Amiga.org
Amiga computer related discussion => General chat about Amiga topics => Topic started by: fondpondforever on December 05, 2014, 12:19:01 AM
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Reading about the evolution of Amiga Computer's on a website and only just discovered that the Commodore Amiga 4000T is the most powerful Machine in Commodore's arsenal. It was the only Amiga ever to have both SCSI and IDE interfaces built in on the motherboard. Sound's cool hey. Is it worth £750?
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/COMMODORE-AMIGA-4000-TOWER-COMPUTER-RBM-TowerHawk-A4000T-/321537541443?pt=UK_VintageComputing_RL&hash=item4add218543
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That is not a genuine A4000T. It's an A4000 stuck in a tower case with an extra busboard. Commodore A4000T's are very rare (less than 200 made before C= went bankrupt, AFAIR). AT A4000T's are much more common and probably not worth that much, unless they've got a few upgrades.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amiga_4000T
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It's the case only, sorry about that link...Wow, didn't know that only 200 machines were made. How much do you think the Commodore version would sell for? Have you used Video Toaster before? Were there any exclusive 4000 games.
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I like this bit:
Since there was no way to remove without damages, computer is FREE BONUS - purchase is only for boogers and "mystery liquid" stains left on case!
More seriously, you'd be better off buying a real tower (which has the onboard SCSI etc).
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Yeah I Agree Damion, just glanced at the information without reading the details. Now you got me excited about Commodore's Original Version. Less than 200 model's were manufactured in 1994 so how people in the UK do you think own one? ;)
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Yeah I Agree Damion, just glanced at the information without reading the details. Now you got me excited about Commodore's Original Version. Less than 200 model's were manufactured in 1994 so how people in the UK do you think own one? ;)
hah i just replied to this over at EAB
I knew of a couple people long ago who owned the original C= A4000t in the Uk, have lost touch long ago tho.
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That's awesome. You should reignite your friendship with them again. :)
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Yeah I Agree Damion, just glanced at the information without reading the details. Now you got me excited about Commodore's Original Version. Less than 200 model's were manufactured in 1994 so how people in the UK do you think own one? ;)
Probably very few. :-) I recall maybe one or two for sale over the years. You probably know about the later towers produced post C=, I've never owned one but they're comparatively easy to acquire.
Regarding games, there weren't per se any A4000 specific, but you might loosely count the few that required more than the minimum (or close to it) spec to run. There were a fair amount released for the later graphics chipset unique to the A1200 and A4000 series (AA or AGA), you can read about those here (http://hol.abime.net/hol_search.php?N_ref_hardware=2). (Things quickly moved on, so there weren't many games that made full use of those machines' capabilities.)
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Where would be the best place to look for one. eBay?
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Capitalism 101: Things are worth what someone is prepared to pay for them.
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Where would be the best place to look for one. eBay?
Ebay, and/or post a wanted thread here and Amibay. With a little patience you should be able to find a mint one, perhaps with some upgrades already (if that matters to you). If not done already, plan on replacing the SMD capacitors to keep the machine reliable. (No biggie.) There were new ones still available not too long ago from SoftHut, but I have no idea if any are left or where to get them.
Capitalism 101: Things are worth what someone is prepared to pay for them
Well that's a pretty general statement. One person prepared to pay a certain amount doesn't establish a market. That's been proven over and over in this hobby, sometimes you get lucky, other times you better open your wallet...
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That's been proven over and over in this hobby, sometimes you get lucky, other times you better open your wallet...
Who was that guy that tripped over all the A4000T's in the alley being thrown out a few years ago? Man, I hate that guy. ;) *grin*
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The AT machines are not bad just not "Original", and not collectors items. I own one.
Chris
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Who was that guy that tripped over all the A4000T's in the alley being thrown out a few years ago? Man, I hate that guy. ;) *grin*
No way?? Some guys have all the luck. ;)
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Capitalism 101: Things are worth what someone is prepared to pay for them.
