Please, stop this man!
He's writing drivel again
Problems?:
Well, I'm here to deal with them. Consider me your Amiga agony uncle, although asking me why your latest relationship broke up isn't that good an idea. Try and limit it to Amiga stuff!
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Your Problems: Here
This week's exciting installment is an expansion melodrama regarding graphics cards. Hold on, it's going to be a bumpy ride!
Q:
"Hi! "
Hi!
" Just been browsing (well,actually reading very thoroughly) your magazine.Great.
I've really enjoyed what I read so far: funny (when needed), but above all very clear and succinct in the parts 'We' (the readers) Need To Know(tm). The best examples (for they are legion) for me are the PPC round-up, and the notes on OS 3.5 - these are arguably the two points bothering me most at the moment. "
Thankyou very much! I'm pleased that the balance seems to be right, as I was very interested as to how it would be perceived.
" The 'Problems...' subject line above (which must have raised an eyebrow) concerns exactly this:Being an Amigan who is now an employed Amigan with disposable income, I want to beef up my recently-acquired A1200(030 4meg blah blah) to something better. I've put 3.5Gb of HD in it, an 8x CD, an IDE Zip drive, and all this in Eyetech's tower with a keyboard adapter, etc. etc. I have a VGA monitor hanging off the back and have Eyetech's A1200 scandoubler on order but... my machine just doesn't perform. MPEG layer III??? 22Khz mono! Naff. So I thought,
"Let's (both of my personalities) get an accelerator, or graphics card (let's not forget that I'm running DBLNTSC/DBLPAL/Multiscan therefore that slows things down too). What do I do?"
I've checked out a whole host of options
- a faster 030 board with room for more ram (would be cheap since I have a 32meg simm just sitting here),
- an 040 board of the same (dearer but faster, but I'd have to review the situation again in six months),
- a juicy 060 board with SCSI (bloody fast, but pretty dear for something that's already being called obsolete),
- a PPC 603 or 603+ board : really dear, really desirable, but
- a) what's the point in having the 060 version if someone comes out with a 680x0 emulator/library/gubbins that runs as fast or faster on the PPC?
and- b) what if Amiga Inc. don't go with PPC support?
In
- a), the expensive 060 is wasted if the emulation comes along, which I believe it will (sooner rather than later),
but in- b) the expensive PPC is also wasted)
What do you do?
Graphics card?
Let's see:
Sounds tempting...but see above. And it's not even out yet.
- Eyetech 1-slot Zorro 2 plus GFX card: 300 quid (near enough).
Blimey! Very dear indeed.- Phase 5 gfx card add-on for PPC?
The problem is that six months ago I would have gone straight for the 060. But now, everything is in flux and I'm paralysed into inactivity (is that an oxymoron?). I'm running 3.0, but do I go to 3.1? Look at all these questions...
Incidentally, your escapades with Wizard caused great feelings of sympathy.
Keep up the great mag, and I look forward to your reply/next issue.
Regards,
Mario Miniaci (mariom@visuk.com)
A: Well, apart from Mario having that old chestnut of the " multiple personality disorder" problem, he sees to have that " problem " of money burning a hole in his pocket. Dear Dear.If I could just take that extremely lengthy message point by point, I would. Anyway, is this an accelerator-or-graphics-card thing or maybe at a stretch both?
A graphics card would definitely speed things like screen drawing, and with a scandoubler on order, then it would make the base Cybergraphics 64 a very attractive proposition at £149
I'll come back to gfx card versus accelerator later, but now down to the hard stuff - accelerators.
To be brutally honest, I don't see the point in buying a faster 030 - you already have one, and it's even more obsolete than the 060. An 040 - well, no, because they seem to have the least bang per buck factor
If you have a full 50 Mhz 030 board, like the Blizzards, then you could get your hands on a 603 without 680x0 CPU and no memory for roughly £300, and with a 50 Mhz 68030 for about 50 pounds more. Looking at something in that same price range, a 50 Mhz 68060 (without SCSI, as are the PPC accels) will set you back between 300 and 350 pounds. If you look at the long term, then you have a machine which will be faster than any 060, and I, for one, firmly believe that Amiga International must go the PPC way. I know Motorola are making nasty noises, but so much has gone into it that I can't imagine any other chip.
Although the question about emulation might be invalid now I've steered you away from an 060, that was a point I raised a while ago. Although I might have worked for Apple, well kinda worked, I'm not so sure it would work so well with the Amiga. For a start, when was the last time you heard of an assembly coded game on the Mac? Obviously, emulation would be a neat solution, but as Mac users saw, emulation of 680x0 code was naggingly slow, even on such a well coded emulator as Apple's. IMHO, I think all future Amigas will probably have a 680x0 CPU co-existing until the need for such a companion CPU is not there.
So, it seems I've led you down to a toss up between a Cybergraphics and a PowerPC. Phase 5 should thank me for this, y'know!
Option One Eyetech single slot Zorro £99.95 Cybervision 64/3D £149.95 Total £249.90 Option Two Eyetech seven slot Zorro £179.95 Cybervision 64/3D £149.95 Total £329.90 Option Two Blizzard 603 w/out 680x0, no memory £305
I don't think I can narrow it down any further. Whatever you choose, it will make your machine a lot nicer. And with a tower, your expansion abilities seem limitless. One thing I would warn you about: you'd better not be wanting any other Zorro expansions if you buy a single slot adapter.
Trouble(d) Form
Your problem will be mailed to me, and then I will display the problem and possible answer on the next issue of The Lair! If I can`t solve the problem, I will ask the readers for their input.