Wanted: Amiga 3000

[matt3k]

I'll throw my 2 cents at you as well...

Accelerated 2k to stock 3k, will not light your pants on fire by any means.
If you add video and acceleration to a 3k, buy a new set of pants.  The difference will burn them right off.  Z3 and the faster bus give huge performance gains over a similar built 2k.  I ran similar systems (3k with 40mhz 040 and retina z3 and 2k 040@40mhz and retina z2) side by side and the 2k was way slower.

The other item is a taste thing, many believe the 3k was the best built Amiga.  Certainly a 3000+ would have filled everyone's dreams of what the 3k should have been.   But if you think the 3k would be fun and can pick it up on the cheap.  It might be fun to play with, go for it.

The battery issue on a 3k isn't always an issue.  I replaced batteries on 3 different 3k's all with major leakage.  I cleaned the acid and mounted a new battery and they worked great.  So if they boot with a leaking battery I wouldn't run away from it.

[matt3k]

To be fair, for typical usage, I couldn't tell the difference between the Cybervision fitted in my A2000 or A3000.  Likewise, unless you're passing huge files across the Zorro 3 bus using DMA then don't expect any "wow factor".

Hmmm.  It may have been the z3 retina being so much faster than the z2 one.  The usage was very noticeable in my tests, particularly in screen refresh and IO.  Your use with the same video card would be more accurate, than mine.  Thanks for the clarification...

[matt3k]

Mind you, you got to test them side-by-side you you would have seen the differences (speed) more easily.

I don't remember the stats but a friend mentioned that the Retina Z3 BLT was way faster than Retina Z2.  The IO would be attributed to the NCR II SCSI on the Warp Engine and only having memory on the WE.  The Z2 bus for SCSI vs the CPU Bus accounted for the speed.

Probably safe to say we both had valid points ..

[matt3k]

Thank you all for the input, but I think I'll stick with my plan. I'm not under the illusion that it's a hugely more advanced machine than the 2000, but it has two things I really want: a built-in flicker-fixer, and a smaller-profile case. I like my 2000, but it's a beast, even by '80s desktop standards, and the fact that it needs its own separate monitor just adds to that. The 3000 isn't exactly tiny either, but in my setup I'd really rather just have a smaller machine, and then I can share a VGA monitor with my PC.

Good luck John,

I hope you enjoy all the fun of playing with the 3k.  It has been my machine of choice for years.

If you can't locate a 3k let me know.  I may be able to find a stock one for you.  It is a smaller case, but it is VERY heavy.  Shipping might get expensive, might be worth local pickup.