Amiga 1000 or Amiga 3000

[ATARI7800fan]

I am currently looking for either a Amiga 1000 NTSC or Amiga 3000 NTSC, with all hookups including TV out keyboard, mouse, and boot-disks and workbench. In good shape with little yellowing. Amiga 1000 with full 512K of memory along with possible side memory expansion. Amiga 3000 stock is fine would not mind the 8mb memory expansion though. Will need to see pictures first before I decide on anything. I am currently trying to get an Idea of what they go for. Was wondering which one is better to get from a game and collecting perspective. Also looking for NTSC games, mostly platformers, shooters like turrican, and racers. Thanks for your time.

Edited April 17, 2011 by ATARI7800fan

[+save2600]

I am currently looking for either a Amiga 1000 or Amiga 3000, with all hookups including TV out keyboard, mouse, and boot-disks and workbench. In good shape with little yellowing. Amiga 1000 with full 512K of memory along with possible side memory expansion. Amiga 3000 stock is fine would not mind the 8mb memory expansion though. Will need to see pictures first before I decide on anything. I am currently trying to get an Idea of what they go for. Was wondering which one is better to get from a game and collecting perspective. Thanks for your time.

They're both highly collectible systems. Night and day though as far as operation and expandability. Want to add a HD fairly easy? A3000 has built in SCSI. A3000 also has an 030, which makes it less compatible if you're playing games off disk. More compatible than a stock A1000 (which is how most people sell 'em) if you plan on doing the WHDLoad thing. Zip RAM, which is what the A3000 takes is tough to find and expensive when you do. If all you're going to do is play games, the 1-2mb of RAM it comes with is plenty. As stock, you can configure it to be 2MB Chip RAM or 1MB Chip and 1MB Fast. A3000 accepts up to 16MB of Fast RAM btw.

[ATARI7800fan]

I am currently looking for either a Amiga 1000 or Amiga 3000, with all hookups including TV out keyboard, mouse, and boot-disks and workbench. In good shape with little yellowing. Amiga 1000 with full 512K of memory along with possible side memory expansion. Amiga 3000 stock is fine would not mind the 8mb memory expansion though. Will need to see pictures first before I decide on anything. I am currently trying to get an Idea of what they go for. Was wondering which one is better to get from a game and collecting perspective. Thanks for your time.

They're both highly collectible systems. Night and day though as far as operation and expandability. Want to add a HD fairly easy? A3000 has built in SCSI. A3000 also has an 030, which makes it less compatible if you're playing games off disk. More compatible than a stock A1000 (which is how most people sell 'em) if you plan on doing the WHDLoad thing. Zip RAM, which is what the A3000 takes is tough to find and expensive when you do. If all you're going to do is play games, the 1-2mb of RAM it comes with is plenty. As stock, you can configure it to be 2MB Chip RAM or 1MB Chip and 1MB Fast. A3000 accepts up to 16MB of Fast RAM btw.

I am planning on using mostly games on disk, which one is more compatible with Pal games seeing as I am hoping to get a NTSC system. Based off of this information which one would you get in your opinion.

[+save2600]

No doubt the A3000 is going to be more compatible PAL wise than an A1000 because of its Agnus chip, but remember, it's going to set you back twice the cost of an A1000 and it has that pesky 030 processor and Kickstart 2.x or 3.1 more than likely. Both of those factors are going to put a damper on disk based gaming. BTW: most disk based games bought domestically are going to be NTSC. It's usually only when you're downloading software that you're going to run into the PAL thing. And if you plan on downloading games, how are you going to get them onto an Amiga compatible disk? Without this thing called a Catweasel, your IBM compatible cannot simply format Amiga disks. Standard Amiga floppy is 880kb.

 

Between the two options, If I were you, instead of looking for a pricey A3000, I'd just get an A1000. That has composite out and would allow you to hook it to just about any old monitor or TV. A3000 has a built in flicker-fixer/scan-doubler - which would allow you to use just about any CRT and most LCD's, but again - if we're just talking about gaming, I'd get an A1000 and be done with it. If you get addicted and yearn for more Amiga goodness, you can always sell (or keep) that and move on to other systems.

 

A500 only has B/W composite out, unless you get the A520 video adapter. That'd also be a nice setup for gaming and more than likely, already has the fatter Agnus, which would allow you to switch between PAL/NTSC modes. Composite video quality, which is color of course out of the A1000, is much much better than the A500/A520 scenario though.

Edited April 17, 2011 by save2600

[ATARI7800fan]

No doubt the A3000 is going to be more compatible PAL wise than an A1000 because of its Agnus chip, but remember, it's going to set you back twice the cost of an A1000 and it has that pesky 030 processor and Kickstart 2.x or 3.1 more than likely. Both of those factors are going to put a damper on disk based gaming. BTW: most disk based games bought domestically are going to be NTSC. It's usually only when you're downloading software that you're going to run into the PAL thing. And if you plan on downloading games, how are you going to get them onto an Amiga compatible disk? Without this thing called a Catweasel, your IBM compatible cannot simply format Amiga disks. Standard Amiga floppy is 880kb.

