A4000 or A1200 ?

[diablothe2nd]

for years now I've always wondered which would be the most stable and easiest to upgrade, but obviously price and hardware availability have to have some consideration.

As you guys know i've got a pretty solid A1260D (specs in sig) but for some reason I've always had an itch for an A4060 and I'm not sure why.

If you were to slap an 060 in a 4000 how would it compare to a 1260@50mhz? are they identical in terms of mips/flops? is there any difference in stability?

The only limitation I can see so far is the case and how much I can pack into it. I like mine in the original desktop wedge so every upgrade I'm choosing has and will always have that in mind, but with clever hackery I think it's possible to get most things into it save for pci.

I guess what I'm asking is for a comparison. A benefit/drawback list of sorts and technical data with evidence to support it.

All this has come from being offered 2 A4000's for my upgraded 1200, but I seriously doubt I can upgrade a 4000 to my current 1200 spec without being out of pocket even if i sold one of them.

what say you? should i stick with my 1200 or save up for a 4000/trade my 1200 for one?

[roy bates]

the mips will be the same as far as mips at the same clock cycles on both machines.


the difference will be that the card is connected to a zorro 3 interface as apposed to a zorro 2 on the 1200 making the 4000 faster in terms of access times.(accessing the custum chips and hardware in the bus)


stability will be the same.


save up for the 4000,and have both you can always get the hardware later on,if it crops up.

[Bamiga2002]

A4000 is currently teh Ultimate Amiga, but I'll stick with my A1200 'cause I'm not that rich

[diablothe2nd]

Originally Posted by Bamiga2002

A4000 is currently teh Ultimate Amiga, but I'll stick with my A1200 'cause I'm not that rich

but WHY is it the ultimate amiga? what can it do that a 1200 cant?

[Bamiga2002]

Have a faster PPC-turbocard, faster fastram access, faster chipram access, can have Deneb installed etc. it's the big brother of A1200. Only thing "limiting" it is the maximum 128Mb ram compared to A1200 that has 256Mb ram (excluding using Radeon as memory).

[diablothe2nd]

mmhm and how available are these upgrades? more to the point how expensive to replace when compared to 1200 upgrades?

i'm not knocking your statement, for the record. I'm just trying to weigh up my options.

[Bamiga2002]

A1200 is an easier option if you ask me. They are easier to find and don't cost a fortune. Also CSPPC's (if you're looking) are weaker in design lastability-wise compared to BPPC. Most peripherals are easier to obtain on A1200 than on an A4000. And less messing with jumpers on an A1200.

For hardcore upgrader who wants to get rid of a wad of cash I recommend an A4000T . Make no mistake, you can put a lot of money on an A1200 too if you like expanding/tinkering.

[diablothe2nd]

a PPC is hard enough to obtain for 1200, let alone 4000 I've been looking for one for years but never seem to have the cash to buy one when one becomes available.

with the growing interest in OS 4+ the value of them are rocketting I bought my 68k accelerator for about £130 over 5 years back. back then ppc's were £200+ and nowadays we're looking at way over double that for either card.

I think Jens should look at a new PPC card for 1200/4000 after the indivision rush and other projects he's got have calmed :P

[Bamiga2002]

Yes it's weird even when the HW gets older the prices just climb
Let's see if Jens has something to say about a new PPC-accel

[Unknown_K]

Either one is pretty expensive to expand beyond an 040 processor. I would think a processor upgrade for the 4000 is more expensive then the 1200.

I have both an A4000 and A1200 but nothing faster then an 030 (I just play games mostly anyway).

[kixs]

Is there any real use of expanded A4000 with some PPC turbo card? I can understand that some collector would want it and cash-out big bucks. But talking about faster access times and MIPS... I don't see a point!? This is all history and only a hobby for most of us. A few % performance increase in most cases doesn't really matter.

But I guess everyone has its own interests and in most cases decisions are really not rational. Then we see skyrocketing prices

[Unknown_K]

I do wonder why people spend all the cash to get PPC and PCI slots to stuff generic cards into (FrankenAmiga). I guess if you want to spend $1000 to play Quake on an Amiga at the same framerate as a $5 cell phone go ahead.

[roy bates]

Originally Posted by Unknown_K

I do wonder why people spend all the cash to get PPC and PCI slots to stuff generic cards into (FrankenAmiga). I guess if you want to spend $1000 to play Quake on an Amiga at the same framerate as a $5 cell phone go ahead.

personally i cant really argue with that although you could do more than just play games on it,what about................ wordproccessing,programming,rendering,designing,paint programmes,music making programmes etc
this is where the extra cpu power would come in handy
and to do this on an rtg amiga with a sound card is even better.

also browsing the net is a bit more............hmm just better.


after all,the amiga is a computer.

[NovaCoder]

It depends on what you want to do (games/OS/productivity).

If you really want to do RTG 'stuff' then get a 4000 although the Indivision AGA Mrk2 blurs the lines a little though as it *should* support some chunky modes and also support a nice HD WB (>64 colors only).

I personally think that PPC is a waste of cash. An 030 A1200 will give you max value-for-money of course, like I said it really depends on what you want to do with it.

My dream setup is an A1200 with a 80Mhz 060 and an Indivison AGA

[8bitbubsy]

My dream setup is an A4000 with Picasso IV, 060 + 64MB fast RAM and USB (so that I can transfer stuff with a USB pen). I'm getting there, I just need the 060 and the USB card, then I'm done.

I don't fancy PPC and PCI bus boards, it's like ignoring the whole Amiga design feeling, making it a "FrankenAmiga" that Unknown_W very well described it.

[diablothe2nd]

Originally Posted by NovaCoder

My dream setup is an A1200 with a 80Mhz 060 and an Indivison AGA

that's what i'm aiming for in the long run, almost there

thing is though, I do alot more graphics stuff than coding/gaming so rtg will be of benefit.

Rendering in Real3D with 060 @50mhz is so fast i nearly jizzed my pants if taking it to 80 or even 90mhz does to rendering what it does to the mhz then i expect I wont have any problem knocking out an animation inside of a week


BPPC would benefit me as i'm an avid Blender fan. been using it since it pretty much got released to the public. being able to use blender on my faveourite machine, in my faveourite OS would be a dream come true

[Bamiga2002]

Originally Posted by Unknown_K

I do wonder why people spend all the cash to get PPC and PCI slots to stuff generic cards into (FrankenAmiga). I guess if you want to spend $1000 to play Quake on an Amiga at the same framerate as a $5 cell phone go ahead.

If you have an interesting hobby you don't always think a sane reason why you spend money on it. Amiga is one of these hobbies for some.

[Unknown_K]

There are plenty of things the Amiga was good at and some it sucked at, spending tons of money on the area it sucked at just seems odd to me. I collect more then one platform so I can pick and chose what I do with them, if you are 100% Amiga only (who does that in this day and age) then maybe you might be crazy enough to spend that kind of money. There are collectors with deep pockets who just want the best of everything to be complete.

[kixs]

diablothe2nd:
so your're doing some rendering on Amiga. Could you do it on a modern PC (via PC software or WinUAE)? Wouldn't it be faster on PC?


I'd guess that there are more and more collectors, because the prices nowadays are quite insane and if you calculate in the risk of failing of this old hardware... then you have to ask yourself who is sane

[diablothe2nd]

Originally Posted by kixs

diablothe2nd:
so your're doing some rendering on Amiga. Could you do it on a modern PC (via PC software or WinUAE)? Wouldn't it be faster on PC?

of course i could, but what would be the point when i've the real deal with an 060@50mhz.

doing it in emulation isn't as satisfying.