WANTED - Accelerator for A1200

Hi all, just bought myself a totally standard A1200 (wedge), well apart from the internal 2GB HD. Looking to speed things up a bit, so would like to know if anyone has a 030 or better for sale. It's been a very long time since I've been on the Amiga scene and have forgotten a lot, so unsure as to what's available for me upgrade-wise. Thanks for your help in advance.

My budget it between £50-90 inc postage with insurance.

[Peter]

I just had a quick look on Ebay (items available for sale to UK) and there were a couple of Blizzard 030 cards and even a couple of 060 cards - might be worth keeping an eye on the prices of those if nothing turns up here... the cards were all in either France or Germany so P&P shouldn't be too much.

I completely missed those for some odd reason. I'll take another look. Thanks for the heads up!

[fc.studio]

I assume you want a new board to play games and for a reasonally accelerated A1200.


1. RAM BOARDS 14 Mhz (ebay price eur 20 - 60)
Simply adding RAM you get an A1200 about x2 or 100% faster than standard A1200 and allows you to play 98% games WHDLoad installed.
These boards don't have CPU so the original A1200 68EC020 14 Mhz is used.
The best boards accept SIMM RAM, have a socket for optional FPU and a Real Time Clock.
Max FAST RAM is 8MB, but having over 4MB means to loose the PCMCIA port useful for Compact Flash or Network card. To avoid this, rare boards have the option to limit RAM to 4MB (Microbotics 1200z by software).
I would avoid these simple RAM Boards, because.....

2. 68EC020 BOARDS 25-28 Mhz (ebay price eur 30 - 60)
... at the same price or better you can find a Blizzard 1220/4 (Apollo 1220 is similar) and your A1200 will be about x4 or 300% faster. They have 68EC020/28 Mhz CPU, 4MB Ram, Real Time Clock, no MMU, and FPU option.
Blizzard 1220 surely performs not lower than card 68030/28-30 Mhz based.
Max FAST RAM is 8MB (68EC020 limit). They are PCMCIA compatible within the 4MB RAM limit only.

3. 68EC030 / 68030 BOARDS 25-50 Mhz (ebay eur 60 - 150)
Your A1200 will be about x3 to x7 faster.
The 68EC030 version doesn't have the MMU. If you are not a programmer this has little use. With MMU (68030 version) is easy to move your ROM-Kickstart in RAM to increase speed for about a 3% or 4%.
Boards with MMU usually are PCMCIA compatible. Exceptions exist.
Boards without MMU usually are not PCMCIA compatible. Exceptions exist (DKB).
68030/68EC030 usally accepts large SIMM. In some boards (Blizzard 1230/IV, DKB) you can reach 128MB RAM or more (max 256 MB).
I would get these boards only for 40 Mhz speed and over. Blizzard 1230/IV 68030@50 Mhz is probably the best 68030 board available and you have a x7 or 600% about faster A1200 (eur 90 and over).

4. 68040 / 68060 BOARDS 25-66 Mhz (ebay price eur 140 - much much over)
expansives and not for gamers. They have MMU (no 68EC040) and FPU included as standard. Boards with 68040 have noising and cooling fan, not 68060 boards.
68060/50 Mhz is about or more 4x 68030/50.

Usually boards have socket for FPU (floating point unit). These can be 68881 and/or 68882 and are available requiring for a PGA or PLCC socket. FPUs have little use: Rendering or Math based tools or high level demos could ask for it. 68882 is about 1,5 faster than 68881.

MY FINAL ADVICES:
- If you like to play games only and you have not intensive Workbench use, a Blizzard 1220/4 is a cheap and little jewel. 4MB FAST RAM (= 6MB A1200) is enough to run 98% games and you can use PCMCIA port.
- If you want a good overall board get a 68030 / 68EC030 PCMCIA compatible, min. 40 Mhz and 16MB. I suggest you a Blizzard 1230-IV.
- If you want the best get a 68060.

Now it's up to you.

@ fc.studio

Amazing! Thanks for the in-depth reply. Taking on board what you've said I've found a Phase5 Blizzard IV - 68030 50 Mhz + 16MB board on eBay. However, the seller is in France and only has 4 feedbacks. I hope it goes well!

[Ironclaw]

Originally Posted by ArcaneA500

@ fc.studio

Amazing! Thanks for the in-depth reply. Taking on board what you've said I've found a Phase5 Blizzard IV - 68030 50 Mhz + 16MB board on eBay. However, the seller is in France and only has 4 feedbacks. I hope it goes well!

Good luck !. I don't dare to buy stuff of people that has few feedbacks.

Thanks! I'm not too confident with the situation either, but we'll see. I've asked him if he's willing to send to the UK. If not, I'm out of the running before I even place a bid.

[twizzle]

hi if you dont have any luck give me a shout and i will sell you my spare
BL030MK1V 50MHZ mmu + fpu mem is 16 or 32meg cant remember, (let you know)
i cant sell it for less than your upper limit inc postage signed for,
still less than what it cost me.
bank transfere only.

there are a few people on here that have bought from me, and will vouch for my integrity.

[Peter]

I would not buy from an Ebayer with bad feedback especially if they are not in the UK... there are just too many people selling Amiga items as untested these days... be warned.

These people sell stuff as untested knowing it doesn't work - no money back etc...

I have bought items from Twizzle... everything was fine, I would deal with this Member again.

Peter

Originally Posted by twizzle

hi if you dont have any luck give me a shout and i will sell you my spare
BL030MK1V 50MHZ mmu + fpu mem is 16 or 32meg cant remember, (let you know)
i cant sell it for less than your upper limit inc postage signed for,
still less than what it cost me.
bank transfere only.

there are a few people on here that have bought from me, and will vouch for my integrity.

Hi there, please PM with your final price including postage. I have a person who's offered to sell me the same as you and he didn't include the price either. So I'll go with the cheapest once you both reply. I hope that's okay?

Bank transfer is fine by me if we go ahead.

[IanS]

Hi, if you are interested, I have an Apollo 1240 040 board, 33/66 MHz with IIRC a 16MB simm. Let me know :-)

Ian.Shelton@nottingham.ac.uk

[girv]

@IanS - how much are you looking for the 040 card ?

[douglasamcintos]

Hi,

First post so sorry if I am breaking board etiquette. I am in the the same situation as Arcane, just got a 1200 from ebay with nothing more added than a hard drive. Would like something to make it a bit whizzier since I have some money left over in my paypal account.

Most of the boards I see on ebay look far too expensive The money I have left is going either on Amiga stuff or a breakout board for my gp2x. http://gp2x.co.uk/gp2xbreakoutboard.html. Therefore my budget is about 40 to 50 pounds (via paypal). Would be interested in any reasonable offers.

My eBay feedback is here:

http://feedback.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayIS...me=STRK:ME:UFS

as an indicator of reliability

Feel free to crush my dreams and tell me it is not enough money!

Thanks for your time.

Douglas

[twizzle]

a BL030MK1V 50mhz +32ram has just sold on ebay for £85 +postage

[fc.studio]

Just a little update to my #4 post.

[douglasamcintos]

From looking at your post fc.studio it looks like option 1 (RAM board) would be sufficient for my needs. eBay tends to get a little over excitable for my liking

[fc.studio]

Originally Posted by douglasamcintos

From looking at your post fc.studio it looks like option 1 (RAM board) would be sufficient for my needs. eBay tends to get a little over excitable for my liking

If your needs are mainly to play games a 4MB RAM Board is OK.
However I know how eBay can be crazy and therefore I would be ready to sell simple RAM Board if I could find offers like these:

http://cgi.ebay.it/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?...MEWA:IT&ih=014