New A3000 Owner

[c64man]

Just got back from the Emergency Chicagoland Commodore Convention,  Ended up selling my Amiga 2000 and bought a 3000 with 16MB Fast RAM 2MB Chip RAM.  Got it for a whole $300 USD.  

So are there any recommendations as far as upgrades go,  Or is it a pretty decent machine stock.    I did order a Kickstart 3.1 ROM set for it,  and got a PCMCIA SCSI Reader for it that im putting in an external enclosure.   I also snagged a SCSI array with 4 18GB Drives in it for a whole 5 dollars.  Was thinking of connecting that to the A3k as well,  The ultimate in storage.    Also looking into an RTG card too.

Anyways cant wait to fire this thing up and see what it can do

[Oldsmobile_Mike]

I don't own an A3000, but just off-hand: updated Buster, updated SCSI chip, check the battery since it can do a lot of damage on the A3000 if it's started to leak, etc. Also a Zorro III video card like the PIV, and a X-Surf 100 if you plan on going online with it.  Good deal!

[ElPolloDiabl]

Skip the upgrades, and buy an FPGA arcade as well. lol

Otherwise do a search on this forum. It come up a few times.

[matt3k]

Congrats on a real nice system.  IMHO, the 3000 was the pinnacle machine from Commodore.

For RTG go with a Picasso IV or a CV64.  If you can live without a passthrough and use a switch a Retina BLT Z3 is a real fast contender also.

Cheap upgrades:

- Replace the PALS with GALS.  
- Upgrade the SCSI Chip to the Proto 08 or AMD equilvalent.
- If you have a battery on the motherboard, remove it yesterday.  Go with a coin type battery or wire it off the motherboard.  I have seem far, far to many 3000 die from battery leaks.
- A buster Rev 11 is necessary especially if you want to use z3 cards like you mentioned.

In addition here is a 3000 Guide that covers your questions:

http://www.amibay.com/showthread.php?59870-Amiga-3000-buyers-guide-myth-buster-and-Refit&highlight=mythbuster

[esc]

Recommendations from a former a3k owner:

1 - Battery!
2 - Replace PALs with GALs - this will help with heat.
3 - Upgrade SCSI
4 - Upgrade Buster
5 - Ariadne for ethernet or equivalent.
6 - Thylacine USB if you can deal with 1.1 speeds (fine in my experience)
7 - CV64 with passthrough - perfect for this Amiga. Can't stress how perfect and awesome this card is for an a3000 Not the cv64/3d edition, just the cv64!
8 - ACARD scsi to ide and ide to cf, if you don't want a spinny disk - also great for heat
9 - WarpEngine 4040 modified to have only two SIMM slots parallel to the processor so it will fit in the case
10 - Some way to throw fans in there and keep everything cool!

Enjoy! It's a great computer for sure. If you don't want to modify a warpengine, a cyberstorm will do very well, and I did 99% of what I wanted with an a3640.

[c64man]

Thanks for all the info guys,  I cant wait to get the 3.1 roms installed and get her ready to go.

I think I got a steal of a deal at 300 bucks