Upgrade options

[Banstyx5]

So I have a stock A1200 with 3.1 ROMs and CF flash hard drive. I am wanting to upgrade but I am very torn. Should I get an existing ACA accelerator and an Indivision AGA MK2cr scandoubler now or continue to wait for the Vampire 1200 and hope it makes an appearance someday.... Keeping in mind I am on a budget! I also toyed with the idea of grabbing a Mediator PCI 1200 but am leaning against that due to issues finding a case to drop it in.


Just looking for peoples opinions.

[Rob]

What are your current and planned uses for the A1200?

[HammerD]

So I have a stock A1200 with 3.1 ROMs and CF flash hard drive. I am wanting to upgrade but I am very torn. Should I get an existing ACA accelerator and an Indivision AGA MK2cr scandoubler now or continue to wait for the Vampire 1200 and hope it makes an appearance someday.... Keeping in mind I am on a budget! I also toyed with the idea of grabbing a Mediator PCI 1200 but am leaning against that due to issues finding a case to drop it in.


Just looking for peoples opinions.

It sort of depends on what you want out of it.  If you are thinking of a Mediator which means you want to likely add a graphics card sound card, network card...well Vampire will solve some of that.

I would say bang for buck Vampire will win hands down.  You get RTG graphics, super fast 68K, probably pretty fast IDE, SD card access, lots of current development and improvements ongoing...for only 300 EUR or 350 EUR.

I've got a Vampire 500 on order for my A2000.

[Motormouth]

.... Keeping in mind I am on a budget!

Unfortunately you picked the wrong hobby.

I have and indivision AGA V2 for the A4000.  It works well but is a bit hard to configure correctly. (I find this is true with may of Jens' hardware, really amazing hardware but beta like software, but usable if you take the time. one exception the ACA have nice software as well.
The ACA is a really nice and fast card probably clock for clock the fastest 68030 out there (if the 030 is what you are after. you maybe after the 020 version)

The mediator allows for good flexibility , I have one again on my A4000, I would suggest the 3.3V version if you go this route for cheapest 9200 card and the most other pci card options.

As far as the vampire 1200, I would expect it to be awesome and well worth the money, but when?

You will have to ask yourself if it is better to have a bird in the hand or two in the bush.

Oh and nothing on your list was "cheap".

[fishy_fiz]

Has Vampire1200's price been mentioned yet?
The only reference I (vaguely) recall was that it'll use a different, more expensive FPGA.
I have no way of knowing of course, but it could potentially be quite expensive.
Given that, and the fact a release date could be quite a while away I'd personally buy a cheap accelerator + fast mem + HDD/cf/sdcard for now with a mind to sell them and upgrade again when v1200 is released if it fits within your budget.
Amiga gear typically holds is value OK so you should get back at least half (probably more) of what you pay for.
Gives you a much more usable machine while playing the waiting game too.

[paul1981]

So I have a stock A1200 with 3.1 ROMs and CF flash hard drive. I am wanting to upgrade but I am very torn. Should I get an existing ACA accelerator and an Indivision AGA MK2cr scandoubler now or continue to wait for the Vampire 1200 and hope it makes an appearance someday.... Keeping in mind I am on a budget! I also toyed with the idea of grabbing a Mediator PCI 1200 but am leaning against that due to issues finding a case to drop it in.


Just looking for peoples opinions.

It all depends what your aims are. The good thing about buying a new ACA card is that they're not expensive and they have plenty of ram, and they have good resale value for when the time comes that you'd like to upgrade. Infact any Amiga hardware holds its value well, so it's never money 'down the drain'. Just because the Vamp1200 will exist doesn't mean that all other expansions wil suddenly be worthless. I for one am not really interested in it. I might be one day, but that could be 10 years away. I have nothing against the Vampire at all, I'm just into older hardware and I enjoy getting the most performance out of old hardware. To take the Amiga to new software horizons it'll be great...I wish the Vampire huge success.

[Banstyx5]

Yes the Vampire 1200 is the direction I would prefer to go, but not knowing if/when it will be released or how much it will cost is a bit of a drag, it all seams to be speculation at this point. Guess I will go after an ACA card with the scandoubler.

[Rob]

So I have a stock A1200 with 3.1 ROMs and CF flash hard drive. I am wanting to upgrade but I am very torn. Should I get an existing ACA accelerator and an Indivision AGA MK2cr scandoubler now or continue to wait for the Vampire 1200 and hope it makes an appearance someday.... Keeping in mind I am on a budget! I also toyed with the idea of grabbing a Mediator PCI 1200 but am leaning against that due to issues finding a case to drop it in.


Just looking for peoples opinions.

Yes the Vampire 1200 is the direction I would prefer to go, but not knowing if/when it will be released or how much it will cost is a bit of a drag, it all seams to be speculation at this point. Guess I will go after an ACA card with the scandoubler.

In that case I'd recommend the ACA 1221ec since I feel the 030 cards have become too expensive to represent good value and you may be replacing it with the Vampire in the next year or whatever.

[Iggy]

Well, the Vampire 1200 does not exist yet, and probably won't be available for at least "two weeks".
And the current Vampire2 video implementation is pretty limited (basically a very fast, dumb frame buffer).
However, while there are several conventional accelerators available, none comes close to the potential performance of an FPGA based accelerator.

Also, when you get to a certain cost level, replacing the entire system with an FPGA based solution seems more practical.
I can get a Mist board cheaper than a Vampire2.
And the end goals of the Vampire project seem to be in line with replacing the entire system with a stand alone board anyway.

So...IF I was in your position, I'd be sorely tempted to just use real hardware upgrades (like a conventional processor and possibly a PCI expansion like the Mediator), with the realization that eventually your system is likely to be surpassed by something that effectively eliminates the legacy hardware.