 

Between the two options, If I were you, instead of looking for a pricey A3000, I'd just get an A1000. That has composite out and would allow you to hook it to just about any old monitor or TV. A3000 has a built in flicker-fixer/scan-doubler - which would allow you to use just about any CRT and most LCD's, but again - if we're just talking about gaming, I'd get an A1000 and be done with it. If you get addicted and yearn for more Amiga goodness, you can always sell (or keep) that and move on to other systems.

 

A500 only has B/W composite out, unless you get the A520 video adapter. That'd also be a nice setup for gaming and more than likely, already has the fatter Agnus, which would allow you to switch between PAL/NTSC modes. Composite video quality, which is color of course out of the A1000, is much much better than the A500/A520 scenario though.

Thanks, that is what I am trying to decide, there are quit a few games I want that seem to be harder to find here in the USA like Jaguar XJ200. I was wondering how hard is it to find Fightin Spirit, was it released in NTSC can't seem to find it on wiki. Okay so out of lets say the 1000 or 500 which one would you get. I have found a Amiga 500 with a 68010 CPU that is for sell for 35 plus shipping.

[+save2600]

Thanks, that is what I am trying to decide, there are quit a few games I want that seem to be harder to find here in the USA like Jaguar XJ200. I was wondering how hard is it to find Fightin Spirit, was it released in NTSC can't seem to find it on wiki. Okay so out of lets say the 1000 or 500 which one would you get. I have found a Amiga 500 with a 68010 CPU that is for sell for 35 plus shipping.

Not sure about Fighting Spirit, but for the price, that A500 is a no-brainer to me. May as well snag that up, play with it for a while and see what you think. Do you have an RGB monitor from Commodore or whoever? Not sure if you're aware of this, but you can't hook any old VGA CRT or LCD to these things. The 68010 might present some incompatibility issues, so plan on getting a regular 68000 or see if the seller still has his original.

[ATARI7800fan]

Thanks, that is what I am trying to decide, there are quit a few games I want that seem to be harder to find here in the USA like Jaguar XJ200. I was wondering how hard is it to find Fightin Spirit, was it released in NTSC can't seem to find it on wiki. Okay so out of lets say the 1000 or 500 which one would you get. I have found a Amiga 500 with a 68010 CPU that is for sell for 35 plus shipping.

Not sure about Fighting Spirit, but for the price, that A500 is a no-brainer to me. May as well snag that up, play with it for a while and see what you think. Do you have an RGB monitor from Commodore or whoever? Not sure if you're aware of this, but you can't hook any old VGA CRT or LCD to these things. The 68010 might present some incompatibility issues, so plan on getting a regular 68000 or see if the seller still has his original.

The seller doctorclu told me he believes it is a 68010 but not sure. I did notice that in the picture of when it was running that a Amiga 520 was behind it, not being used, might see if he would also sell it with the computer. I currently do not have a monitor or really the space for it, that is why I was originally looking for a Amiga 1000. The 500 does come with the original box though. Thanks for the help.

Edited April 17, 2011 by ATARI7800fan

[ATARI7800fan]

Also is prime mover a AGA game or does it still work on the older Amiga's like the 500

[OldSchoolRetroGamer]

Also is prime mover a AGA game or does it still work on the older Amiga's like the 500

 

No AGA specific games or software can be run without an AGA chipset like in the A4000 / A1200 / CD32 (console but can be expanded).

There are various methods to get PAL / NTSC and older titles to run on newer Amiga models but no way what so ever to run AGA

titles on older models without the AGA chipset. Basically, the AGA chipset allowed newer resolutions and color palettes and AGA

titles took advantage of this but without the AGA chipset present they cannot run and the AGA chipset cannot be added or emulated.

If you find you must run AGA titles then your options are limited, if as you say it is primarily for gaming well then the majority

of titles have non-aga specific versions.

[+save2600]

The seller doctorclu told me he believes it is a 68010 but not sure. I did notice that in the picture of when it was running that a Amiga 520 was behind it, not being used, might see if he would also sell it with the computer.

Okay, so you're the guy he's waiting for an answer on. lol If you don't end up taking that A500, I was going to purchase it from him... let him know ASAP please

 

 

 

[ATARI7800fan]

The seller doctorclu told me he believes it is a 68010 but not sure. I did notice that in the picture of when it was running that a Amiga 520 was behind it, not being used, might see if he would also sell it with the computer.

Okay, so you're the guy he's waiting for an answer on. lol If you don't end up taking that A500, I was going to purchase it from him... let him know ASAP please

Edited April 17, 2011 by ATARI7800fan

[amiman99]

As an Amiga user, I would recommend Amiga 1200 as your #1 choice.

1. Can play WHDload games fine from HD, can use flash drive as a HD replacement,

2. Easy transfer floppy images from PC to Amiga via PCMCIA port using PCMCIA-CF adapter

3. Composite, RF and RGB video output,

4. AGA graphics, can play AGA games

5. Can be modded with internal CDROM drive

6. 2MB RAM stock, need to expand if using WHDLOAD

 

I love mine and is the only one that is ready to fire up on my desk.

Good luck