Need advice: IDE or SCSI upgrade for A3000+Cyberstorm MK2

[fgh]

Hi there,

Unless I'll find an Cyberstorm MK3 for my A3000, I will move my CS MK2 060/66mHz 128MB to it.
As the SCSI module doesn't fit the A3000, I'm looking at getting faster disk speeds than the onboard SCSI.
Do you have any tips or recommendations?

The A3000 has KS3.1, INT2 mod, Buster 11 and latest SCSI chip, so I think the 4091 and Fastlane cards would work. (It has old versions of Ramsey and DMAC though)
And I have a SCSI-IDE adapter, so the price of those is not a factor.
I was hoping to run som MacOS and ScummVM stuff that will benefit from the fast disk access, otherwise the onboard SCSI would be fine.

A4091
Pros: DMA. Cheapest
Cons: ?

FastLane Z3
Pros: DMA + ?
Cons: Rare + do not need the RAM

FastATA 4000
Pros: Available new
Cons: No DMA (= CPU load)

Deneb
Pros: DMA + USB2 + MapROM
Cons: Expensive + Need another drive for WHDLoad I guess?

 

[FastRobPlus]

Another consideration: Some Cyberstorm MKII cards stomp all over the Amiga 3000's bus and cause the on-board SCSI to fail to work.
I had to use a Buhddah IDE in one of my A3Ks for this reason. I don't know if that might affect other DMA devices on the Zorro bus.

I think your list looks pretty complete. A Warp Engine 040 with onboard SCSI would be the optimal solution. The only consideration there is clearance. I had a Warp Engine with low profile RAM sticks in an A3000 for about a year and it has smooth and quick SCSI if I recall. I think I even found a way to keep both floppies, but my memory there might be wrong. Adding that new 040->060 hack might give the best accelerated A3000 experience possible.

 

[Buzzfuzz]

A4091 are very picky and even if you have Super Buster 11, there is no telling if it will work, so my bet would be the Fastlane Z3.
The Warpengine is a good idea if that has an MC 040, and even then you will have to watch the temps, cause mine has active cooling and that will nowhere near fit in an A3000.

If you come to think of it, why hasn't anyone designed a good 060 FPGA card with SATA ?
That would solve so many problems with the A3000(T) and A4000(T) ;-)

 

[fgh]

Thanks guys. I have read about those buggy MK2 cards here.
My MK2 worked in the A4000T with RAM though, so it should also work in the A3k.

In fact I recently got a Warp Engine 4040 and a 060 adapter kit, but I was also under the impression it will not fit the A3000 without removing two RAM sockets or grinding a hole in the A3000 internal chassis.
Even if it did fit with low profile ram, that 060 adapter is rather tall, and at 80mHz I think even my rev6 060 would need a cooler.
So I was planning on using the WarpEngine in the A4000T..

I did consider modifying the chassis and removing the floppy drive, as I hardly ever use it anyway. But I thought getting a SCSI card was simpler

FastRobPlus: Are you sure the Warp Engine 4040 fit in the A3000 with low profile RAM? (It has four RAM sockets, unlike the 3040)

Edit:
If 4 low profile RAM sticks would fit, the outer floppy drive could remain, even if the inner one was removed for the 060 adapter.
I could have someone replace the four sockets with two angled ones, making it a 3040, but that's also not ideal.

 

[FastRobPlus]

There are at least two versions of the WarpEngine, and I know at least one of these two versions fit and work in the A3K. It's only been about 3-4 years since I had this configuration. It's possible that there's a revision of the WE that does not fit at all.

I seem to remember that the RAM sims and the heat sink of the 040 processor both brushed against the disk drive shelf. To get the disk drive (disk drives?) to fit, I needed to modify the drive mounting sleds the drive mechanisms are attached to, as the "tab" of the drive sled needs to slide through the 2cm square hole in the disk drive shelf in order to align the drive with the front plastic bezel of the A3000's case. Removing those tabs and positioning the drive carefully allowed the drive (actually both drives if I remember correctly) to fit and work.

The drawback was that there was no airflow for the 040 in this configuration, as there was no clearance. I was always worried about overheating, but it never seemed to happen.
I think the safer way would be to omit one floppy drive (the left one I think?) and hack the drive shelf up a bit, cutting a hole for the 040 to breathe though. I have not seen the 040->060 adapter's footprint, but with some luck, perhaps the adapter could stick up through that hole.

 

[matt3k]

Yes, the Warp Engine 3040 were the 3000 versions of the warp engine. The 4040 will not fit unless you hack the card to remove the memory slots and replace them with angled ones.

The 3040's are extremely rare, so you will be better off hacking your 4040 card. See if it has a Jumper for scsi timing like the 3040, that will save you from the int hack for scsi timing.

Good luck,

Matt

Thanks guys. I have read about those buggy MK2 cards here.
My MK2 worked in the A4000T with RAM though, so it should also work in the A3k.

In fact I recently got a Warp Engine 4040 and a 060 adapter kit, but I was also under the impression it will not fit the A3000 without removing two RAM sockets or grinding a hole in the A3000 internal chassis.
Even if it did fit with low profile ram, that 060 adapter is rather tall, and at 80mHz I think even my rev6 060 would need a cooler.
So I was planning on using the WarpEngine in the A4000T..

I did consider modifying the chassis and removing the floppy drive, as I hardly ever use it anyway. But I thought getting a SCSI card was simpler

FastRobPlus: Are you sure the Warp Engine 4040 fit in the A3000 with low profile RAM? (It has four RAM sockets, unlike the 3040)

Edit:
If 4 low profile RAM sticks would fit, the outer floppy drive could remain, even if the inner one was removed for the 060 adapter.
I could have someone replace the four sockets with two angled ones, making it a 3040, but that's also not ideal.

 

[fgh]

Thanks guys.
I did find a Cyberstorm MK3 for the A3000 after all, so the Warp Engine 4040 stays in the A4000T. Just need to finish that 060 adapter

 

[matt3k]

If you have the MKIII, by all means use the SCSI on the CS. Get an Acard SCSI3 to SATA (ars-2000) and plop a ssd in it and you are good to go. 30 mp/s, silent operation, and using the new standard.