past.  He must be paying through the nose for them or something.  Maybe it's time he started looking at FPGA soft cores too.

Are they not so good, though?  I'm not so worried about the price, as I'd rather pay for something BRAND NEW than a 20 year old card, if the NEW product is just as good/better.

[Oldsmobile_Mike]

The caps have nothing to do with what accelerator you can run, it's the timing fixes you're thinking of. That being said, you should always get the caps replaced with some high quality ones. It's cheap, instructions and parts kits are readily available, as are folks who can do it for you if you lack the tools, skill, or time. There've been dozens of threads on this recently, already.

That being said, if I was building an A1200 system personally and wanted an '030 specifically (whether that's for greatest compatibility, cheapness/lower cost, or whatever) l I'd look for either one of the Blizzard cards or an ACA. Coupled with a good CF card, an Indivision, and 3.1 or 3.9, you'll have yourself a pretty decent and capable Amiga system, without all the expense and hassle of trying to towerize it, add a busboard, etc.  

Of course some people like that challenge.

Good luck, have fun!

[Fizza]

without all the expense and hassle of trying to towerize it, add a busboard, etc.  

Of course some people like that challenge.

At the time I did, but in hindsight I sometimes wish I had just stuck with the 030 tbh. The BVision was cool at the time though! (once I got it all working)

[utri007]

68040 is Absolut minium for me. It makes everything confortable fast.

25mhz 68040 is more than 2x faster than 68030 50mhz. Using FBlit with 68040 makes huge difference for picture loading / prosessing, prety much every game works fast enough. Tinkering with workbench doesn't slow it down etc.

Timing fixes are needed with some motherboard revisions and some accelerators. Usually Apollo accelerators requires timing fixes. My 040 accelerator works with 1d4 rev mobo, but required timing fixes for rev 2b mobo.

[pyrre]

In you opinion, which Blizzard 1230 model is was the best one they made?  I know I can get an 040 or an 060 as well, but, I haven't gotten my 1200 recapped yet, and, I have been lead to believe that if you wish to add that kind of power to an old 1200, you'll need to recap the amiga first.

Thanks!

If you are still stuck on 030 otion.
The Blizzard 1230 MkIV is the best option.
IMHO
If you can find one, and do expect to pay out for this one if it pops up on ebay.

If you get it with the SCSi option. It can be fitted with 256MB ram.
And it is fitted with a full blown 030, many of the other 1230 accelerators of the area use EC or LC 030's. In my world that is the same as using bad curse words in a church.

I have no experience at all with the ACA turbo boards, but they get nothing but good reviews.

[Acill]

I would have to agree on waiting to find a working 040. You can update it to an 060 down the road easy enough if you find a good one. An 030 isnt much of a boost over the 030 on an A1200 from what I have seen.

[kreciu]

Would you say that iComp's 1233 accelerator with a 55 MHz cpu would be not so good of a choice, and finding an 040 is better?

What can I say... my old Apollo 040/33Mhz was MUCH, MUCH faster. Now I have 030/50Mhz and it is like... SLOW (030 is great to WHDLoad and to play a little with Workbench - everything works just slow)

You can look at numbers (MIPS etc.) and compare 030 vs. 040, but there is also one thing I (I know, just me )noticed the most AGA is speeding up with faster processor which is really nice and you can install various "patches" that makes 040 very nice CPU.

With 040 you can try to emulate Mac and I was running MacOS 8.0 on my O40 with AGA and I was VERY happy (It works better then AmigaOS...).

EDIT: BUT you can get nice ("new"!) 030 from Jens . They are very nice! It is on my wish list for one of my A1200...

[paul1981]

Would you say that iComp's 1233 accelerator with a 55 MHz cpu would be not so good of a choice, and finding an 040 is better?

Yes, unless you don't mind spending so much money on an 030. The 1233 at 55 MHz achieves over 12.25 MIPS with Sysinfo (Blizzard 1230's achieve 9.55 I think). SysSpeed would likely show more true results 18+ MIPS. So the ACA 1233 @ 55 MHz is like a slow 040 card. An ACA 1233 @ 33MHz gives a nice speed boost too over a standard A1200 with Fast RAM.

If you tell us which games you'd like to play, or what programs you'd like to run comfortably, we can advise you on which card to get.

[Thorham]

No matter what you put into your A1200 (as far as 030), it is going to be painfully slow e.g. loading 640x480 picture in 256 colors take soooooooooome time.

:laughing: