Blizzard 060

Parsec · 07 July 2003, 00:02

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.d...ory=11991&rd=1

Phew! What a price!

Nice piece of kit though

, someone's going to enjoy themselves with that.

Echo · 07 July 2003, 00:47

I've always wanted one of these for my A1200 (currently 030@50mhz, also a Blizzard), probably wouldn't make proper use of it but it just has cool appeal

What price can one usually pick up the 060 Blizzard cards for A1200 trapdoor? Eyetech told me they ran out of stock ages ago, so I'm assuming you can only get them via auctions now.

rattus · 07 July 2003, 03:53

£170... ouch! those 1260s have allways been waaay out of my price range... besides I'm happy with mah little 1230

killergorilla · 07 July 2003, 12:10

Bloody hell £170!!!!

That is a lot of money for an A1200 accel board. I paid £200 for my A1200 Tower with an Apollo 060 (Which isn't as nice but still, I got a PicassoII as well

)

What are the main differences between the Apollo boards and the Blizzard boards, I always hear favour for the Blizzard boards, just wanted to know a few reasons for it?

That reminds me, I have another A1200 sitting about with a Blizz 1230IV 030. It has no FPU and only 4MB of RAM, but I don't use it...

ant512 · 07 July 2003, 14:11

The main differences are:

- Apollo boards reportedly have more severe problems with 1d.4 and 2B revisions of the 1200 motherboard. I haven't tested the Blizzard in either of those yet, but the Apollo is almost unusable in a 1d.4 and entirely useless in a 2B;

- Apollo boards have a cheapo software SCSI-II expansion, whilst the Blizzards have a proper hardware SCSI-II implementation;

- Apollo boards cannot be disabled - to switch back to a standard 1200 setup for compatibility, the card must be removed;

- Apollo 66MHz boards use overclocked 50MHz CPUs. The overclocking isn't particularly well done. Blizzard 60MHz boards, meanwhile, use full 60MHz CPUs.

- Apollo boards can have a maximum of 64MB installed over two SIMMs (32MB per SIMM, and only if the second SIMM socket is installed). Blizzard boards can have a single 64MB SIMM on-board, and a second 128MB SIMM on the separate SCSI expansion, giving a total of 192MB.

- Blizzard boards shipped with a few handy utilities, such as "CyberPatcher", which sped up unimplemented FPU instructions. The Apollo didn't ship with any software except its driver libraries and a CPU command replacement. However, both boards work faster with the commercial "OxyPatcher" utility.

- The Blizzard library system is much tidier than the Apollo system.

- Blizzard boards use the BlizKick ROM rekicking utility. Apollo boards use the RemApollo utility. BlizKick used to be a much better utility, but there's little between them now.

Parsec · 07 July 2003, 14:56

Quote:

Originally posted by rattus
... besides I'm happy with mah little 1230

Yeah but have you seen that 060 chip?!!

It's a beast. Looks bigger than a Pentium...

Mick_AKA · 12 July 2003, 18:34

Will be a whyle before I can spend that kind of cash on an accelerator, im reletively happy with my standard A1200 at the moment anyway.

13 July 2003, 13:23

Vesalia is still selling Blizzard 1260

Echo · 13 July 2003, 15:57

Quote:

Originally posted by front243
Vesalia is still selling Blizzard 1260

I hope they're brand new at that price!

ant512 · 13 July 2003, 21:02

They are brand-new, but won't fit into a standard desktop case.

rattus · 13 July 2003, 21:50

yeah, those are tower only

Echo · 13 July 2003, 22:19

Bugger, I did wonder why there was only a 1200T version listed there. Why are the trapdoor A1200 ones not available? I don't remember them having a heat dissipation issue, least not like the 68040s anyway.

Unknown_K · 13 July 2003, 22:35

What do people need the 68060 for on an amiga anyway (same with ppc addons)? Is there much software available that uses those processors?

Echo · 13 July 2003, 23:18

Quote:

Originally posted by Unknown_K
What do people need the 68060 for on an amiga anyway (same with ppc addons)? Is there much software available that uses those processors?

It's a status symbol

(oh and I wouldn't mind checking out some first person shooters on it!)

ant512 · 14 July 2003, 00:42

The 040 boards were only made for towers. There were two versions of the 060 board - desktop and tower. The desktop ones were probably more popular and sold out quicker.

