Z3 Fastlane - Fast SCSI 2 Controller + 16MB RAM

Hello my fellow forum chummies =)

Today I am sending back out into the wild a Z3 FastLane SCSI card + RAM

If you are wanting to improve your A3000 or A4000 and get it away from PIO IDE then the Z3 Fastlane (a Fast SCSI 2 Controller) is worth considering

• It is capable of upto 10MB a sec Async data transfer, (achieved with Zero CPU load)[/*:m:2yb9ryeh]
• The card will take upto 64MB of ram in 16x 4MB 30 pin simms, [/*:m:2yb9ryeh]

I am releasing this little beauty back to the wild as I have a CyberSCSI II for my Cyberstorm Mk2 and as such I no longer have a use for it.

http://www.guildserver.co.uk/data_im...ne/pic-001.jpg

History

I bought this card from our Dear Kin Hell and it need a little repair to one of the capacitors, I repaired the area and layered it with PCB laqure protect

http://www.guildserver.co.uk/data_im...ack-repair.jpg

The Z3 FastLane is also bootable. its difficult to describe a SCSI controller, I suppose the best expression I can give is this.

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Using the Native IDE on my A4000 feels sticky and stuttery (even with my 060), with SCSI its instant access.... instead of waiting few minutes for a WHDLoad game directory to read, with the SCSI its populated in seconds and really breaths a new lease of life into the machine :)

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The card fires up and works fine in my A4000 :) if there are any problems I will refund you on return of the card =)

I am not looking for much only £60 + postage

:drool:

Damn, I'm out of a Z3 Amiga to put this baby in. :sigh:

Damn, I want this... I'll get back to you later today, just have to check something first :)

you should mention that its also upgraded to rom 8.5 :)

Very nice card!

Tell me - are there any advantages to using this over the built-in A3000 SCSI?

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Originally Posted by chain

you should mention that its also upgraded to rom 8.5 :)

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Thanks for heads up there Chain, I had completely forgot to mention it.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by PhilipMcD

Very nice card!

Tell me - are there any advantages to using this over the built-in A3000 SCSI?

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to be honest... I really dont know...

The Z3 Fastlane

• This device is a Fast SCSI2 controller.[/*:m:25n9ikxe]
• It can provide upto 7MB syncronous and 10MB a second Async opperation, [/*:m:25n9ikxe]
• A further 64MB of additional ram can be added to the system.[/*:m:25n9ikxe]
• Provides Active Bus Termination[/*:m:25n9ikxe]

I will look up the A3000 reference I think it has a 9933C SCSI controller (i believe this to be the same as the A2091)

Just to clarify: the A3000 SCSI is indeed a 33C93 (="SCSI 1") chip, which only allows ~3Mb/s at best. Normally only ~1Mb/s.

Minor correction: the asynchronous transfers are rated at 7Mb/s and synchronous are 10Mb/s.

@rkauer

are you sure about that my good friend?...

calculating it from Megabits to Megabytes 7Mbits = less that 1MB a second, and 10Mbits just over. Native IDE on an A600 is techncially faster than that. I think you might be a tad out my friend.

of course I could be wrong, but please read on-

In dealing with SCSI I was under the impression its ALL in Megabytes (MB/s) not bits like ATA and SATA (hence ATA 100Mbits = 12.5Mbytes / 300Mbits = 37.5MBytes )

I believe the SCSI controller is actually capable of 7MBytes and 10MBytes, the limmitation will come down to how quick the CPU can fetch from the DMA buffer.

Amiga Resouce and Amiga-Hardware both use the term MB/s not Mbs

Zetro you're right: it's Megabytes not Megabits :D

14 years using mine just confirm that! :thumbsup:

@ Zetr0

LOL, get ur Syntax's out eh. :lol: I'm sure rkauer knows it's megabytes per second & not megabits.
The only thing I'd say is unrealistic is the Async speed. Perhaps a tad high in theoretic terms & but 4 to 5MB/s in reality.
Stock speed CPU's & buses will find around 8 to 8.5MB/s sustained when set to run in Sync. But even so, there is NO CPU hit making it like lightning by comparison.
It's a bit like comparing Voodoo 3 or Voodoo 5500 to Indivison. 64 colours is still chuggy on the Indi using DblPal. Watch the whole Amiga's intuition speed up for slapping 1280 x 1024 in 24 or 32Bit over the Voodoo. It's like you have a New Amiga all over again. SCSI behaviour on an Amiga is very similar. Leaves the IDE flapping in the breeze throwing 90% + at the CPU. :****ed:

As for the comparison of the A3000's onboard SCSI, I'd be thinking the A3K's SCSI would have a slight edge. Simply put, it can address the A3K's Fast Ram 32bits wide accross the A3K mobo. The Z3 however is limited to 24bits due to the nature of ZORRO III spec. & ontop of that, it's good old fashioned 30pin simms for the Z3's Ram (16bit) - However, don't quote me but afaik, the Z3 can acess it's ram 32bits wide due to the express layout of the memory sockets in sets of four via 2 banks. :thumbsup:

Glad she has a new home with her repair job. Nice one Keith. :thumbsup:

Charlie