Help/Input need before purchase

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Don't Panic. Please wash hands.
  • Hi


    I have a standard Amiga 500 Rev5, with no extra memory with ACA500Plus and Indivision ECS V2 installed, Running ClassiCWb 3.1, Indivision ECS V2 driver 2.3.

    SysInfo gives the rather unimpressive 512 kB chip mem and maximum resolution 640x512, STD Denise and STD Agnus.


    If I upgrade to a 8372A + 512kB extra trap door memory and do needed modifications to get 1MB chipmem will the system be:

    - upgraded to full ECS? ECS Agnus and ECS Denise?

    - Will I get more resolutions available for workbench? i.e. 800x600?


    If I also upgrade with a ACA1221lc will I get:

    - possibility to increase chipmem to maybe 2MB and run AGA games?

    - Increase workbench resolution even more?


    The reason I ask is because I would like to:

    - Increase the resolution, at least to 800x600

    - Play AGA games

    - Speed up the Amiga 500 processor.

    And I would like to build on the ACA500plus, but if cannot get what I want I will have to stand in queue for a Vampire 500 V2+ instead.



  • If I upgrade to a 8372A + 512kB extra trap door memory and do needed modifications to get 1MB chipmem will the system be:

    - upgraded to full ECS? ECS Agnus and ECS Denise?

    - Will I get more resolutions available for workbench? i.e. 800x600?

    With the ACA500plus you don't need modifications to use the trapdoor as additional chipmem, you can enable this in the menu system.

    Yes you do need an ECS Agnus to have higher graphic modes like 800x600. You don't need a different Denise as the ECS v2 replaces this chip. In the config tool of the ECS v2 you can enable ECS mode.


    If I also upgrade with a ACA1221lc will I get:

    - possibility to increase chipmem to maybe 2MB and run AGA games?

    - Increase workbench resolution even more?

    No an accelerator doesn't increase chipmem. The extra memory on accelerators is fastmem that can't do DMA or graphics, but is faster for running programs as it isn't slowed down by the DMA fetches (for graphics and sound). AGA is a different chipset, not available on a A500. The A500 is restricted to either OCS (what you appear to have now) or ECS chipsets (that you can upgrade to).

  • With the ACA500plus you don't need modifications to use the trapdoor as additional chipmem, you can enable this in the menu system.

    Yes you do need an ECS Agnus to have higher graphic modes like 800x600. You don't need a different Denise as the ECS v2 replaces this chip. In the config tool of the ECS v2 you can enable ECS mode.


    No an accelerator doesn't increase chipmem. The extra memory on accelerators is fastmem that can't do DMA or graphics, but is faster for running programs as it isn't slowed down by the DMA fetches (for graphics and sound). AGA is a different chipset, not available on a A500. The A500 is restricted to either OCS (what you appear to have now) or ECS chipsets (that you can upgrade to).

    Thanks for the answers.

    Ok, if I put in a 2MB memory in the trapdoor and replace Agnus with a 8375 instead, would that increase chipmem to 2MB and enable AGA games? or would that require a chip with AGA architecture, like the vampire 500 v2+?

  • I don't think you can put 2 Mbyte chipmem in the trapdoor, not without additional support hardware at least. There are cards that can provide up to 1.8 Mbytes in the trapdoor, but those can't be used as chipmem. Only the processor can access those. For chipmem the trapdoor can only provide 512k together with the 512k on the mainboard for 1 Mbyte total (when using the correct Agnus ofc).


    I'm not familiar with the vampire hardware, so can't tell you if that offers all the features you are asking for.

  • The only possibility to give more chip ram to an A500 Rev.5 are products like ACE2, Megichip and the like - these replace the Agnus *and* add memory at the same time. And I have two good news here: These products work fine with the ACA500plus; it will find 2MB chip ram.


    The other good news is that ACE2 will be available later this year in a slightly different version. Details will be published for the Amiwest show (which you'll be able to attend virtually).

  • The only possibility to give more chip ram to an A500 Rev.5 are products like ACE2, Megichip and the like - these replace the Agnus *and* add memory at the same time. And I have two good news here: These products work fine with the ACA500plus; it will find 2MB chip ram.


    The other good news is that ACE2 will be available later this year in a slightly different version. Details will be published for the Amiwest show (which you'll be able to attend virtually).

    OK, thanks for the update.

    Will 2 MB Chipmem enable AGA games, or will WHDLoad require an AGA architecture chip aswell, not only 2MB chipmem?

  • AGA is a substantially different chip set: No more Agnus, but Alice mith more DMA channels and 4 times the memory bandwidth. No more Denise, but Lisa with 16 million instead of 4096 colours, plus higher resolutions and more bitplane depth - that's nothing you can add to an A500.


    So the mere similarity that both AGA and a fully-equipped ECS machine have 2MBytes of chip ram won't let you play AGA games. There aren't that many AGA games, though - most of the classic ones run fine on OCS and ECS.

  • AGA is a substantially different chip set: No more Agnus, but Alice mith more DMA channels and 4 times the memory bandwidth. No more Denise, but Lisa with 16 million instead of 4096 colours, plus higher resolutions and more bitplane depth - that's nothing you can add to an A500.


    So the mere similarity that both AGA and a fully-equipped ECS machine have 2MBytes of chip ram won't let you play AGA games. There aren't that many AGA games, though - most of the classic ones run fine on OCS and ECS.

    Ok, thanks for the input. I wanted to explore my options, so thanks alot.

  • The last reply was more than 365 days ago, this thread is most likely obsolete. It is recommended to create a new thread instead.