expansion for A1200

Hi,

I am very new to the Amiga! so forgive me I am sure this is a commonly asked question. I have looked through the forums a lot and found a wealth of information but as is always the case with forums of this size it can be hard to track down the info you need sometimes when you have specific questions.

Basically I bought a stock A1200, I have bought a 4gig CF and IDE->CF adaptor and have installed WB etc to it using WinUAE!. That was a learning experience! . I used to own an Atari ST, they were a lot easier but that was due to them being not as powerful... hence why I have joined the Amiga camp!

Anyway, basically I want to load up the CF with games and use whdload.
I have gathered from the forums that the stock 2 megs just doesn't cut it for a lot of games when run under whdload so have been hunting around for expansions.

I am looking at possible options and see cards out there that offer 8 megs of memory only plus a clock... and others that offer a cpu upgrade like a 30 plus memory.

Here is where my lack of knowledge kicks in.. If I were to take the upgrade with the cpu upgrade that obviously runs faster and also runs at a faster cycle, some at 40mhz and some at 50mhz etc if this going to pose problems with whdload and affect how fast games run? (i remember dos games went crazy on fast computers, hence those turbo buttons on early pc's).

I am worried about compatibility.. I just want to run all the games...
Is it worth getting one with a cpu upgrade? will it benefit me? or just cause problems? (can the cpu upgrade be turned off by whdload?)

Anyway thanks for any help.
I wish I had bought an amiga all those years ago instead of a st!!

cheers

[Graham Humphrey]

Hello Kilack and welcome to EAB.

The whole point of WHDLoad is for games to run fine on upgraded setups so theoretically you should be fine - though it matters more on the type of the processor than the actual speed; if you were going for a 68030 processor for instance you should have no problems - other processors (like the 68040 I have) can prove problematic with some games but even those that do prove to be troublesome can sometimes be persuaded to work with a bit of fiddling about.

Bascially if you went for an '030 and some Fast RAM that's probably the best setup for WHDLoad in all honesty, and even if you did come across a problematic game or two chances are you would find someone here who could sort you out anyway - so personally I'd go for it.

[laser]

Graham is right
the best compatible option for games on the A1200 is a 030 turboboard
but a 040 turboboard also is a great option but there are a few problems with a few games....I estimate 1 or 2 % of the games will fail there...however a 040 is lot faster than the 030...the difference is big

so you must consider to gain lot of speed ....or lost compatibility with a few games

I don't recommend you a 060 turboboard for games...cause the list of incompatibility is big

[TheCorfiot]

I Think someone already quoted on another thread that the Ultimate WHDLoad A1200 spec was 030 (40-50Mhz) with 16-32MB FastRAM, Classic WB 3.1 & 4GB CF HD card.
One of my A1200's has an 040 the other an 030 both with 32MB FastRAM & for sheer WHDLoad use the 030 equipped A1200 is 99.9% trouble free

So you have begun your journey but 030 accelerators can be hard & pricey to find be carefull with what you are willing to pay.

May I recommend looking at www.Amibay.com & maybe placing a free add in the wanted section, a very helpful & useful forum indeed.

TC

Hi,

Thanks for all the input, so it seems a 030 would be a nice addition. That brings me to the next question... What should I be paying for one of these roughly? I don't want to be fleeced...

[NovaCoder]

Originally Posted by Kilack

Hi,

Anyway, basically I want to load up the CF with games and use whdload.
I have gathered from the forums that the stock 2 megs just doesn't cut it for a lot of games when run under whdload so have been hunting around for expansions.

I am looking at possible options and see cards out there that offer 8 megs of memory only plus a clock... and others that offer a cpu upgrade like a 30 plus memory.

If you just want to play WHDLOAD games then you can get by with just a memory expansion card, even +4mb should be fine to run most games.