Mediator voor A4000D without fast turboboard ...

[Effy]

Don´t wanna get a Mirage4000 tower, too expensive. I only wanna use a Voodoo5, SB128, networkcard, and maybe a Powerflyer 4000 Z3 with only one big 40 Gb hd and a CDRW 48x12x50. Now why shouldn´t this fit into my humble A4000 D

That´s a contra for the Mirage  :-D

[x56h34]

It fits, but remember:

A4000D is tight with space = bad airflow
A4000D has a custom power supply rated at only around 135W or so.

Is it gonna be powerful enough for Mediator + Voodoo + NIC card +
SB128?

Mirage 4000 is just a bit more expensive and you get A LOT more for
it.


Think about it. Expensive and rare Amiga hardware exposed to more heat
and weaker power supply.

[Kronos]

@Acill

The main problem with the older busters was that they didn't work as good
in an A4000 as they did in the A3000. Something to with the A4000 demanding
better signal quality or draining more current from these signal lines.

So your experience does not help here.

Bout the Mediator being PCI-solution, all three possibilties have problems
so big that non of them could be advised with a clear mind.

My advice (specially for those that are still 68k-only):
Keep your miggy "real" (only Zorro).
Use (Win)UAE, will give you all a 68k-miggy can (and since lately even W3D-compatible).
Make a clean cut and buy a Pegasos (or that other board which I can't rememberatm  :-P  ).

[Framiga]

by Effy on 2003/12/5 18:23:21

Framiga : what has this got to do with my computer ?? I have got a humble 68040/25 and don't feel the need (yet) to have it replaced with a 33 Mhz one because that will probably require another crystal, not ??

quite and simple answer:

You wish to OC a 25 Mhz CPU to 35 or more Mhz . .right?

With those Vesalia 68040 cpu and for only 12,90EUR, you can OC without problem untill 40 Mhz (it is a 40 Mhz mask one) and beleive me . . . with a Mediator AND a PowerFlyer installed, you will need it :-)

Ciao

PS- we will see as soon as you wiil install the 2 new items and . . .forget to run all those items with the standard A4000 PSU (145W), as "x56h34" has already said.

IMHO the best option is still a Mediator 4000 with its backplane and a cheap tower case. (if you can't but a PowerTower4000)

[Madgun68]

Option #2
Mirage 4000 Pro (with Mediator)

Pros:
More expansion room (both PCI and drive bays)
Comes with power supply

Cons:
Cost (about $150 USD more)
Case is a bit ugly

You think the Mirage Pro is ugly? I like it quite a bit. (And it's loads nicer to look at compared to the other two towers.. They have more room but took a tumble down the ugly tree.)

I like the power supply on the mirage pro.. It's atx. If you should ever need/want a newer supply, you don't need to find an old at supply and hack it to make it work like my 1200's tower. :-)

Another good thing about the Mirage is if you ever want to use a full length zorro card, you can probably just move the pci cards a bit. With the desktop model, you might not have a choice.

In my system right now, I've got a phonepak, Powerflyer Z3, Voodoo3 2000, SB128, 10/100 NIC and a Spider.. With quite a bit of room to spare.

[Framiga]

Hi Madgun68

. . . ugly, i don't know . . .it depends on the personal tastes but cheaper in the quality of  construction and materials, for sure.

By the way my PowerTower4000 (one of the latest) have an ATX PSU too.

Ciao

[lempkee]

remember guys... amiga hw is like a pet

68k , ppc , PCI is stuff we all need


anyway for psu's in the a4000D , yep its small so i would advice anyone to upgrade that to 200 or 300watt, i blew one motherboard this way (because i didnt upgrade psu... )

[Framiga]

Hi Lempkee

if an Amiga is like a pet, mine ATM is a "sloth" :-) (bràdipo in italian)

Ciao

[Cyberus]

I have a desktop A4000 and got a Mediator Di second hand because it was cheap

In hindsight I might have got a tower solution, but I do also like the idea of keeping the original case

[Lemmink]

With those Vesalia 68040 cpu and for only 12,90EUR, you can OC without problem untill 40 Mhz (it is a 40 Mhz mask one)

I doubt that you could overclock an A3640 to 40 MHz, as it isn`t just the procesor that has to play along it`s all the other logic on this board too. For 33 MHz I would give a 95% chance that it will work. Remember, unlike a 25MHz CS MKII all the other pieces on this board were only designed to work with 25MHz. Depending on how much the actual parts exceeded the produktion specification they could take more, but for 40 MHz I only see a 1% chance at best.

And then again what it the point in overclocking an A3640 as it is the slow RAM-access to the MOBO that is holding it down, so increasing the clockrate will not make it that much faster.

[Acill]

Do you happen to have pics of the case?

I posted a pic of the inside of my A3000 Mirage case all set up here not to long ago. I have more if anyone is interested? I'll post them to the archive.

[Framiga]

hi Lemmink

i agree for the A3640 that was planned to work @25 Mhz..

But i have an A4000 CPU board that was sold in 3 models: (Hardital PowerChanger).

Mine @28 Mhz

another one at 33 Mhz

and another at 40 Mhz.

All with the same project (i had spoken personally with the Ing Bianco, the planner here in Milan).

FYI even if my board HASN'T onboard ram (like the A3640), the speed increment is proportional
with the clock speed (HD T-rate and even in ram access). The only problem that still is the hi latency of the ram.

Ciao

[Lemmink]

But i have an A4000 CPU board that was sold in 3 models: (Hardital PowerChanger).

All right the PowerChanger is a complete different talk, it was designed with 40 MHz in mind. Sure pumping up the clock will speed up performance but the gain isn`t as big as it would have been with a card with its own RAM.

I don`t know how it is in Italy, but here in Germany it is no Problem getting a 040 CS MK II for under 100 EUR
OK about 20 EUR for overclocking your board will be cheaper, but does that make sense today unless its your test `n toy Amiga ;-)