3000 vs 4000?

[matt3k]

Hey Runequestor,

This is truly a matter of taste, with some emotion, and followed by what use you want of it.

First I have had both 3000 (Desktop&Tower) and 4000 (Desktop&Custom Tower).  Now I only have 4 Amiga 3000D's all networked together with various levels of expansion.  I personally think the 3000 desktop was the best piece of hardware commodore ever made, period.  The design suits my tastes and needs.

That's it for the emotion and taste.

The positives of the 3000D:
1.  Perfect sized chassis (subjective to needs).
2.  A fully expanded 3000 will be the same performance as a expanded 4000.
3.  Less prone to failure (my experience) then the 4000.  The only issue is the battery.  I have refurbed 3k's with extensive battery damage, and the denise socket may be a casualty.  

The only negatives I would say a 3000D has is:
1. No AGA.
2. A limited number of ideal accelerators.  The Cyberstorm MK3 and Warp Engine 3040 are about the best fit for a 040 or 060 with SCSI and Memory.    With other solutions you won't have SCSI or memory, or may have to hack the chassis to fit it in.


As I said, it is mostly a matter of taste, I found the 4k's to be annoying with IDE and caps.  I never wanted to play AGA games.    
Perhaps whatever you get a great deal on might help you decide...  Have fun and good luck!

Matt

[matt3k]

At matt3k

First why the hell do you have so many amigas? i dont get it...

Anyway I forgot about the A3k battery. Oh man when that thing leaks, there are components all around it the WORST of all the amigas!

Also AGA isnt just for games. If you do serious graphics or toaster AGA is invaluable.

To answer your question.  I don't know I just do...  Kinda neat to have them on my home network.  Because I can would be the only answer I can come up with...  My kids use one of them I, once in along time, I use my 3k system.   Heck, I even used my 3000T as my home server before I sold it years ago...

My serious graphics use was pagestream and tv paint, where RTG CGX worked perfect.  Besides games and toaster AGA, what would AGA give you over RTG CGX?

 I mostly use my Peg 2 with MOS 2.7 (noticed you had one as well) or the pc these days.  I have contemplated selling some of them, but haven't found my 'round tuit' yet...

[matt3k]

Rune,

The other big reason I forgot to mention is that simply put the 4000's feel cheap compared to a 3000.  The 3000 is more solid and wasn't chopped down by cost considerations nearly as much.

But as I said earlier, this is a subjective argument.  What ever one you get for the right price is the winner!

[matt3k]

matt3k

Its cool man I'm just tired of amiga hoarders who dont use the gear and just collect, when people out there coming back to amiga or need rare hw for projects cant get the stuff.. this is a real problem nowadays.. why have 2x this 3x that? silly

I agree with you.  That is exactly why I sold off my 3000T and my 4000's.  Didn't use them anymore...  My original logic for having the 4 3000's was spare parts frankly... But over the years I started cleaning them up and adding to them... Sound's like an addiction problem...LOL


I will sell off one or two of them...  I have been planning to use one with the phonepak to answer the phones again...  One kick butt phone system :-)

[matt3k]

Hi Damion,

You have a Picasso IV, now I'm jealous ...  My kids really enjoy their 3000 it has ton of educational games and they have fun with it.

I have always been partial to Macrosystems and the 3040 for Amiga accelerators.  The cyberstorm mk3 is also good choice.  There is a MK3 on ebay now if you want to snatch it.  

Have you ever used a phonepak?  They really have more features than many home systems you can buy today.  GVP did an awesome job with it...  

What parts do you have for the 3k stored up?  

I try to make use of what I have, but I admit to keeping spares of hardware I find especially valuable/enjoyable like the Picasso IV. Fortunately my kids enjoy the hobby too, so that helps keep them (kids and Amigas) busy. I've also gone through the process of keeping one for "spare parts", that eventually gets repaired and upgraded to another nice system.    

All this talk about the A3K is motivating me to finally get off my butt and finish putting mine together. I think all I'm missing is a good accelerator w/scsi that fits correctly (somewhat limited options there, LOL). The Phonepack is also a great idea, especially now that I'm going back to a landline. (Ditched the cell entirely - feels great!) One thing I like about the A3000 over the 4000 is the keyboard - the latter is mushy, only marginally better than the desktop models. :-/ Regardless, I still say buy based on condition first, trivial details aside either one will be very nice.

[matt3k]

The Warp Engine 3040 looks like an excellent choice. Great SCSI chip and apparently a fast memory interface. I wouldn't mind an MK3, maybe even an MK2 - and deal with motherboard SCSI, which honestly isn't too terrible. For what it'll be used for, I'd be content with a nice '040 card. The educational software is a good idea... might be more productive for the kids than WHDLoad (LOL).

The MK2 is a real nice choice, I ran one for awhile with the MB SCSI.  For the amount of data your pulling with an Amiga, it is more than enough.  If you can find a MK3 or 3040, it would be the icing on the cake.  I never ran a MK3 but I heard it fits perfect.

Sad story, I gave educational software as a gift, before I had kids.  My relative destroyed all of them.  I could recovery anything.  A real kind soul recently sold me a nice collection and my kids are having a ball.

Not yet - I have yet to use (let alone obtain) the PhonePak. I never gave it serious thought until you mentioned it. It looks awesome! I noticed this note at amiga.resouce:

The phonepak really is SO nice.  Compared to any phone system I have used, it is the best solution I have used.  I may have a line on a card, I will make some calls and see if I can dig one up for you...

Did you experience this issue? My understanding was that this shouldn't be a problem with a Buster 9 or 11, or anything other than an early 3640 WRT the A4K.

Not an issue for me at all, with the Buster 11.  I have no experience with the Buster 9 though.  That was well documented by GVP years ago, you did need a z2 memory card if your buster could handle it.
 

So far, just the usual bits. Buster 11, DMAC 4/Ramsey 7, the upgraded WD chip, and a load of ZIPs to finish populating the motherboard. These were all a very generous gift from a good friend and fellow Amiga nut a few years back. I have an Ariadne and PIV set aside, though I might end up going with a CV64 - seems a shame not to make use of Amber. (There's the old Spectrum 28/24 I've considered using, a decent enough card IMHO.) Being left on for long periods, I'll probably re-cap the PSU and use some kind of HD surge protection. Aside from that, I'm trying not to get too carried away as I often do. I'm sure you know how that goes...

Very nice system you will be building. Have fun.. It does start to eat up some time, because of the nostalgic fun...  If you need anything to complete a system let me know what you may need, maybe we can trade or I may sell.  I will be selling off one of my 3k's with a retina z2 and x-surf nic.