Which Amiga to get...?

[Storm]

If you are after simple Amigas to use as gaming machines, I would go for an A500 for ECS or an A1200 if you are after AGA. I use WHDLOAD with both my A500 and A4000 with no problems running games or demos.

 

[BLTCON0]

I hope this helps, coming from a North American- oh, and you will probably never find a NTSC A500+.

I think all that's required for that is replacing the Agnus and the oscillator with their "NTSC" counterparts. As the composite video output of the A500+ remains monochrome, there's no real PAL/NTSC distinction there.

 

[Buzzfuzz]

I've gone trough this thread a bit.

I think that I'd like to keep the option to play AGA games; I've got a few on disk already.

The 1200 with like a Blizzard 1230IV and proper 10/20/40GB ide drive, is the best gaming rig.
Some swear by CF, but i have had nothing but trouble with these things.
Plus the performance when playing is a lot slower than a good IDE HDD.

The A4000D is good, but heat will be the biggest problem, certainly if you fit a 040 or 060 in there and an Indivision MKII or a RTG card.
If your going to run with a Mediator, it's better to use an A4000T or 4000D in a Eagle, Micronik or Quickpak tower or even a PC case.

 

[Balooga]

I installed a PAL mini Megi in my NTSC A500. No need to even change the oscillator.

 

[desiv]

I think that I'd like to keep the option to play AGA games; I've got a few on disk already.

Seems like that is core to your decision.
If you want AGA and you aren't interested in a "power Workbench" experience, then the best option is going to be an Amiga 1200 with some FAST RAM.
That gives you the ability to play virtually any Amiga game using WHDLoad.

Yeah, you could get an accelerator but that will only help with a handful of games (FPS mostly), which can be great, but don't really define the Amiga experience...

If I were you, I'd start looking for an A1200 (it can take a bit, but they show up from time to time).
With the new ACA1220 coming out, you can get GOBS of FAST RAM (more than you need to play games, but it's looking to be very cost effective).

Then you're only real issue is a display.

If you want to play PAL games, you'll need a 1084s or other monitor that will sync down, or a scan doubler of some kind.
You can get a basic scan doubler (GBS8200/8220 or similar) fairly cheap and you just need a cable.

Of course, you can get really great scan doublers, like the Indivisions, but if you're just looking to play games, you probably don't need that...

On the other hand, if you don't need AGA, I'd look for an Amiga 500.
If you don't need/want floppies (for the original experience) then an HXC SD floppy emulator is great.

Good luck..

desiv

 

[WhyreByter]

Looping back, I wound up getting a very, *very* nice boxed A500 r6a/501 (not matching serials, but I'm going to get over that).

And, I got a A2k thanks to the generosity of TjLazer. So, I'm full of Amigas for now.

Thanks, All!
Robert