Amiga 1200 Expansion Cards questions

[Walterg74]

Hi all,

I recently purchased an Amiga 1200, waiting for it to ship, that comes with a Blizzard 1220/4 board.

Trying to understand the main functions and optins of what it does.

Besides the obvious of adding 4MB of RAM to the system what else does this do?

I hear it's an accelerator card, but what exactly does it "accelerate"? I mean, it has a 68020 cpu on it, but isn't it the same CPU as the Amiga already has? Jumpers let you configure at 14Mhz or 28Mhz, but what exactly does that drive? (And why would anyone pick 14 over 28?)
Following up the last one, I see it has a slot for an FPU, that seems to be more or less easily available on ebay for a low price, and you could also add a crystal... is the crystal only for driving the FPU? if so, does using it cause a "split" where the crystal is used for the FPU and the internal one for the other stuff? (Whatever it may be based on the answer to my previous question).

Thanks!!

 

[RichyV]

The '020 on this board runs at 28MHz - twice the speed of a stock A1200, and with FAST RAM, you'll get around 3.5x speed of stock.

The jumper controls the FPU speed (if fitted) to either 14MHz or 28MHz, depending on which you purchase and install. As they were expensive back in the day, it just gave buyers the choice of no FPU (Cheapest option), running at 14MHz (more expensive) or 28MHz (more expensive still). But FPU's are only for specific software that utilize them anyway...

HTH.

 

[Walterg74]

The '020 on this board runs at 28MHz - twice the speed of a stock A1200, and with FAST RAM, you'll get around 3.5x speed of stock.

The jumper controls the FPU speed (if fitted) to either 14MHz or 28MHz, depending on which you purchase and install. As they were expensive back in the day, it just gave buyers the choice of no FPU (Cheapest option), running at 14MHz (more expensive) or 28MHz (more expensive still). But FPU's are only for specific software that utilize them anyway...

HTH.

Thanks for replying!

so does the cpu on the card actually replace/override the one on the motherboard then??

the jumper setting then nas no effect on the board cpu, only on the fpu. (If instlaled).

I guess it would be worth it just for kicks, being that I can get an FPU for not too much (10-20). Any huge improvements on running that at a higher ext clock like 33 o 40? (Provided you get the right fpu and crystal combo of course).

 

[RichyV]

The '020 on this board runs at 28MHz - twice the speed of a stock A1200, and with FAST RAM, you'll get around 3.5x speed of stock.

The jumper controls the FPU speed (if fitted) to either 14MHz or 28MHz, depending on which you purchase and install. As they were expensive back in the day, it just gave buyers the choice of no FPU (Cheapest option), running at 14MHz (more expensive) or 28MHz (more expensive still). But FPU's are only for specific software that utilize them anyway...

HTH.

Thanks for replying!

so does the cpu on the card actually replace/override the one on the motherboard then??

the jumper setting then nas no effect on the board cpu, only on the fpu. (If instlaled).

I guess it would be worth it just for kicks, being that I can get an FPU for not too much (10-20). Any huge improvements on running that at a higher ext clock like 33 o 40? (Provided you get the right fpu and crystal combo of course).

No problem...

and, yes, it completely takes over from the onboard CPU.

The FPU can be clocked higher if you buy a faster-rated one and use the external clock, yes. But, as I say, I doubt you'll even use an FPU, let alone notice it being there (other than running a SysSpeed type tool). And no, the CPU is clocked at 28MHz, so you cannot change this (which is why faster accelerator cards are available).

 

[Walterg74]

No problem...

and, yes, it completely takes over from the onboard CPU.

The FPU can be clocked higher if you buy a faster-rated one and use the external clock, yes. But, as I say, I doubt you'll even use an FPU, let alone notice it being there (other than running a SysSpeed type tool). And no, the CPU is clocked at 28MHz, so you cannot change this (which is why faster accelerator cards are available).

Thanks again. So being I mainly use all my retro computer just for gaming, would your advice be that even if it's not that expensive I just not waste my money on an FPU or FPU+Crystal as it won't ever get used? (What does ise it? Cad progs, 3d modelling software, etc.?)

edit: extra question. As somebody else local here wants me to get them an accelerator board for their 1200, but I cannot find another like this one, are other brands just as good? Or better? In short, should I keep this blizzard one for myself and get them whatever I find, or would I be better in giving them the blizzard and for my own using a better one? (And which would that be)

 

[CrazyC]

I think if you ran anything that needed an FPU then you would be far more concerned about a faster CPU anyway.
There is a great thread about accelerators here on amibay: https://www.amibay.com/showthread.php?16681-A1200-accelerator-cards-A-buyer-s-guide

 

[RichyV]

No problem...

and, yes, it completely takes over from the onboard CPU.

The FPU can be clocked higher if you buy a faster-rated one and use the external clock, yes. But, as I say, I doubt you'll even use an FPU, let alone notice it being there (other than running a SysSpeed type tool). And no, the CPU is clocked at 28MHz, so you cannot change this (which is why faster accelerator cards are available).

Thanks again. So being I mainly use all my retro computer just for gaming, would your advice be that even if it's not that expensive I just not waste my money on an FPU or FPU+Crystal as it won't ever get used? (What does ise it? Cad progs, 3d modelling software, etc.?)

edit: extra question. As somebody else local here wants me to get them an accelerator board for their 1200, but I cannot find another like this one, are other brands just as good? Or better? In short, should I keep this blizzard one for myself and get them whatever I find, or would I be better in giving them the blizzard and for my own using a better one? (And which would that be)

In short - save your money and ignore an FPU.

The 020 will give you a speed-boost but is better from a compatibility point of view. An 030 accelerator is where the 'sweet-spot' of speed vs cost lies (and it is a whole step above this speed-wise). You would want to be using WHDload though for that as this will otherwise lead to compatibility issues with some older games. There are plenty to be found on offer here and on the other 'bay. It's 'generally' accepted that the Blizzard accelerators are the best of the 'old-school' boards. There are many new alternatives now also though...

 

[Retro-Protect]

What new alternatives' are there. I'm sort of interested myself in getting an accelerator card to replace my trapdoor 8meg memory card.

 

[RichyV]

What new alternatives' are there. I'm sort of interested myself in getting an accelerator card to replace my trapdoor 8meg memory card.

Essentially, at the moment, the ACA12xx range of products from Individual computers:

http://www.bigbookofamigahardware.com/bboah/categorylist.aspx?mid=102

But there will be more coming...

 

[trixster]

There is no sweeter spot than what you're getting - for whdload gaming it will run 95+% of stuff perfectly and it's free. It's as fast as a 25mhz 030 so unless you want to do more than game I see no reason to shell out £150 maybe £200+ on a 50mhz 030, or even whatever an aca costs. The B1220/4 is a great little card.