Well now with hese's announcement of the AA3000+ I'm becoming really uncertain which one to aim for.
The most obvious pro of the A4000TX is that I could just put it in a unmodified ATX case. The internal and external connectors are very well placed to make for a tidy setup.
For me, the most obvious con of the A4000TX is the lack of PCI support. There are options, of course: One could plug in a Prometheus, but would have to live with several cable extensions to rotate all external PCI connectors by 90 degrees and route them to the outside. Also, this solution lacks Sonnet support.
One could also plug in a Mediator 3/4000T, but this would make the video slot inaccessible which rules out several flicker fixers... Hese also promised built-in PCI support, but in the light of his full calendar, this will probably take longer than my patience usually lasts... ;-)
The AA3000+ on the other hand would be best suited for an A3000 case, which I don't posess. Thus, I'd have to towerize it meaning heavy modifications to a standard PC case. On the pro side, it comes with a full flicker fixer, a Ratte switch, onboard DSP, SCSI, and PCI which saves a lot of expansion trouble. Also, owning a reborn and enhanced version of the "Amiga that never was" has an extremely high coolness factor.
However, the PCI again is lacking Sonnet support. And replacing the busboard by a Mediator is probably not an option, because the Firebird busboard seems to be a hybrid between A3000 and A4000 with connectors being spaced to suit neither the former nor the latter...
Why am I so keen on Sonnet support? Well, I've got a Killer M1 and all the parts for an A3660 lying around and have no intention to pay 2000+ EUR for a Cyberstorm PPC.
It probably is a luxury problem, but I find it really hard to decide. And I definitely don't want to build both given the cost and rarity of the custom chips.
I'd really like some opinions on the matter in the hopes that this does not go beyond the boundaries of this thread.
Thanks in advance!