Advice on getting an Accelerator Card for A600

[Zerotech]

Well I am a proud owner on one of the Amiga 600 computers, a couple of mods have been attached to it one of which is a Kickstart ROM switcher which allows me to switch between Kickstarts 1.3 and 2.05 and a CF-IDE Adaptor for Hard Drive mod and also a registered copy of WHDLoad, WHO HOO.

Here are a few youtube videos of my unboxing and modifications and repairs to the Amiga 600.

Unboxing of the Amiga 600
[ Show youtube player ]

Amiga Hard Drive Mod
[ Show youtube player ]

Amiga Repairs
[ Show youtube player ]

WHDLoad Testing
[ Show youtube player ]

Just a question about the Accelerator cards, is it worth buying an ACA620EC or a used ACA630/25 or it's better to wait for a better card to be released in the market.

I would like your feedback if anyone has these accelerator cards to provide me some feedback on how those cards go in terms of reliability and performance. Thanks.

[Zetr0]

@Zerotech

IMHO, the ACA620 is a delightful beast!

it pumps out over 3.3MIP's (3x faster than a stock A1200) alongside giving it upto 10.5MB FAST RAM and thats not all!!

The ACA620 comes with the ability to load kickstart roms from hard disk! thus no need to mess about with swapping kickstarts - just load the one you want at boot-time!!!

Also it improves the speed access of the IDE on the A600. All in all I love my ACA620 - it truly is what I have wanted for that machine for a very long time.... and with it being under £80 to buy ($133 AU) + postage I am even tempted to buy another one!

[Zerotech]

Thanks.

A couple of people who bought the ACA620 had issues with compatibility and thermal issues, I was wondering if the EC revised version has that problem.

If it doesn't I plan on getting one of those cards. Since the stock amiga are terrible at loading games with WHDLoad so I would like to know if there thermal issues with it. If not then I plan on getting one of those cards.

According to amigakit.com they do have it available for sale but will they accept PayPal as the payment since I'm from overseas.

[Zetr0]

I ran my ACA620 (EC) for 4 hours - Demo's and Project X via WHDLoad - no problems..

Also had No Second Pize running for a couple of hours.... but thats mainly because its a sublime game with great music (and on the ACA620 it guides extra fast and smooth)

I should also mention Wing Commander is also a delight to play as well.



in regards to AmigaKit, just send them a message I am sure they can accommodate you

[Zerotech]

Thanks for the replies, I seem to be convinced as long as there's no issues with the card I plan on getting one within a few weeks, I just wonder if they accept paypal for payments so I can send the money over.

I do understand currency conversions maybe an issue for me but I see it as no barrier since it's almost necessary to buy an accelerator card for running software via WHDLoad.

I will update the post about the card when I can afford to make the payments and receive the card I'll post a video about it on youtube.

Btw the keyboard layout in Australia for the Amiga 600 is identical to the U.S. one but the U.K. have 2 keys unassigned and the return key is in a different shape from what I've observed. Will that Locale affect running games through WHDLoad?

[psygnosis]

Im thinking of getting an ACA620 but im unsure how to secure it once its over the cpu

[demolition]

Originally Posted by psygnosis

Im thinking of getting an ACA620 but im unsure how to secure it once its over the cpu

You don't need to secure it as the socket fits very tightly to the CPU. You can practically lift the entire MB only by lifting on the ACA620. Also, the board is quite light so it won't fall off even if you move the Amiga around. I guess maybe if you drop the Amiga to the floor from 1m, then maybe it could fall off, but you'd probably have other issues with it as well.

Regarding the stability issues, those only happened with the first revision. Also, they weren't thermal issues but timing issues. Rev. 2 which is being sold now does not have these problems AFAIK. I've never had any issues with my rev. 2. Can definitely recommend the ACA620 as well.

Edit:

Originally Posted by Zerotech

Btw the keyboard layout in Australia for the Amiga 600 is identical to the U.S. one but the U.K. have 2 keys unassigned and the return key is in a different shape from what I've observed. Will that Locale affect running games through WHDLoad?

WHDLoad games doesn't use Locale settings, which is a WB thing. What matters are the key locations and not whats printed on them. So no it won't matter, unless the games are specifically using the keys you're missing (I doubt anyone does).

[psygnosis]

Ahh right its just that i have a fastram board fitted to one of my 600,s via the cpu and my cf card lies ontop of that sometimes it pops off im assuming because of the card sitting ontop

[Zerotech]

Originally Posted by demolition

Regarding the stability issues, those only happened with the first revision. Also, they weren't thermal issues but timing issues. Rev. 2 which is being sold now does not have these problems AFAIK. I've never had any issues with my rev. 2. Can definitely recommend the ACA620 as well.

Thanks, that's the kind of answer I was seeking. I will have to contact amigakit about payments to ship items to Australia as the shipping costs vary from overseas.

I will also get a second opinion with the repair tech who fixed my amiga a while ago about the accelerator to determine it's value.

Well from what I've seen on youtube and various forums about accelerator cards its almost necessary to own one if you want to improve the performance and the reliability of the machine.

But can I ask about the power supply my one is stock from commodore, will adding an accelerator card affect the power supply as it doesn't contain enough horsepower to power up the card as well as the CD-IDE Adapter, or should I replace it with an aftermarket or an Amiga 500 Power Supply.

I've seen people use the Amiga 500 Power supplies on the A600 and it delivers more wattage on the volts than the A600. So I ask will I be safe having the A600 Power Supply to run the accelerator card. thanks.

[amigakit.com]

@Zerotech

We have lots of regular customers all over Australia. We accept Paypal, Credit Card for payment.

The stock messages on our webstore are real-time updates on availability.

[demolition]

Originally Posted by Zerotech

But can I ask about the power supply my one is stock from commodore, will adding an accelerator card affect the power supply as it doesn't contain enough horsepower to power up the card as well as the CD-IDE Adapter, or should I replace it with an aftermarket or an Amiga 500 Power Supply.

I'm using a 3A original PSU which is one of the weak ones, and haven't had a problem with it. Measuring the power on the 230V side reveals that the ACA620 adds about 1W to the power consumption compared to a plain 600.