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Amiga computer related discussion => Amiga Hardware Issues and discussion => Topic started by: drewz21 on March 28, 2006, 04:04:01 PM

Title: Chip upgrade
Post by: drewz21 on March 28, 2006, 04:04:01 PM

Two questions please.

On the A4000D is it necessary or beneficial to have Super Buster rev. 11 instead of rev. 9?  Would I be missing anything if I left it at rev. 9?

Also is it difficult to upgrade the chip on the board to rev. 11?

I've changed out KS ROM chips before with no problem but never one of the custom chips.

As always thanks for the help.   :-)

Title: Re: Chip upgrade
Post by: drewz21 on March 28, 2006, 05:02:20 PM

Anyone know?

Title: Re: Chip upgrade
Post by: doctorq on March 28, 2006, 05:08:24 PM

Quote

On the A4000D is it necessary or beneficial to have Super Buster rev. 11 instead of rev. 9? Would I be missing anything if I left it at rev. 9?

Necessary, no, beneficial, sometimes. If you don't plan on using any Zorro cards there is no reason to upgrade to Buster 11.

Quote

Also is it difficult to upgrade the chip on the board to rev. 11?

No.

Title: Re: Chip upgrade
Post by: drewz21 on March 28, 2006, 05:14:02 PM

Thanks so much for the info.

This statement concerns me though.

[/quote]

Necessary, no, beneficial, sometimes. If you don't plan on using any Zorro cards there is no reason to upgrade to Buster 11.

Quote

Do Zorro cards not work with the rev. 9 chip?  I would like to add cards in the future even if I don't right now.

Title: Re: Chip upgrade
Post by: TjLaZer on March 28, 2006, 05:21:31 PM

Well you need to find out if you have a socketted buster chip.  If so then it is easier to upgrade than the Kickstart chips!  If not, then it is one of the most difficult upgrades you can do to the A4000...

The only problem is trying to use Zorro III cards in a buster 9 system.  Especially more than one card.  Like the SCSI II cards that use DMA.  The Fastlane Z3 had a built in fix for the buster 9 systems.

Title: Re: Chip upgrade
Post by: drewz21 on March 28, 2006, 05:48:51 PM

Thanks TjLaZer.  Would I be able to use Network cards, sound cards, video cards?  Video Toaster cards?  I would definitly want to put a network card in but I'm not sure what else.

I'll have to check the socketing.  It was originally a 68030 system.

Thanks again.

Title: Re: Chip upgrade
Post by: TjLaZer on March 28, 2006, 07:49:04 PM

Any ZII cards will be fine, but if you want to use more than one ZIII card it will be a problem.  Video Toaster card should be fine too.  Using say a CyberVision 64 and a Commodore A4091 together may pose a problem.

Title: Re: Chip upgrade
Post by: motrucker on March 28, 2006, 08:22:28 PM

Quote

drewz21 wrote:
Thanks TjLaZer.  Would I be able to use Network cards, sound cards, video cards?  Video Toaster cards?  I would definitly want to put a network card in but I'm not sure what else.

I'll have to check the socketing.  It was originally a 68030 system.

Thanks again.

If you are planing on using a mix of Zorro III cards, the revision 11 chip would very likely help. If the chip is socketed, upgrade.
You may also want to double check the DMAC, and SCSI controller to make sure they're the latest.

Title: Re: Chip upgrade
Post by: zipper on March 28, 2006, 08:29:27 PM

Quote

TjLaZer wrote:
Any ZII cards will be fine, but if you want to use more than one ZIII card it will be a problem.

...using DMA to be precise, or ZorroIII bus arbitration problem. http://wonkity.com/~wblock/a4000hard/z3prob.html . Meaning A4091, Fastlane, perhaps some other boards, too. But for instance I had no problems to run simultaneously PicassoIV and CVision64/3D (and CVPPC, but it's not sitting on ZorroIII) on my Buster 9 A4000/PPC.

Title: Re: Chip upgrade
Post by: drewz21 on March 28, 2006, 09:11:45 PM

Great information!  Thank you all!

Title: Re: Chip upgrade
Post by: adolescent on March 28, 2006, 11:35:15 PM

Quote

TjLaZer wrote:
Using say a CyberVision 64 and a Commodore A4091 together may pose a problem.

The A4091 alone will not work with a Buster 9 (C= A4091 even shipped with a Buster 11 chip).