a3000d project / newbie questions

Hi, all! I have decided (for whatever reason, probably insanity lol) to build a system out of an a3000d motherboard I got for cheap on ebay. I'm in the process of collecting the parts (so far a rev 7.0 motherboard, a rev 3.1 a3640@25 and a simm-folie ram adapter board are on their way to me, and I'm working on getting a daughterboard). I want to use a PC psu because I have more of them than I care to count, and I am hoping to get some recommendations on what kind of case to put it in. I'd ideally like to use a desktop style case, not a tower but I'm open to suggestions either way.

Other parts I think I probably need to get are a rev 8 wdc scsi chip, superbuster 11, and a set of kickstart roms. (I definitely need the roms, as there are none on the mb at all.) Can any of you think of anything else I will need besides cables, ram and hd? I have an external DD amiga floppy drive from my A1200 that I think should work.

Recommendations on parts sources (preferably in the US) will also be appreciated. I can get the bus controller and scsi chip for a decent price, but I'd rather avoid paying to ship roms from europe or australia.

Thanks for any help you can give.

-p.

[jiminy]

Do you have OS disks to install?  You will likely want a SCSI cdrom as well.  3.1 came on floppy, but you will need the cdrom for 3.9.

  You know that PC keyboards and mice are not compatible without adapters right?

A cdrom would be good to have - I might even have one of those in an old performa, but I don't remember off the top of my head if those system used scsi or ide. I don't have 3.9 yet, but I'll probably wait until I get the machine to boot (and I get another paycheck lol) before I invest in that.

I haven't decided whether or not to go with an adapter and pc kb/mouse or to get a real amiga keyboard and mouse, but I think I'd prefer to have an amiga keyboard. They don't seem to cost more than an adapter would - maybe less if I can get one off of ebay. I saw an A2000 keyboard go for $31 the other day, and mice are affordable enough, as well. Are there any disadvantages to using a pc keyboard with an adapter that I should know about?

[Ellis]

Building a system usually cost more than buying a whole system .The A3000 is somewhat hard to find and parts are tough too! The A3000 is also a little more costly than some of the others.I have owned a A3000 and you have chosen a great amiga ;so have fun either way.

As far as what to get well that depends but this is what I would do.  

Video card-I would suggest the picasso IV,Retina.
Accelerator- 3640 is really pretty good but if you want speed 68060 is the way to go!PPC is really awesome you would be able to get OS4.Cyberstorm MK 3 is a good one.You would also get a faster scsi controller with it also.
Upgrade OS- at least to 3.1 but 3.5 and 3.9 are also good.
Max out memory. should have 2mb chip and 16mb fast ram.
Upgrade Scsi controller chip to the new Western Digital I belive its version 08( I could be wrong) If you use a accelerator card with scst no need for this!

That's the big stuff I did not include any video production stuff are sound which I would also have.This is already long enough now.As far as keyboards and mouse get whatever one you like.I would say stick with amiga KB and mouse because they work and pc crap does not ( at least not as well).

That cd rom in the performa has to be IDE and will not work unless you have a IDE controller card.You could get a catweasel/budha that would get you ide and you could read all kinds of floppies.Ebay has some things and software hut (softhut.com)is a  good place also.        

Hope this helped some.

Thank You
       :-D

[dannyp1]

Don't forget you'll need a Super DMAC 04 chip and a Ramsey 07 chip.  They must be put in as a pair.  You will need the daughter board before the computer will boot.  I hope the board works before you put too much money into it.  If it is the one that just sold last week on EBay with all the missing chips, there is a reason hardly anybody was bidding on it.  There was probably a reason all those chips were missing.  There is some of the ram chips you'll need to upgrade the ram to max on EBay right now but it isn't cheap.  It always ends up going for a decent amount.  I have never seen the ram chips slip by everyone for a cheap price.

Dan

[sandpiper]

@pkillo

Recommendations on parts sources (preferably in the US) will also be appreciated.

I recommend CraigsList for used SCSI stuff, particularly external enclosures and CDROMs. You can pick this stuff up for a song there. What is junk to a Mac or PC owner is gold to Amigans.

Incidently, I just built a system over the past year from a stock A3000D that I bought for 'cheap'. As Ellis stated, building the system cost much more. I bought a WarpEngine, CV643D & X-Surf and several SCSI peripherals - and still building. I guess that is half the fun.

I am also looking for a Rev 8 SCSI chip but I am not sure what benefit that it would add.

Ellis: I think an 040 will be fast enough for me, the 060 boards are really expensive, as are the PPC boards. I want to stick to the 68k chips anyway, as I'm familiar with their asm syntax and have books on them.

You are right about the performa drive, I checked online last night. Well, scsi cd-roms are relatively cheap now. It seems to be the hard drives that are harder to come by. I have seen asking prices of over $100 for very small drives! An ide controller might be worth it just for the extra space I would have. Do you know which IDE standards the buddha supports?

Dan: What do the super dmac and ramsey chips do, out of curiousity? it looks like I will need a gary chip as well. It does look like the board (yes, it's that one from ebay) was stripped for parts but given how much the chips go for separately from the board I don't think it necessarily means it was not working at that time. (fingers crossed)

Sandpiper: I have found a source for the Rev 8 SCSI chip (and the ramsey and super buster) - compuquick-amigadirect.com has the scsi chip for $29.

Hmmm.... vesalia.de has listed:
IC 81-Super DMAC 390563-02
Yet, amiga-hardware.com says:
Super DMAC 81     390537-02
The 390563 is not marked 'super' in amiga-hardware.com. I think this is a typo but which way it goes I'm not sure of; I will have to enquire about it. Anyone have thoughts on this?

That leaves me looking for a PLCC gary chip, at the least. Well, I didn't do this to save money - I could have stayed in bed to accomplish that! Seriously, it is more fun this way than if it was easy.

Thank you all for the help. I will post more as the project progresses, and pics too!

[sandpiper]

@pkillo

Sandpiper: I have found a source for the Rev 8 SCSI chip (and the ramsey and super buster) - compuquick-amigadirect.com has the scsi chip for $29.

That's strange. Last December I checked with them and I was quoted $50 for their last one. I thought that was a little steep.

[dannyp1]

Don't buy the Ramsey 07 unless you are sure you can get the DMAC 04.  They MUST!!! be put in as a pair.  Otherwise, you have to go with the earlier versions of both, which is what originally came with the A1000.  The SCSI 08 chip & the Buster 11 can still be found.  There are Ramsey 07's around because it was used in the A4000.  The problem is finding the DMAC 04 chip.  I think these only shipped with some of the A3000T's.  There is no known stock of them anywhere that I have heard of.  6 or 7 years ago when Software Hut still had them they were selling for $70.  I have seen the SCSI 08 chips sell for $50.  The Buster 11's in the $30 range.

Dan

[dannyp1]

I'm sorry.  I meant the A3000 in the previous post.

Dan