As for why anyone would want an 060, it depends on what you want to use the Amiga for. If you just want to play games, there's little point in buying one. If, like me, you use it for other things (16-bit OctaMED modules, web design and browsing, etc), particularly if you have a graphics card, an 060 is essential.

RetroMan · 14 July 2003, 01:02

With a 060 you can do nearly the same things on your Miggy as you do on PeCe, like watching Movies etc.

It´s just pure POWER

Echo · 14 July 2003, 02:08

Quote:

Originally posted by RetroMan
With a 060 you can do nearly the same things on your Miggy as you do on PeCe, like watching Movies etc. It´s just pure POWER

Yeah right, someone told me the DivX port can only just manage 15fps for a 320x240 clip (060) with a graphics card, lol.

Unfortunately the technology is now so old, WinUAE completely wipes the floor with it, even with the emulation overhead. Try Deluxe Paint's move command, it draws frames faster than realtime playback!

I still want an '060 though, just for the hell of it

ant512 · 14 July 2003, 23:14

Video playback, of any format (MOV, AVI, MPG, etc) is awful on anything other than a PPC, even on a 66MHz 060 and a graphics card. I might have had slightly better performance if I had a Zorro III bus or PCI graphics card, but it still wouldn't have been remotely watchable.

Unknown_K · 31 July 2003, 05:35

I never seen a point in making old hardware run things that new hardware runs VERY cheaply. I do see a point in making old hardware run old software of the same era quicker (assuming the old software even needed a speed boost).

If an old amiga ran a game at 15fps on an a stock setup but would run it at 60fps with an 030 accelerator then thats a good thing. Trying to get an old dos game like duke 3d (which a $20 old pc can do perfectly) on an amiga with some insanely priced addons at 5fps is just plane nuts to me.

Replacing your ancient 80mb hd in an amiga with a 4gb hd that is cheap makes sence, adding a PPC card to your a1200 for $600 just so you can run a handfull of demo's is a waste of money (to me).

woody57 · 31 July 2003, 06:09

a fan like any enthusiast will go to great lengths and expense to achieve what they see as their goal for those who are happy to revel in a purist fashion of simple memorey expanded machines that seems ok but when acceleration or expensive and rare add ons come to play .... thats another question , when does a miggy cease to be one ? when its towered some would say others look for emulation as a road back but surely its that perspective that makes us individuals , we each decide how far is enough { for now anyway ! }

07 July 2003, 00:02	#1
Parsec Registered User Join Date: Feb 2003 Location: Lancashire Age: 49 Posts: 434	Blizzard 060 http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.d...ory=11991&rd=1 Phew! What a price! Nice piece of kit though, someone's going to enjoy themselves with that.

31 July 2003, 06:09	#20
woody57 Registered User Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Manchester Posts: 801	When the cost is ? a fan like any enthusiast will go to great lengths and expense to achieve what they see as their goal for those who are happy to revel in a purist fashion of simple memorey expanded machines that seems ok but when acceleration or expensive and rare add ons come to play .... thats another question , when does a miggy cease to be one ? when its towered some would say others look for emulation as a road back but surely its that perspective that makes us individuals , we each decide how far is enough { for now anyway ! }

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07 July 2003, 00:47	#2
Echo Registered User Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: South-West Wales Posts: 382	I've always wanted one of these for my A1200 (currently 030@50mhz, also a Blizzard), probably wouldn't make proper use of it but it just has cool appeal What price can one usually pick up the 060 Blizzard cards for A1200 trapdoor? Eyetech told me they ran out of stock ages ago, so I'm assuming you can only get them via auctions now.

07 July 2003, 03:53	#3
rattus Registered User Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Australia Posts: 328	£170... ouch! those 1260s have allways been waaay out of my price range... besides I'm happy with mah little 1230

07 July 2003, 12:10	#4
killergorilla Lesser Talent Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: UK Age: 42 Posts: 7,957	Bloody hell £170!!!! That is a lot of money for an A1200 accel board. I paid £200 for my A1200 Tower with an Apollo 060 (Which isn't as nice but still, I got a PicassoII as well ) What are the main differences between the Apollo boards and the Blizzard boards, I always hear favour for the Blizzard boards, just wanted to know a few reasons for it? That reminds me, I have another A1200 sitting about with a Blizz 1230IV 030. It has no FPU and only 4MB of RAM, but I don't use it...

