Difference between AST SixPack Plus and AST MegaPlus II?

[mk553]

I've noticed the AST SixPack Plus and MegaPlus II come up for sale from time to time, and on the surface, they appear to provide much of the same functionality. They were even made around the same time.

My question is, does anyone know what specifically were different about these 2 add-on cards, and what benefits one may have over the other, if any?

Thanks in advance!

 

[krebizfan]

For most purposes, the Six Pack Plus is the better card.

The Mega Plus II can have 512 kB with a daughter card (probably unavailable now), 256 kB without, and a game port with a different daughter card. The external port is the serial port. A second serial port header is on the board as is a parallel port header.

Six Pack Plus goes to 384 kB, game port built in, and the external port is parallel plus there is a serial port header. Unless you need the second serial port or have one of the 128 KB PC clones, the Six Pack will do everything much more conveniently.

Edit: One thing I don't remember is just how wide the Mega Plus II will be with both the daughter cards attached. Some of the other daughter cards barely fit without touching an adjacent card with XT slots but here one could have a three card thick stack.