What's the cheapest A1200 68030 accelerator option out there?

[Tigerskunk]

What's said in the title..

I have a Vampire1200, but it's a bit of an overkill for my simple needs, so I am looking at other options..

Just want to do WhdLoad.
Would I be fine with some fast RAM and that's it for playing most games?

[nikosidis]

Yes, 8MB fast is fine for almost all games.

[Tigerskunk]

Okay, thanks, Niko...

[Lord Aga]

Also, some light acceleration in the form of a 020 card could be the thing for you

[fitzsteve]

Blizzard 1230MkIV is the card I would recommend for something in between, they're a solid card and will play a almost all WHDLoad games and make Workbench fast and snappy. They can take up to 128mb ram but 32mb is plenty for most uses. The Fast Ram is 32bit so does not disrupt use of the PCMCIA port like 8mb Ram cards.

[Lord Aga]

Here's one of those Blizzards on fleabay:

https://www.ebay.de/itm/BLIZZARD1230...IAAOSwu~5fN7jl

[fitzsteve]

Should be able to get one cheaper than that. I would put the Vampire up for PX/Trade as I'm sure someone with a 1230 would be happy to give a 1230 + cash for the Vampire.

[Tigerskunk]

I think just getting a 4mb/8mb for a couple of tenners seems will do the job for me.

I am not really interested in Workbench stuff, and if I'd be I would keep the Vampire, since that one is a lot faster, newer and those ancient 68030 cards don't seem to be any cheaper.

But thanks to everyone for the recommendations

[lmimmfn]

Originally Posted by Lord Aga

Here's one of those Blizzards on fleabay:

https://www.ebay.de/itm/BLIZZARD1230...IAAOSwu~5fN7jl

Wow, didnt realize my Blizzard was worth so much

[-Acid-]

Originally Posted by lmimmfn

Wow, didnt realize my Blizzard was worth so much

It's not... that's why that one is still available to buy

[DigitalKeeper]

Blizzard 1230 IV -> max. 250 Bucks; with SCSI Kontroller -> 300.- Bucks

All above get a rip-off.....

[AMike]

I can highly recommend this small card - one of the best cards in terms of performance and price - Blizzard 1220. 4MB RAM 020/28Mhz
http://amiga.resource.cx/search.pl?p...=Blizzard+1220
There is sometimes an additional 4MB RAM module available on ebay.

EDIT: Rebuild at a1k.
https://www.a1k.org/forum/index.php?threads/70228/

Ebay Add4
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Amiga-Bli...kAAOSw1Updxeh0

[roondar]

Well, a good question when you're on a budget is: why do you want a 68030 specifically?
A 68020 based accelerator will be generally cheaper and offer similar speed up if the clock rate is the same as the 68020 and 68030 are mostly identical in performance (clock for clock). There are some small speed differences, but not enough to matter here.

These two chips are also basically identical in terms of compatibility, so if your on a budget, something like a ACA1221lc or indeed a Blizzard 1220 can be a great little boost in performance

[Tigerskunk]

@Amike: Thanks...

@Roondar: Because I don't have any idea and knowledge about any this stuff.
What I basically want is just using WhdLoad, I guess (and maybe a bit more memory for the WB to work a bit more slick). But from what I read about it, it seems just getting 4mb is enough to play most old games on my 1200. And a chunk of FastRAM seems to speed up the WB a fair bit as well, it seems.

[roondar]

Well, I'd suggest getting at least 8MB just to be sure (and there is virtually no price difference anymore). The good part about getting a small amount of acceleration is that WHDLoad sometimes slows games down to increase compatibility (by adding Blitter Waits etc). Having a faster CPU can allievate that.

Though in all honesty, I've never tested an A1200 with just fastmemory added. Could be that is fast enough because adding fastmemory to an A1200 does double it's speed

[Tigerskunk]

I just want the cheapest solution that is giving me the biggest effect, but keeping my 1200 as Vanilla as possible.

[8bitbubsy]

Just getting an 8MB fastmem upgrade is going to have a big impact on system performance. Not only because you get more RAM, but also because the RAM is running on the CPU bus and not the slow custom chip bus (chipmem). This allows programs to run faster.

If you want even more speed, then maybe try to get a 020 accelerator with a moderate clock speed. 030+ is going to be outside of your budget if you want anything that is cheap.

[roondar]

Originally Posted by Steril707

I just want the cheapest solution that is giving me the biggest effect, but keeping my 1200 as Vanilla as possible.

Get a RAM board
A new one is probably your best bet considering the low difference in price these days.

[Tigerskunk]

Originally Posted by roondar

Get a RAM board
A new one is probably your best bet considering the low difference in price these days.

You can get one of these for around 60 euros new, with RTC on it.
For the rest of the money I probably get for the Vamp, I will get some other small peripherals (optical mouse upgrade for instance).

And then I am still thinking about backing the Spectrum Next, and diving into that scene a bit over the next year. Either that or the ST (yeah, come at me... ) . I like a challenge...

[khph_re]

The A1200 runs about 1.33 MIPS, fast ram used to double that to 2.66.
Amiga kits new RAM board seems to do 2.91, according to specs on the website. Not bad for £60.
I'm guessing more modern components / faster RAM helps here.