Upgrading my Amiga 500 , where to start ?

[Bjorn]

Hi all i recently got into the amiga retro scene again since i last bought an amiga 500 in the early 90's and i am loving it so far !

i have a all vanilla amiga 500 with nothing upgraded inside and i want to start working on it but there is so much avaiable at the moment i am a bit clouded about it

i just want the amiga 500 to look totally vanilla from the outside ( its a original chicken lips ) but from the inside i want to replace the rev 3 board thats in it with a rev 6a board from a donor amiga 500 i also own , i want to keep the original disk drive also and i really dont like holes in my amiga case

i want to upgrade the rev 6 board to the max avaible at this moment just cause that is the base of everything

From there on i am looking for a all in one accelerator card which also provides me the hdmi or whatever output to any monitor i like and make it look awesome
so also automated switching between modes when needed

Also i want a nice looking OS to use from where on i can play all the games and demos that are out there for the amiga
everything must be build inisde the original case

Can you guys give me some advice and tips what to go for ?

Maybe a Vampire card ? and then which one ? or maybe a different one

Pistorm i dont want for my 500

Thank you !

 

[SilkWorm]

If not a Vampire / V4 Firebird , maybe a Warp 560?

 

[darefail]

Do not buy an accelerator card to play games. They won't run faster.
An ACA500+ is more than enough.
Buy a ready to use CF card with all the games included.
Search for an indivision ecs and maybe a megachip for 2mb chip ram is a very good start.

 

[Bjorn]

Thank you for the reply guys

Is this aca + installed inside the amiga 500? Or does it stick out on the side ?

 

[retromind]

Thank you for the reply guys

Is this aca + installed inside the amiga 500? Or does it stick out on the side ?

It's inserted to left-side expansion port

 

[Bjorn]

ok thanks , i would like to have everything inside the amiga , nothing external , keeping it as clean as possible

 

[HomeLate]

How about a Terrible Fire 536, with a 68030 and 64Mb ram. Not as fast as a Vampire but fast enough to play all available games.

Next I would suggest a RGB2HDMI which is easy to install and gives fantastic results. I have on in my A500, A600 and A2000 and to me personnally the result is much better than the Indivision MK3 in my 1200.

 

[Mikele]

I keep my A500 as simple as possible (1 MB RAM + Gotek + RGM2HDMI) and it's a nice machine for playing OCS demos and games. Why would anyone need 060 card for OCS machine? Just for kicks? If I needed to tinker with Workbench I would get Spitfire SF500 turbo or any other HC000 or SEC000 based accelerator.

 

[Alex_Retro]

Giving you some feedback for your request
"From there on i am looking for a all in one accelerator card which also provides me the hdmi or whatever output to any monitor i like and make it look awesome
so also automated switching between modes when needed"
If you use a Vampire, which is great in terms of power, you have a dedicated HDMI, but using OCS games, you have to switch to "legacy" output port of the AMIGA, at least using the V2. You geht a nice desktop with SAGA, which is I configured to 720p (24hz?) or I switch to SCART connector while doing OCS gaming or demos.
So first of all you have to clarify for you, what do you want to achieve and what do you want to use your machine for: going for maximum overdrive? Vampire, Warp, PiStorm? Medium range TF536 or similar? Or like Mikele going for RAM only... Or old hardware only? Data transfer via USB drive (GOTEC) or CF card?
You also have to find out, what kind of RAM you need: Fast RAM or Chip RAM? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amiga_Chip_RAM
OS: there are different flavors:
legacy version 1.3
latest version 3.2.(2?)
or 3.9 which is a little bit older ...
or this some times https://www.apollo-computer.com/apolloos.php
In the end it also boils down to, what software you want to run.
Good luck

 

[Bjorn]

wow guys thank you for the nice feedbacks very helpfull

I want to use the machine purely to play all the games out there and play some demos thats it

I want to have the cleanest possible looking machine with enough power for my needs but not unneeded overkill

 

[Wohthu]

I'd try and install modern expansions that do not change what the machine fundamentally is.

There's a modern open source design for trapdoor expansion that gives 1MB total CHIP RAM, 1.5MB SLOW RAM and RTC. That's the most important upgrade, as a lot of software including many games (monkey island 1 being an important one) do not work with just 512KB.

If you wish for a HDD (or something like that, like a CF) to run whdload or to use modern software, you'll want CPU socket based GottaGoFastRAM and ide68k, or alternatively the SpitFire 500. That's also a chance to upgrade the CPU to 68010 (you'll want one that can do 14MHz one for the SF500, else any that can do 8MHz is good enough).

For a virtual floppy drive, "flashfloppy+" compatible new gotek model, external, with an external amiga floppy port adapter and some "DF0 switcher" (many available), a board that mounts between CIA and socket and allows to present external floppy as internal, controlled with a switch. This way you can keep your internal drive as-is, and still boot from external drive.

For newer kickstarts, just use mkick (soft kicker, available in Aminet). You'll want a500 to boot to its kick34/1.3 on power on to keep things original.

For file transfer, SLIP or PPP networking, or software development, a null-modem cable to another computer's serial port or to a USB-to-rs232 adapter.

 

[4MlGA]

For a good and budget-friendly upgrade, consider the ACA500+. Adding chip RAM is also a good idea. If you have an HDMI monitor, the RGB2HDMI mod works well. For a CRT monitor, the Indivision ECS V4 is a great choice.

 

[Bjorn]

thank you guys

 

[mkl]

If you wish for a HDD (or something like that, like a CF) to run whdload or to use modern software, you'll want CPU socket based GottaGoFastRAM and ide68k

Maybe you don't want that thing, because it is not very genuine. The published files for ide68k were meant for support rather than direct cloning to sell copies.

 

[YouKnowWho]

For a good and budget-friendly upgrade, consider the ACA500+. Adding chip RAM is also a good idea. If you have an HDMI monitor, the RGB2HDMI mod works well. For a CRT monitor, the Indivision ECS V4 is a great choice.

I put the TF536 and Indivision ECS into my 500 and I'm very pleased with it. I left the case a bit loose for now because just like @Bjorn I don't want to mod the case. I'm thinking I'll feed the cable loose above the RGB port with some pinch protection to not mod the plastic. I kind of set that part of it aside, but need to deal with it. Any ideas on getting the Indivision ECS out of the case clean without modding the case much?

Also @Bjorn, aren't you tempted to put a 500Plus motherboard in there at all?