07 July 2003, 14:11	#5
ant512 Registered User Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: California Posts: 965	The main differences are: - Apollo boards reportedly have more severe problems with 1d.4 and 2B revisions of the 1200 motherboard. I haven't tested the Blizzard in either of those yet, but the Apollo is almost unusable in a 1d.4 and entirely useless in a 2B; - Apollo boards have a cheapo software SCSI-II expansion, whilst the Blizzards have a proper hardware SCSI-II implementation; - Apollo boards cannot be disabled - to switch back to a standard 1200 setup for compatibility, the card must be removed; - Apollo 66MHz boards use overclocked 50MHz CPUs. The overclocking isn't particularly well done. Blizzard 60MHz boards, meanwhile, use full 60MHz CPUs. - Apollo boards can have a maximum of 64MB installed over two SIMMs (32MB per SIMM, and only if the second SIMM socket is installed). Blizzard boards can have a single 64MB SIMM on-board, and a second 128MB SIMM on the separate SCSI expansion, giving a total of 192MB. - Blizzard boards shipped with a few handy utilities, such as "CyberPatcher", which sped up unimplemented FPU instructions. The Apollo didn't ship with any software except its driver libraries and a CPU command replacement. However, both boards work faster with the commercial "OxyPatcher" utility. - The Blizzard library system is much tidier than the Apollo system. - Blizzard boards use the BlizKick ROM rekicking utility. Apollo boards use the RemApollo utility. BlizKick used to be a much better utility, but there's little between them now.

12 July 2003, 18:34	#7
Mick_AKA crusader of light Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Stone, Staffordshire. Posts: 1,151	Will be a whyle before I can spend that kind of cash on an accelerator, im reletively happy with my standard A1200 at the moment anyway.

13 July 2003, 13:23	#8
front243 Posts: n/a	Vesalia is still selling Blizzard 1260

13 July 2003, 21:02	#10
ant512 Registered User Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: California Posts: 965	They are brand-new, but won't fit into a standard desktop case.

13 July 2003, 21:50	#11
rattus Registered User Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Australia Posts: 328	yeah, those are tower only

13 July 2003, 22:19	#12
Echo Registered User Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: South-West Wales Posts: 382	Bugger, I did wonder why there was only a 1200T version listed there. Why are the trapdoor A1200 ones not available? I don't remember them having a heat dissipation issue, least not like the 68040s anyway.

13 July 2003, 22:35	#13
Unknown_K Registered User Join Date: May 2002 Location: Ohio/USA Age: 55 Posts: 1,380	What do people need the 68060 for on an amiga anyway (same with ppc addons)? Is there much software available that uses those processors?

14 July 2003, 00:42	#15
ant512 Registered User Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: California Posts: 965	The 040 boards were only made for towers. There were two versions of the 060 board - desktop and tower. The desktop ones were probably more popular and sold out quicker. As for why anyone would want an 060, it depends on what you want to use the Amiga for. If you just want to play games, there's little point in buying one. If, like me, you use it for other things (16-bit OctaMED modules, web design and browsing, etc), particularly if you have a graphics card, an 060 is essential.

14 July 2003, 01:02	#16
RetroMan Registered User Join Date: Aug 2001 Location: Germany Age: 51 Posts: 3,704	With a 060 you can do nearly the same things on your Miggy as you do on PeCe, like watching Movies etc. It´s just pure POWER

14 July 2003, 23:14	#18
ant512 Registered User Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: California Posts: 965	Video playback, of any format (MOV, AVI, MPG, etc) is awful on anything other than a PPC, even on a 66MHz 060 and a graphics card. I might have had slightly better performance if I had a Zorro III bus or PCI graphics card, but it still wouldn't have been remotely watchable.

31 July 2003, 05:35	#19
Unknown_K Registered User Join Date: May 2002 Location: Ohio/USA Age: 55 Posts: 1,380	I never seen a point in making old hardware run things that new hardware runs VERY cheaply. I do see a point in making old hardware run old software of the same era quicker (assuming the old software even needed a speed boost). If an old amiga ran a game at 15fps on an a stock setup but would run it at 60fps with an 030 accelerator then thats a good thing. Trying to get an old dos game like duke 3d (which a $20 old pc can do perfectly) on an amiga with some insanely priced addons at 5fps is just plane nuts to me. Replacing your ancient 80mb hd in an amiga with a 4gb hd that is cheap makes sence, adding a PPC card to your a1200 for $600 just so you can run a handfull of demo's is a waste of money (to me).

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