2Mb Chip Or 4Mb Fast?

[Reptile]

I am looking at 2 memory expansions for my Amiga 500 Plus, Im not which sure which direction to go.

The first is an A504 which is apparently for the A500 and 500+ which will give it 4Mb memory.

The other is an Amitek 1Mb board for the 500+, which I have heard will take her up to 2Mb Chip RAM, is this the case or will it just give it 1Mb fast RAM?

I'm leaning towards 2Mb Chip RAM, but any info is welcome

Thanks Reptile

[Zetr0]

Given the opportunity I would go for both!

The extra CHIP will allow for games that need 1MB or more CHIP and the Fast RAM will give you a 33% speed boost as well as the option to RUN WHDLoad.

so if you can get it - get both =)

all you need now is a form of Harddisk and you sir are ROCKING!


you could infact just get the 1MB extra chip as finding an A504 is going to be a monumentus task in itself - so instead I suggest ninja'ing over to AmiBay and look up tomthul's most awesome 2MB FAST and IDE adapter - a great bit of kit!

you will have a floppy boot disk that then hands over to the IDE device on the internal 33pin chain - great for Compact flash and a SFF CDROM if your hackery and imagination can take you

if you want a sneaky peeky at what it can do for your A500+

heres a [ Show youtube player ] I made at Bletchley park 25th Amiga Aniversary (setting up) =)

[Reptile]

But I would only be able to fit one of the expansions in the Amiga ;-)

[Zetr0]

@reptile

nope... you can have both as the A504 plugs into the CPU socket and the 1MB CHIP plugs into the trapdoor

- check out the video and you will see what I mean

[Reptile]

Argh.... I've just purchased the A504 with 4Meg :-) Fingers crossed I can get the Chip memory as well. At least I will have a minimum of 5Mb to play with ;-)

here

[Zetr0]

at this point I should mention MKL's IDE adapter for the Amiga - thus would give you an IDE (and CF) header for your Amiga.

4MB fast with IDE and (eventually) 2MB CHIP will be quite a formidable bit of ECS Awesome =)

I cannot find a direct link to Mica's IDE dongle - but bare with me =)

[Reptile]

Thanks Zetr0, I look forward to seeing.

What Amiga system do you use?

Reptile

[Zetr0]

Originally Posted by Reptile

Thanks Zetr0, I look forward to seeing.

What Amiga system do you use?

Reptile

well sir....

I have an A500 R6a

I use this for protoyping and designing little things and fact finding about the original design. - the rev 6a is a great little board that lends itself to much hacking =D

Now the following collection has happened over the last 20 years

A500+

• KS3.1
  2MB CHIP Upgrade
  GVP HD8+ Side Car
  • 8MB FAST
    3.7GB HDD

A600 - Custom Laptop Build

• KS3.1
  2MB A603
  4GB HDD
  12" 800x600 LCD Pannel
  CRT/TFT Tuner - to be modified
  PicoPSU
  MP3@64 - internal clockport MP3 Player
  dvdrw optical drive
  - need to Indivision ECS
  - need 8MB A608
  

Commodore CDTV

• KS3.1
  Keyboard
  Mouse
  CD Caddy
  Extern FDD
  IR Remote
  - tomthuls 2mb fast and IDE adapter

Amiga CD32 (two of these)

• CD32 Debug Board
  SX-1 (that I am soon to trade with a good friend and great Amigan =) )

A1200 Custom Build (inside a "white" CDTV Chassis)

• KS3.1
  Falcon 040@25 (soon to be 40Mhz)
  128MB Fast RAM
  8GB Microdrive or 80GB 2.5" SCSI (pending)
  SFF DVDRW optical drive
  Internal (modified PCMCIA) Network Card
  -need to get Fast ATA Mk3 or the SCSI working on the card
  -need to get USB
  -need to get Delphina Flipper
  

A1200 Custom Desktop

• KS3.1
  Apollo 1260@80 64MB RAM
  ZIV Zorro Busboard
  ZIV PCI Board
  ZIV Fast ATA
  Vodoo5500 PCI
  Sound Blaster PCI
  10/100 Network Card
  TV In Card
  (theres a whole bunch of custom stuff I have designed to go in this)

A2000 - Hybrid Project -

• KS3.1
  GVP Combi 040@33
  2MB CHIP / 16MB Fast
  3.7GB HDD
  Picasso II
  SBC- Kontron 1GHz P3 SBC 512MB RAM
  • 64MB S3 GFX
    2x ATA66 IDE
    Sound Blaster Pro
    10/100 LAN/Ser/Par
    Custom Scan doubler/flicker fixer
    Custom Keyboard / mouse / Video Switcher

A2000 (basic Rev 6)

• 1MB CHIP
  KS2.05

A4000

• KS3.1
  CSMk2 - 060@50 + 128MB
  16MB FAST RAM / 2MB CHIP,
  18.1SCSI DISK / DVD Optical Drive
  CV64 3D Mk2
  MultiFace3
  - will get DENEB *soon* USB/Network and Sound

At the moment I am working on my A2000 build and A500+ I am hoping to get a VXL 030@30mhz to work with my A500+, this would make a fantastic ECS machine =D

I hope to be getting an A3000 UX soon, *fingers crossed* and my Amiga Collection is then complete!

I am not really into the CMB Towers - I thnk that for the most part that they are pretty damn ugly.

I do have a couple of spare boards and sundry of course - mainly for spares - repair and a few working units that were gifts so I cannot let go of 'em lol.

this last Friday the guys and I have a curry night round my house - we normally find some retrolicious mischief to getup.... this Friday it was CD32 love =)

[rkauer]

Where can you find an A608?

[Zetr0]

Lol!

[Reptile]

Nice collection there zetr0 :-)

I have managed to get hold of both, meaning I will soon have 6Mb, I will be a very happy Amigan this Christmas :-)

[mombasajoe]

1 mb chip RAM simply is a must have for an A500+

[Arnie]

Originally Posted by mombasajoe

1 mb chip RAM simply is a must have for an A500+

1mb Chip is the minimum for any Amiga. If you want to use WHDload then 2mb is better.

[AndyLandy]

Originally Posted by Arnie

1mb Chip is the minimum for any Amiga. If you want to use WHDload then 2mb is better.

Not strictly true. A500s come with 512K chip and A1000s were often only 256K.

Still, more ChipRAM is always good. If you've got a full-ECS Amiga, it seems a shame to not max it out to 2MB.

[mombasajoe]

Originally Posted by Arnie

1mb Chip is the minimum for any Amiga. If you want to use WHDload then 2mb is better.

The question above was about a decision between 2 different memory expansions. What my post is related to is the 1mb trapdoor-exp for the 500+ (which results in 1mb + 1mb = 2mb chip mem)

[Zetr0]

@reptile

I found some links for you.

I would like to introduce Mika's most awesome IDE68k Project

Now the adapter would plug into the 4MB Ram card you bought - the CPU would plug into the top of that, and the whole Assembly would plug into the A500 CPU socket - yeah its a bit of a cludge - but thats part of the fun

now, to use Mika's IDE68k - you will need to solder two wires to some very easy area's - very simple stuff =)


he has a For Sale thread on AmiBay

theres some discussion on here about it too =)

with the combined 4MB fast, 2MB chip and Mika's IDE adapter - this will be an awesome WHDLoad machine!

[Reptile]

The 4Mb card arrived today, hurrah!