Compatible RAM for Amitek Hawk Accelerator

[AmigaBruno]

I've just bought one of these Amitek RAM board accelerators for the A1200 from eBay https://amiga.resource.cx/exp/hawk 

It comes in its box and is still unopened in its original silver plastic wrapping! I'm actually worried in case it contains something different altogether or if it doesn't work in spite of never having been opened. The box says it comes with 2Mb of RAM, plus an FPU with the accompanying crystal.

Assuming it works and matches the description on the box, exactly what kind of RAM do I need to upgrade it to the full 8Mb? The manual says that it accepts 72 pin SIMM cards that are 80ns speed or faster, meaning less than 80ns.

Looking round on eBay for 8Mb 72 pin SIMM cards, a lot of them are described as EDO, some are called non parity, and some are non ECC. I'm not sure which of these are compatible with this board. Do I need to look elsewhere? Would a 72 pin SIMM card of more than 8Mb work at all? Would it be able to use 8Mb of however much RAM is on it?

[Boing-ball]

Doesn’t matter. Have had these cards. They accept EDO or FPM. You just set the jumpers to what you want. Remember if using more than 4MB then your PCMCIA slot will no longer work.

[AmigaBruno]

Doesn’t matter. Have had these cards. They accept EDO or FPM. You just set the jumpers to what you want. Remember if using more than 4MB then your PCMCIA slot will no longer work.

You've had "these cards"? Do you mean this model of Amitek Hawk accelerator board, or are you assuming that all other Amiga A1200 accelerators from around 1993 use compatible RAM?

Your message says that EDO is OK. As for FPM, I didn't ask about that.

I've just found out from https://www.computerlanguage.com/results.php?definition=FPM+RAM#:~:text=Also%20known%20as%20%22fast%20page,technologies%20followed%20page%20mode%20memory. that FPM  isn't EDO, SDRAM, DDR, or RDRAM. What about non parity and non ECC? Are they compatible? Of course, they're not mentioned in the PDF of the manual.

From the part of your message, so long as you're talking specifically about this Amitek Hawk accelerator board, then if I buy a 72 pin 8Mb EDO SIMM, that will be compatible. This means that I'll have to buy an EDO SIMM unless you can supply more details.
   

[zipper]

Just a couple Amiga accelerators do support EDO RAM faster mode, so a plain FPM is the way to go. Parity and ECC are meaningless.

[Rob]

EDO will typically be treated as normal FPM when installed in hardware that doesn't take advantage of the additional performance on offer.

[Boing-ball]

You've had "these cards"? Do you mean this model of Amitek Hawk accelerator board, or are you assuming that all other Amiga A1200 accelerators from around 1993 use compatible RAM?

Your message says that EDO is OK. As for FPM, I didn't ask about that.

I've just found out from https://www.computerlanguage.com/results.php?definition=FPM+RAM#:~:text=Also%20known%20as%20%22fast%20page,technologies%20followed%20page%20mode%20memory. that FPM  isn't EDO, SDRAM, DDR, or RDRAM. What about non parity and non ECC? Are they compatible? Of course, they're not mentioned in the PDF of the manual.

From the part of your message, so long as you're talking specifically about this Amitek Hawk accelerator board, then if I buy a 72 pin 8Mb EDO SIMM, that will be compatible. This means that I'll have to buy an EDO SIMM unless you can supply more details.
 

I have had a few Amitek Hawk boards. Have placed 4MB and 8MB 72 pin EDO SIMMs and they worked for me.

[AmigaBruno]

I have had a few Amitek Hawk boards. Have placed 4MB and 8MB 72 pin EDO SIMMs and they worked for me.

OK, so now I know that I'll buy an 8Mb 72 pin EDO SIMM with a speed expressed as a number of ns as far under 80ns as possible.


 

[zipper]

Plain FPM gives the same performance and lower than 80 gives no advantage.

[AmigaBruno]

BAD NEWS! This item I bought from eBay didn't actually contain the Amitek Hawk board itself. The box contained the manual, an old 2nd Class Business Reply card, a product registration card, and a plastic box which contained a 4Mb 72 pin SIMM RAM board. This was the board referered to in the eBay listing, saying "looks like" it contains the board still in its wrapper. The pic showed the wrapper as opaque silver. I contacted the seller, who explained that she was selling off her deceased husband's stuff, but doesn't know much about computers at all, it was a genuine mistake, and she quickly gave me a refund.

Following this, I actually bought an Amitek A1200 Hawk RAM accelerator board of the same model, which was pictured working, but a different configuration. I'll have to start a new topic about it, because I want to upgrade it.