Goodness, A4000 couldn't help myself

[Lemmink]

I have to disagree with X-Ray about the MKIII. In my oppinion it was well overpriced the day it came out and still usually is when bought used.
To sum up the benefits of a MKIII over an MKII:

- Faster RAM-interface (64 bit, you have to have two matching RAM-modules in socket 1,3 and 2,4)

- SCSI onboard and UW instead of fast SCSI-II with the MKII SCSI-modul (but you hardly feel the speed in everyday use, as long as you don`t move huge amount of data e.g many GB around every day, or when makeing a total Backup. I managed to get 26 MB/s out of my CSPPC at best compared to about 8MB/s with my MKII / SCSI-kit)

- Bootmenu that lets you configure the SCSI-controller and kill the onboard IDE and aktivate a preparemul like option.

- Possability to connect a CVisionPPC (but there really is no point of doing so without a PPC, for 2D any ZIII card is more then good enough and for 3D stuff a bare 060 lacks the power, though I have heard Freespace should be playable with that setup)

Another Problem is that it has the same 68k-socket dieing Problem as the CSPPC as it is the same design.

If money it tight try to get a MKII / CyberSCSI kombo (alternatively a Fastlane ZIII is a good option too, but make sure it has a 8.x ROM). If you stumble over a pile of money you have no better use for go all the way and get a CSPPC.

As for prices, I don`t know how it is in the UK but here in germany this are common going prices:

MKII 060: ~100-120 EUR
SCSI-Kit: ~ 60-70 EUR

MKIII 060: ~ 200 EUR

CSPPC 060/200: ~ 380-430 EUR

CSPPC 040/180: ~ 200-250 EUR

[Lemmink]

by X-ray on 2004/11/28 23:18:30

@ Lemmink

According to the prices you are quoting (which I would like to see in reality) he can get a MKII with a SCSI module for 160 - 190 Euro, and he can get a MKIII for 200 Euro.

So at best he saves 40 Euros and at worst he saves 10 Euros (assuming he can even find a CyberSCSI module for the MKII).

Does that seem like a sensible thing for him to do, if your prices are right?

Well the prices I quoted are usual going prices on Ebay or in forums. While I have seen people trying to sell an MKIII for as much as 300 EUR I personally wouldn`t pay much more then 160 EUR for a MKII / SCSI kombo ever.
I wouldn`t pay more for an MKIII then for an MKII with SCSI too, since it is more likely to break down (when have you ever heard of a faulty MKII ?)

Well maybe it`s only that I never liked the MKIII from the start. When it came out it costed nearly as much as a small CSPPC and people seem to remember that when they try to sell it.


P.S. what do you find wrong about my price estimations ? Do you think they are too high ? Sure you can get away a little cheaper if you can wait..

[Lemmink]

In a classic Amiga nerver ever use IDE if you have the chance to use SCSI. No matter how fast a FastATA4000 could be (I only managed to get 6-7 MB/s out of it) it still eats up all your CPU-Power while accessing the attached drives.
If you are after cheap big drives take an IDE->SCSI konverter.
You easyly get a used Fastlane cheaper then a new FastATA and it will make you much happier (plus you can add another 64 MB RAM with cheapo 4MB 8bit SIMMS, though they are quite slow).

The only excuse for IDE on a classic Amiga is that you have a BlizzardPPC without SCSI, in any other case get an SCSI controller or exchange your accelerator for one with an SCSI option.

[Lemmink]

by orange on 2004/11/29 8:51:06

Oktagon is a lot SLOWER than built-in IDE. So, no, SCSI is not always better.

 
I`m not sure about the Powerflyer JJ mentioned later on, but I would actually prefer the Oktagon over the onboard IDE. Or more precise everything (appart from maybe some real stoneage dinosaurs like the A2090) is better then the onboard IDE.
You will only get 2MB/s from the A1200/A4000 IDE and that`s about what the Oktagon will reach too, plus lower CPU  usage.


@ JJ

Saying what I have said the Powerfyer migh be the better option for you depending on how much speed you actually archive with it (my guess would be about 5MB/s in real live). As no ZII SCSI controller can surpass 2MB/s by much there will be a major drawback in speed.
If you take a look at a nice ZIII or turboboard controller there is a whole different picture. You will get 5-8 MB/s in real live plus low CPU usage.
So what Turboboard do you have ? If it is a Blizzard 1230/40/60 I strongly recommend that you get yourself an SCSI-Kit.

[Lemmink]

@ Lemmink

I think the prices you quoted are too low. I don't mean to say that the Cyberstorms are WORTH more, I mean to say that they get SOLD for more these days. The last 4 Cyberstorms that I saw all went for more than $400 on ebay (one of those was a MKII).

The fact you state the price in $ means that you live in the US. I have allready learnd that you have to double the price of used Amigahardware from europe to come close to what is paid for it in the US.
Here you are hard pressed to find someone willig to pay more then 150 EUR for a basic A4000D with Kick 3.1 and Buster 11  (heck I have even seen some go for around 100 EUR even on Ebay when it is yellowed and scratched) while it is abagain in the US to get one for 250 $.

by JJ on 2004/11/29 17:40:55

I have a blizzard ppc 603e/175 040/25 without scsi

Well then I guess you are stuck with the powerflyer