Upgrade advice

[mancity]

Hi guys,

System info attached of my 1200. I've come across this accelerator on amigakit and wondering what kind of a boost it would give my machine (if at all)?

What would it allow me to do that I cannot already?

My current Amiga - http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/29/imagemvyw.jpg/

Possible upgrade? - http://amigakit.leamancomputing.com/...oducts_id=1131

[demolition]

It would be faster in workbench, both because of the faster CPU and also due to the maprom option you get. However, you will lose the FPU so 3D performance would be worse. If you only need it for games, there's hardly any reason to upgrade.

[mancity]

Oh,

I was wanting it to hopefully play Doom/ BreathlessAGA in more than a wristwatch-sized window! Thanks for the advice.

What should I look for then to improve 3D games?

[mancity]

What about this for example? - http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/amiga-1230...item484d772def

[hooverphonique]

the comment "3D performance would be worse" is a bit generic, I fear.. The consequences of losing the fpu depends entirely on what software packages you use, and saying it affects 3D might in just as many cases be wrong..

@OP: what sort of accelerator do you have already, since you have an 68882 fpu?

[fitzsteve]

Minimum to see the improvement you need is a Blizzard 1230MkIV (50mhz 030band you can still have an FPU and up to 128mb Ram (32-64 is plenty though tbh)

That Apollo LC is limited to 8mb, be no better than what you have now.

If you really want to enjoy 3D Games look for an 040 or 060 but they cost big bucks.

[amigakit.com]

The ACA 1232 will increase your A1200's performance to around 6 MIPS which is OK for Doom, however Breathless requires at least an 68040 accelerator, preferably a 68060 accelerator. The ACA 1232 will also give you 128MB of Fast 32-bit memory (SDRAM). It is brand new technology, manufactured in late 2012.

The second hand 15 year old Apollo that you linked to on Ebay has slow DRAM memory (only 8MB) and is worse performance, apart from being £15 more expensive and PCMCIA unfriendly when jumpered to 8MB.

True 3D on an 68030 based accelerator is not usually a fun experience and a 68882 is not going to make much difference.

[mancity]

I think the one I have is a Hawk something or other. It's a cheaper one which disables the PCMCIA if used at over 4MB RAM.

By 040 and 060, does what mean a 68040 and 68060?

With the Blizzard 1230 board you mention, ow well would Doom play? if you know that is.

[mancity]

Originally Posted by amigakit.com

The ACA 1232 will increase your A1200's performance to around 6 MIPS which is OK for Doom, however Breathless requires at least an 68040 accelerator, preferably a 68060 accelerator. The ACA 1232 will also give you 128MB of Fast 32-bit memory. It is also brand new technology, manufactured in late 2012.

The second hand 15 year old Apollo that you linked to on Ebay has slow DRAM memory (only 8MB) and is worse performance, apart from being £20 more expensive and PCMCIA unfriendly when jumpered to 8MB.

True 3D on an 68030 based accelerator is not usually a fun experience and a 68882 is not going to make much difference.

Do you ever get/ manufacture of these boards that would increase 3D gaming performance?

[amigakit.com]

Not to date, but if there is a market for one, it could be a possibility as long as the 040 or 060 chips could be sourced at a keen price and in the quantities required.

The ACA 1232/33 would be good to play DoomAttack which is optimised for the 68030 processor.

[mancity]

Well I would definitely buy one, but I dont think that's enough to start the production line rolling eh.


Cheers

[demolition]

Originally Posted by hooverphonique

the comment "3D performance would be worse" is a bit generic, I fear.. The consequences of losing the fpu depends entirely on what software packages you use, and saying it affects 3D might in just as many cases be wrong..

I can't see the clock speed of the FPU, but if we say it's running at 16 MHz, I'd say that any piece of software which utilizes an FPU properly should be running faster with a 16 MHz FPU(+16MHz 020) than simply a 25MHz 030.

I can add that on my ACA1232 33MHz I can run Alien Breed 3D with decent frame rates and it's playable, but it is just in a small window with very low resolution, so one should not get this accelerator for playing 3D games (even less the 25MHz version).