Ultimates, Reloadeds, Chameleons, Oh My!

[seastalker]

I have a Reloaded 2 board SD2IEC and some original C64s and am overwhelmed with the latest offering choices and hope some with the latest toys might chime in.

 

There are few (but some) videos I've seen of people with BOTH a Reloaded 2 & an Ultimate 64 board. The verdict seems to prefer the Ultimate board over the Reloaded 2 except the Reloaded is good for chip testing whereas the Ultimate is FPGA so no chips can be tested except SIDs. Ultimate pros also that it is HDMI AND has built in FPGA SID with option for two real SIDs where the Reloaded 2 requires at least one real SID for sound.

 

SD2IEC has been ok but I hope to have a setup like my Atari 800xl with Side2 and U1MB (and homemade SIO2PC cable). Can anyone steer a buying decision on how accurate the FPGA implementation is from better to best on the new Turbo Chameleon, Ultimate 64, as well as the FPGASID? FPGA is only as good as the accuracy of the core. Chameleon is cool that it is a standalone OR cart but I have a MiST so standalone would only be used if the cores were 'better' or offered something the MiST cores don't. Though I COULD get an Ultimate CART, I'd likely go for the board and eliminate the need for most carts protruding awkwardly from the back; it seems the best tv setup with HDMI too. Has anyone tried using one or two FPGASIDs in an Ultimate 64 board to override the built in FPGA just to compare? It may sound redundant unless the cores differ in quality.

 

I imagine a lot of new C64 adopters would have these considerations and I thought to inspire a 2019 shootout of the best setup for different considerations.

 

 

[+sm3]

Hello, I have both the Reloaded 1 and 2 with a Turbo Chameleon 64. The Reloaded board that you have should be a lot closer to the original 64 (compatibility) than the Ultimate 64 since you are using the real ICs for the most part (there is a substitute for some things like the PLA and clock generator). When you use the Turbo Chameleon in cartridge mode, it's only swapping out a few things like the CPU, memory and maybe the kernal. Some of the folks working on the Turbo Chameleon implementation also work on VICE so it's pretty accurate as far as FPGA implementations go, but there are bugs still.

 

I have 1541 Ultimate+ (which you didn't mention in your post) but really don't use it much, it's just a backup. The Turbo Chameleon has a few things the 1541 Ultimate II+ doesn't have. One that I like the most is it doesn't tie up my IEC port.

 

With the TC64 you can also use the other cores like the Amiga while it's still plugged into the 64, something I didn't know myself when I first purchased it. Also, only the 64 core is officially maintained by iComp so for anything else there may be issues that are never fixed or updated.

 

I use a MiSTer now for anything not Commodore 64 related. I was using FPGA Arcade Replay for a while, but things move very slowly with that piece of kit it seems.

 

You'll just need to decide between the Turbo Chameleon 64 or the 1541 Ultimate II+ since you already have a Reloaded MK2 (in my opinion). But if you are like me, you will get the Ultimate 64 eventually as well