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| Hardware: General |
Models, chipsets, memory, video and upgrades.
These are the main Commodore models, with their release years. Select a model to see its key
specifications as shipped (many were later upgraded by their owners).
Amiga 1000 (1985) - the original, which loaded its Kickstart firmware from floppy disk.
| Form factor | Desktop |
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| CPU | Motorola 68000 at 7.16MHz (NTSC) / 7.09MHz (PAL) |
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| Chip RAM | 256KB (512KB with the front-panel expansion) |
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| Chipset | OCS |
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| Hard drive interface | n/a |
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Amiga 500 (1987) - the best-selling home model.
| Form factor | Wedge (computer in the keyboard) |
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| CPU | Motorola 68000 at 7.16MHz (NTSC) / 7.09MHz (PAL) |
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| Chip RAM | 512KB |
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| Chipset | OCS (some late units shipped with an ECS Agnus) |
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| Hard drive interface | n/a |
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Amiga 2000 (1987) - a desktop "big box" with expansion slots.
| Form factor | Desktop |
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| CPU | Motorola 68000 at 7.16MHz (NTSC) / 7.09MHz (PAL) |
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| Chip RAM | 512KB (1MB on later revisions) |
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| Chipset | OCS (ECS on later revisions) |
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| Hard drive interface | None built in; added with a Zorro II card such as the A2091 (SCSI) |
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Amiga 3000 (1990) - a 68030-based workstation with the ECS chipset.
| Form factor | Desktop |
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| CPU | Motorola 68030 at 16MHz or 25MHz |
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| Chip RAM | 1MB (up to 2MB) |
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| Chipset | ECS |
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| Hard drive interface | SCSI (built in) |
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CDTV (1991) - a CD-based multimedia player built on Amiga hardware.
| Form factor | Audio (hi-fi component style) |
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| CPU | Motorola 68000 at 7.16MHz (NTSC) / 7.09MHz (PAL) |
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| Chip RAM | 1MB |
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| Chipset | OCS (with the 1MB ECS Agnus) |
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| Hard drive interface | n/a (CD-ROM drive) |
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Amiga 500 Plus (1991) - an updated A500 with ECS and Kickstart 2.
| Form factor | Wedge (computer in the keyboard) |
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| CPU | Motorola 68000 at 7.16MHz (NTSC) / 7.09MHz (PAL) |
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| Chip RAM | 1MB |
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| Chipset | ECS |
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| Hard drive interface | n/a |
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Amiga 3000T (1991) - a tower version of the A3000, with more room for drives and Zorro III expansion cards.
| Form factor | Tower |
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| CPU | Motorola 68030 at 25MHz |
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| Chip RAM | 1MB (up to 2MB) |
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| Chipset | ECS |
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| Hard drive interface | SCSI (built in) |
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Amiga 600 (1992) - a compact model with IDE and PCMCIA.
| Form factor | Wedge (compact, no numeric keypad) |
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| CPU | Motorola 68000 at 7.16MHz (NTSC) / 7.09MHz (PAL) |
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| Chip RAM | 1MB (up to 2MB) |
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| Chipset | ECS |
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| Hard drive interface | IDE (44-pin, for 2.5-inch drives) |
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Amiga 1200 (1992) - the AGA home computer.
| Form factor | Wedge (computer in the keyboard) |
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| CPU | Motorola 68EC020 at 14MHz |
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| Chip RAM | 2MB |
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| Chipset | AGA |
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| Hard drive interface | IDE (44-pin, for 2.5-inch drives) |
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Amiga 4000 (1992) - the AGA desktop flagship.
| Form factor | Desktop |
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| CPU | Motorola 68040 at 25MHz (A4000/040) or 68EC030 at 25MHz (A4000/030) |
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| Chip RAM | 2MB |
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| Chipset | AGA |
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| Hard drive interface | IDE (40-pin, for 3.5-inch drives) |
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CD32 (1993) - a 32-bit CD games console based on the A1200.
| Form factor | Console |
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| CPU | Motorola 68EC020 at 14MHz |
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| Chip RAM | 2MB |
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| Chipset | AGA |
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| Hard drive interface | n/a (CD-ROM drive) |
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Amiga 4000T (1994) - a tower version of the A4000, one of Commodore's last machines. Escom later re-released it, including a 68060 version.
| Form factor | Tower |
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| CPU | Motorola 68040 at 25MHz (Escom also offered a 68060 at 50MHz) |
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| Chip RAM | 2MB |
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| Chipset | AGA |
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| Hard drive interface | SCSI and IDE (both built in) |
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These are the three generations of the Amiga custom chipset. OCS (Original Chip Set) shipped
in the A1000, early A500s and A2000s. It can display up to 32 colours from a palette of 4,096, or all
4,096 at once in the special HAM mode.
ECS (Enhanced Chip Set) added more memory addressing and new screen modes, mainly useful for
productivity. AGA (Advanced Graphics Architecture), in the A1200, A4000 and CD32, raised the
palette to 16.8 million colours with up to 256 on screen at once (and far more in HAM8 mode).
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Chip RAM is memory the custom chips can reach directly, so it holds graphics and sound data.
The processor has to share it with the chips. Fast RAM can only be used by the processor, so
programs run faster from it because they never wait for the custom chips.
Slow RAM is a slower variation of Fast RAM. Like Fast RAM, only the processor can use it, but it
sits on the same bus as the custom chips, so the processor still has to wait for them and it runs no
faster than Chip RAM. The common A501 trapdoor expansion for the A500 adds 512KB of Slow RAM.
Adding Fast RAM is one of the most noticeable upgrades for an A500 or A1200.
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All Amigas use Motorola 68000-family processors. The A500, A600 and A1000 use a 68000 at about
7MHz. The A1200 and CD32 use a 68EC020 at 14MHz, the A3000 a 68030, and the A4000 either a 68EC030
or a 68040.
Accelerator cards can add a faster 68030, 68040 or 68060. Some modern accelerators use FPGA or
Raspberry Pi technology instead of an original Motorola chip.
In the late 1990s, Phase 5's PowerUP accelerators, the Blizzard PPC for the A1200 and the CyberStorm
PPC for the A3000 and A4000, added a PowerPC processor alongside a 68k one, so software written for
PowerPC could run on classic Amigas. Later, PowerPC became the main processor for newer Amiga-compatible
computers such as the AmigaOne range, which run AmigaOS 4.
For more technical background on the 680x0 family:
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Amigas output 15kHz analog RGB through a 23-pin video port. Classic Commodore monitors such as the
1084S display this directly, but most modern monitors and TVs do not.
Common solutions are a scan doubler or flicker fixer (fitted inside the Amiga) or an external
upscaler that converts the RGB signal to VGA or HDMI. The A500 and A2000 also have a
composite output, but it is monochrome; the A1000, A600 and A1200 have colour composite output, though
the picture quality is lower than RGB.
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Standard Amiga drives use 3.5-inch double-density disks, formatted to 880KB, more than a PC fits on
the same disk. High-density drives (in some A3000 and A4000 models) store 1.76MB.
From Workbench 2.1 onward, the CrossDOS tool lets an Amiga read and write PC-formatted disks.
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Yes, and more options exist now than ever. The community produces memory expansions, accelerators,
IDE and network adapters, floppy emulators, video upgrades and replacement parts such as power
supplies and cases.
Popular modern examples include Raspberry Pi based accelerators like the PiStorm, open-source
accelerator designs, and FPGA-based boards. Check that an upgrade suits your exact model and board
revision before buying.
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