Generally agree but think that would read: Capitalism 101: Things are worth the price paid for them.
Capitalism has no concept of people; markets and consumers are as close as it gets.
Value is a personal judgement of worth. Different people determine what some thing is worth for themselves, which has no bearing on a successful financial transaction. At least without other influences that is. Like extortion or threats of violence.
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Be reasonable, the C= ones had a different looking front fascia than the AT models, otherwise they were identical. Yes this makes them rare, but so what? There are good reasons to own an A4000T: plenty of space for drives (5 external bays & 1 internal one), coin battery with a battery connector for replaceable AT-style batteries, large roomy case (a standard AT case from Enlight, a company still in the business), a standard AT PSU, extra ports in back for "goodies" -- USB ports & Indivision AGA DVI connectors, plenty of Z3 slots and an extra fan for cooling. They are easy to open and work on, able to leap tall buildings in a single bound (oops, that may have been Superman), and more were sold in the states than in Europe.
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Although rare the 4000T had advantages but nothing a guy with a 4000 desktop could not achieve. Ive had my 4000D in a tower for years running a VT Flyer system and its been working for most of the time. I think the biggest issue with A4000s in general is the power supplies and failing 3640 boards. I upgraded my 4000s power supply to a standard 700watt ATX and adapted the power connector to fit.
Adding a SCSI controller is easy and the Mediator board give it the ability to mount the cards in correctly for a tower case.
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Although rare the 4000T had advantages but nothing a guy with a 4000 desktop could not achieve. Ive had my 4000D in a tower for years running a VT Flyer system and its been working for most of the time. I think the biggest issue with A4000s in general is the power supplies and failing 3640 boards. I upgraded my 4000s power supply to a standard 700watt ATX and adapted the power connector to fit.
Adding a SCSI controller is easy and the Mediator board give it the ability to mount the cards in correctly for a tower case.
if you have a A4000 with 4091 scsi controller its basically not much difference.
I replace the fan in the 4000 psu's with a higher cfm quiet one usually when i get one.
I find the the 3640's are quite reliable, the biggest thing that causes most people to think they are dead is capacitors(some of which are soldered on with backward polarity) leak on the boards,there are traces running under the caps and the leakage eats the trace. i have repaired dozens of them over the last 20 years with this trouble.
I have overclocked a good few to 35mhz+ and they run fine even in toaster systems.
The Pals on the 3640 are good for 50mhz~.
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I would only add that the 4000T SCSI is faster than a 4000D+4091, but I doubt you'd notice the difference.
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Reading about the evolution of Amiga Computer's on a website and only just discovered that the Commodore Amiga 4000T is the most powerful Machine in Commodore's arsenal. It was the only Amiga ever to have both SCSI and IDE interfaces built in on the motherboard. Sound's cool hey. Is it worth £750?
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/COMMODORE-AMIGA-4000-TOWER-COMPUTER-RBM-TowerHawk-A4000T-/321537541443?pt=UK_VintageComputing_RL&hash=item4add218543
It's worth what someone is willing to pay.
I don't personally rate the 4000 very highly, it was cobbled together when Commodore were at death's door.
My favorite big boxer is the A3000 :)
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Yes, they are rare - Mathias Münch and me has compiled this list of A4000T owners:
http://www.bigbookofamigahardware.com/forum/yaf_postst27_CBM-A4000T-serials.aspx - less than 20 known owners.
In an email from 1996 send from Peter Kittel to a german A4000T user, Peter wrote "that only ~35 Machines got deliverd WORKING to customers, ~35 where NOT working. All in all only ~70 machines left Commodore for customers."
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It's the case only, sorry about that link...Wow, didn't know that only 200 machines were made. How much do you think the Commodore version would sell for? Have you used Video Toaster before? Were there any exclusive 4000 games.
Last one I saw listed was up to around £6,000, so yes they fetch a large price.