pc tower A4000D

[amiga4001]

What would be best tower to try to fit A4000 in?
And of course I am searching for a cheap solution here.
Did see some views of big towers but surely a MIDI tower would be big enough?
Anybody tried this?

[patrik]

@amiga4001:

Dont do it man, it wont look like an Amiga in a PC chassis! :-o May I ask what the reasons for doing it is?


/Patrik

[vonshep]

I have wondered this myself, since I too have a A4000D -- although mine is a HighFlyer expansion case for my Toaster/Flyer system.

The Mirage tower case from Elbox looks really nice, but there are going to be some problems when it comes to my Toaster/Flyer system.  The Flyer has 3 SCSI chains (2 video, 1 audio).  In a normal A4000D, those cables have to go out the back where an expansion card would sit.  Now the Highflyer case has this solved, because it has 3 slots in the case specifically for the SCSI cables going out.  It's very nice.  The one thing that I do NOT like about this case is that if I wish to upgrade my Amiga (such as 3.1 ROMS and add 3.9 OS or add a better accelerator card), I will literally have to tear down the entire case just to get to the motherboard.  A real pain.  If it was inside of a tower case, it wouldn't be so bad.

If the Mirage tower case was a full size case, then it would work pretty well for me.  It would have room to put some Flyer drives.  It's half height though.  Not as much space as I would like, and I already have a "hard drive only" case for my Flyer drives.

So, I too have been wondering the same thing you are.  How can we put an A4000D motherboard in a full tower PC case?  I think we would have to modify the case with a sodering iron and drilling tools in order to screw the motherboard in properly so that it aligns with the expansion slots on the back of the case.  You'd also have to cut out parts on the back of the case for the monitor, serial, parallel, etc connections.  In short, it sounds like a big mess.  But people out there have done it.

I've seen some really nice PC towers that have built in fans that look like it would keep a Toaster/Flyer system really cool.  Plus, I would have room to put some Flyer drives in there.

Hopefully some Amigans out there who have done such a thing can enlighten us on the work involved in altering a PC case to fit an Amiga motherboard.

[amiga4001]

It would not look like an amiga that is for sure.
But there would be plenty room for 2 hardrives a cd writer(no matter what length).
And it would also cool my cyberstormPPC much better then it does right now.
Also installing cards/memory/hardrives would be much easier.
End last but not least my desk would get more room.
It isnt that I would trow away the original housing just that I woulg get a pc tower for around 10 euro.
If it didnt work out it doesnt matter that much.
Only have to know if a midi would fit because a big tower is just to say a little bit big.
greetings.

[Effy]

How good is your german language If you are german then send a mail to Walter in Aachen. He can modify a pc tower to fit an A4000 desktop at a very professional level. Ask him how much he would charge to do the work. I already bought one of his towers for 62 euro on Ebay last year ...  :-)

[amiga4001]

As a real amiga fan I would like to do the installation my self.
Got all the the tool that I need and got time to do it.
Also got a pc demolish centre near where I can get me a tower for a few euro.
But if it would only fit into a big tower I will not start with it.
Think I just measure it and go browse around for the size.
greetings

[shaf]

To Tower an Amiga generally the old AT Tower Cases are best.

I've never done one myself, goot with electronics but not Metal working.

Wansn't there someone here last January advertising modified Towers Suitable for Amiga's.

Cheers

Shaf

[yogisumo]

I've done it but it can be a pain.  I got an old 386 tower and put my A4000D mobo in.  I used bolts to suspend the board at the height I wanted.  I used locknuts and regular nuts to keep it from moving.  I used the original parts from the A4000D case for the backplane/zorro slots in conjunction with a few custom made brackets to hold the backplane.  I also used plastic nuts and bolts from Home Depot to hold the cpu board in place as it's sideways when the tower is standing up.  Had to carve up the back of the case a lot though for zorro cards and connectors.  I would have been better off just making a custom back end from sheet metal but instead I just cut new holes alongside/through the original pc ones then used a piece of painted plexiglass to cover it.  Used mouse extension cables for mouse/joystick to put ports in the back of the case.  It all works although I would likely do it differently/better the next time.  It took about 2 weeks of casual/spare time.