A4000T opinions.

[x56h34]

I may be getting an A4000T (actual A4KT from Escom/Amiga Technologies) sometime down the road and I would like to get some opinions on it, such as the case design, space, etc., etc., etc...and possibly some comparisons between it and other towers/Amigas. :-)

[iamaboringperson]

Case design is good, but not perfect.

There is a lot of space, however it's not used very effectively.

It is one of the most expandable Amiga's there ever was. Infact, there were 2 really, really expandable Amiga computers: the A 4000 T, and the A 3000 T. The A 4000 T was one of them

If you can find one, GET IT!

[Jope]

Isn't the A4000T an AT motherboard basically?

the logical choice would be to source a big AT case for it, if the drive rails etc are missing on the one that you're getting.

[Morley]

x56h34 wrote:
I may be getting an A4000T (actual A4KT from Escom/Amiga Technologies) sometime down the road and I would like to get some opinions on it, such as the case design, space, etc., etc., etc...and possibly some comparisons between it and other towers/Amigas. :-)

Oh no, now I'll get flamed again :-)

As a collector, I would definetly get the 4000T. It's somewhat rare, and it is the flagship Amiga. But IMHO the case is a worst case scenario. You have a really large case, but almost no drive-bays. It is also a pain to remove the lid, you can't run it standing up like most other towers with the lid away. (well, you could, but it's not tempting to do so...) But it has 2 video-slots.

As for expandability, IMHO the desktop 4000 is better... You can 7 Zorro slots just by adding a busboard, the PCI solution (Mediator...) is much neater, and you'll probably get a CSMK3 anyway with SCSI, so you won't miss the onboard SCSI from the 4000T. Also the 4000D has a HD disk-drive as standard, whereas the 4000T only has a HD drive working as a DD drive...huh?

Conclusion: Get hte C=4000T, only 200 were made.

[preacher]

I've just aquired an A4000T made by Amiga Technologies.
IMO, the case could have been better planned. F.x. I don't like vertical mounted HD's. A good thing about the case beeing so big is that air flows easier than in a A4000D, if it's full-packed. And, as you've already pointed out, it's cool to have

[Will-i-am]

I hadn't realized I was a collector, but now that I have 6 Amigas I guess I qualify. I have to say that the tower looks really good outside and is not so hot inside. I like the desktop models better so far to work inside. The DD floppy is more than just a pain to deal with, the several screws holding the case on have stripped thanks to, no doubt, the previous owner's ineptitude, and the cables inside wind all over the place, bumping into the CPU fan on the Cyberstorm and twist in such a way as to make plugging in the various drives and cards a problem. I found a nice neon-lit tower at a local computer hack shop and am considering checking it out for replacement, if I can somehow be assured the 4000 guts will fit inside in a better configuartion. I really wish I could find a good tower with two clips instead of 5 screws, and one that would slide open instead of wiggle-wiggle-pull-swear-wiggle. I'm tempted to build a rack system like the servers at my wife's office have.

[ltstanfo]

So you're getting an A4000T?  From the Amiga standpoint, either the A3000T or the A4000T are the only ones to own (in my opinion).  The case is BIG and as has been pointed out already, is an IBM AT form factor (case made by ENLITE).  I've had mine since the C= days (serial #16 motherboard with the rare HD floppy drive included in the case). Either AMIGA is easy to expand and offers good air flow in the case (compared to smaller desktop AMIGAs like the A2000, A3000).

One thing to keep an eye on is the power supply and the connector from the supply to the MOBO!  Several A4000Ts have "given up the ghost" in this area due to failing supplies that "spiked".  If you see any brown discoloration on the connector (either from the P/S or on the MOPO) consider replacing the P/S as soon as possible.

The ESCOM / AT A4000Ts were mildly different from the C= A4000T (almost entirely cosmetic....swing open door on case has different clear section and vents, color of MOBO is different....copper color for C=, green for ESCOM/AT).
The ESCOM / AT A4000T systems were made from left over parts so the functionality is identical as far as I have seen.  Both systems have two video slots (mine has toaster and flyer)and takes just about any A3000/A4000 accelerator ever made (mine has Cyberstorm MKIII with CybervisionPPC video card).

As for another person's post on this topic that you cannot use this case standing upright...HUH?!  That's the way I have used mine from day one.

You're getting a great AMIGA, just be sure to give it a thorough inspection before you power it up and start adding all those cards. :-)

Regards,
ltstanfo

[x56h34]

Some great info in here guys. Thanks.
BTW, what sort of power supply does the A4000T use? Is it a standard AT PSU?

[ltstanfo]

The A4000T does indeed use an AT power supply EXCEPT that the timing signal (pulse) is different.  There are various references to AMIGA based power supplies you can find by doing a google search (or similar).  I don't recall the exact specifics but you cannot use an AT power supply straight out of the box with either an A3000T or A4000T.  Someone else on here may be able to provide better detail.

Regards,
ltstanfo

[billchase]

The timing is more of a issue with the desktop versions.
I can't speak for the 3000T, but I am using a standard
Fortron 300W PSU in my 4000T.  The only mod I had to make
was to the plastic guides on the connectors.  Other than
that, it was a straight replacement.

C Snyder

[iamaboringperson]

The A 4000 T does indeed use an ordinary AT PSU

Just be sure to plug the connectors in properly so as to avoid this problem.

[Morley]

Goddamn it...

Considering the drive-rails required for the 4000T, do a google search for "enlight" and "drive-rails"... they are available everywhere. Not hard to get at all.

In fact the 4000T case was made by a company called Enlight, who still ships their cases with slides like this.

[Will-i-am]

Morley wrote:
Goddamn it...

Considering the drive-rails required for the 4000T, do a google search for "enlight" and "drive-rails"... they are available everywhere. Not hard to get at all.

In fact the 4000T case was made by a company called Enlight, who still ships their cases with slides like this.

Yeah, but first off, I had no idea of the name of the manufacturer...so that was a good thing to know 8-)
and secondly when I did the search mostly what I got was reviews of their cases, and the two places which claimed to actually sell the rails...one was out of stock and the other seems to sell a hell of a lot of stuff relating to cases, but no matching drive rails. If you were more successful at finding a place to actually buy these rails, maybe you could let me know that info and I'll try again. In the meantime I guess I'm stuck with duct tape...which it not always a bad thing. As Red Green would say..."if the women can't find you handsome they should at least find you handy!"

[Morley]

Hehe, my last post was sort of ironical, I looked everywhere for some drive-rails a while ago, and I ended up with getting some from another user here. (Thanks Lemmink! Too bad the money was stolen :-( )

So it was a little embarrasing to find out these rails were rather standard, or at least Enlight-standard. I thought they were something old C= produced themselves. Heh.

[Will-i-am]

Morley wrote:
Hehe, my last post was sort of ironical, I looked everywhere for some drive-rails a while ago, and I ended up with getting some from another user here. (Thanks Lemmink! Too bad the money was stolen :-( )

So it was a little embarrasing to find out these rails were rather standard, or at least Enlight-standard. I thought they were something old C= produced themselves. Heh.

Somewhere in South Korea in a dark alleyway behind a green door one hears the tink tink tink of tiny hammers pounding out little metal rails. "So, everyone thinks they have the right design for drive rails, but this design was my father's and his father before him! When all families own these 'Amigas', we will become wealthy and known the world over!!!" Fade to the present....."Oh, man! What will we do with all these useless drive rails? Who could have known that Richard Nixon's men would have taken over a computer company with the aim to lose money and thus conceal their 'Arms for Drugs' deal? OH, Grandfather, I have failed you!"