Advice Wanted: Overhauling an AmigaOne G4

Hello Amigans!

I have just bought a second hand AmigaOne G4 as my AmigaOne Micro is starting to feel a bit old, mainly due to the limited onboard graphics.

So now I have a shiny new (old actually AmigaOne. But boy is this baby stuck in 2003! It has a "tiny" 50 GB hard drive, a Voodoo 3 (!) graphics card and a fan on the CPU that sounds like a 747 taking off... so time for a complete overhaul to bring it into the current decade.

So some advice:

1) What is the best graphics card?

In time I will go for the Radeon HD but given that it does not currently have 3D support I will just get something less powerful for now. The Radon 9250 seems popular. What is the best graphics card for an AmigaOne in terms of driver support, speed, 3D support and preferably DVI/HDMI output? Are there any special considerations I should be aware of (ie. supported voltages)?

2) What is the best and quietest CPU cooler?

And where can I get one? This needs to be whisper quiet - my AmigaOne Micro has a really noisy fan and I really want my new system to be quiet. I am typing this message on a high end PC (sorry and I can barely hear it - just a whisper in the background. I really want to get my AmigaOne like this so this has an impact on the graphics card choice too.

3) Hard drive

The world has moved onto SATA but this baby is PATA. Apart from needing a PATA drive then, are there any limitations? I don't think so but may as well ask.

4) PS/2 keyboard

A bit of a nuisance that U-Boot doesn't recognise my USB keyboard. I have a USB->PS/2 adapter but it doesn't seem to work so I had to borrow a PS/2 keyboard for now. Can anyone
suggest a working USB->PS/2 adapter?

5) Sound card

There is already a sound card in the system but if I am overhauling it then I might as well go all the way. One of these so-called "Envy" sound cards perhaps?

6) Power supply

How powerful should it be? 60W, 80, 100? I believe that PCs these days use different motherboard power sockets to what they did in the AmigaOne days, true?

Finally, does anyone know if there is a website around that lists hardware that is known to be compatible with the AmigaOne?

Thanks for any advice you can give and let me know if you have any ideas of how I can "improve" this system. Suggested hardware etc.

Looking forward to my upgrade!

Colin.

Hi Colin.

Graphics Card - AGP 9250 or 9200 Pro (RV280)

Cooler - Zalman Copper VGA flower if you can still get them. Its good and what I have here.
Be very careful when taking it appart. Add new thermal paste and check for plastic contimination. The factory left the plastic on the thermal pad on some g4 batches.

Change the CR2032 battery on the mobo whilst you have it appart.

There is an unreleased Uboot you'll now if you have it, check to see what type of harddrives are supported in the menu.

Make sure you have usb front and back turned on in uboot or stick a hub on there rear ports and put your keyboard into that.

You might have the onboard sound as it soundlike any early g4 model.
SBLive 5.1 emu10k has never let me down here.

I have a 500 watt PSU in my XE only because thats what came in the case.
Its overkill and i've had to add a few extra fans to increase the load otherwise it shutsdown because its not drawing enough amps.

Edit remember to fit the cpu cooler and secure the cpu card with nylon nuts and bolts if you have them. Last thing you want to do is short the girl out when powering it up.

1) Radeon 9000 pro is the fastest card with 3D support. If you get a 9200 or 9250 try and find one with a 128- bit memory bus.

2) I think most north bridge coolers fit OK so there should be a good variety to choose from. Something like this would be ideal because of the larger fan (lower RPM, less noise), but obviously not at that price.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/NEW-Evercoo ... 82?_trksid=p2054897.l4276

3) Get a SATA controller SIL 3112 or SIL3114. It's best to move away from using the onboard IDE anyway. Might need to check that it will boot from those cards OK but I'm sure someone with more experience can advise you.

4) Sorry, no experience in that area.

5) Guess it depends on how serious you are about the sound. I always found the SB 1024 to be sufficient. If you have the onboard audio codec I guess you can have 2 audio devices.

6) I think my XE was drawing about 90w under full load but you'll struggle to find an ATX supply under 300w. I think the PSU connector shouldn't be an issue. I have PC here with 20pin connector and the 14pin connector from the supply connects with no issues. It just overlaps. I can post a picture if you wish.

IntutitionBase has a list of compatible hardware. http://www.intuitionbase.com/comphard.php

If you haven't already make sure to sell the Micro to help expand the userbase.

@Hitman

I was encouraged to go with the Zalman VF900-Cu for the CPU cooler. Amazon USA sells them, but only the Blue LED light-up version. I couldn't find the no-light black fan version anymore. (lightup widgets annoy me, especially blue ones, bothers my eyes for some reason) Though I've yet to install it, I have one in a box waiting for time and finding everything. (We just moved to a different house and my computer stuff is all in a big pile of boxen somewhere)

I would suggest an Envy board over a Soundblaster board. Should give you better sound quality.

For power, I'm not sure. As I understand, PCs hav emoved on to ATX2 power supplies, though I have never seen one and don't know the difference myself. You should still be able to order an ATX one though. Get whatever power one is convenient, you probably will not find one less than 250W, and I would think that would be plenty. Though I've also heard of some untruths in the very high watts rated ones compared to what they actually provide, I'm not sure if this is still a problem or not. There's no problem in having a power supply rated for much higher than you actually need. It's only a problem when the supply provides less than you need.

I was selling my Xe it is really great configured

http://www.amibay.com/showthread.php?t=57645

If you need i have to sell a
9250 128mb lowprofile
9200 256mb
512mb single slot Ram module for Xe
Sil 3512 SATA pci adaptor.


about the videoboard:
The best video Board and last videoboard AGP compatible with the Xe/Pegasos is the 9800pro but on Os4 you will have the benefit of sdl fast rendering and the best overlay ... but no 3D acceleration and no compositing .

The difference between the 9000 pro and 9250/9200 are not much 9000pro is better about +14fps on Quakegl timedemo compared with 9250 but the 9250 is much faster in 2D operations compared with 9000pro.

@Hitman

1. Whatever 9000 series AGP card you can still get. although I never had any problems with a R7000 AGP 32mb, it was good enough for quake and dvds.

2. if the case has a side panel fan mount, I'd get a manual speed control 80mm fan and the biggest heatsink I could mount, then run the fan at low speed. low airflow over a huge heatsink works as high airflow on a small heatsink. and you can turn it up on really hot days if you need to.

3. I agree with the rest. get a sii3512, sii3112 or sii3114 card. If you can't find any I have a couple here I can sell.

4. There are at least two different usb to ps/2 adaptors. it's put luck on finding one that works.

5. Unless you have some amazing amplifiers and speakers it doesn't make much difference.

6. SE and XE models are very picky about what PSU they'll work with you need a good quality 250w-300w one. at least something branded.

Treat and Check the cpu module very carefully. the capacitors around the edge of the board are susceptible to breaking their connection at the legs. Also check the cpu model. some A1XEG4 have had cpu modules repaired and in some cases the cpu has been upgraded for example from 8455 to 8457. the latter cpu's are much less temperature critical. So if you have an 8455 I recommend you monitor cpu temp even if you have good cooling.

I really need to get my A1 back up and running its been out of action for 3years now :( just been too busy to do it this thread has reignited my desire to get it going again :)

Hey, Colin,

Where are you these days?

tony

@tonyw

Hey Tony! Long time no see...

I am in Germany now. Which is lucky for you because otherwise I would be knocking on your door asking you to fit the CPU fan on my new Amiga - I hate fitting CPU fans!!!

Thanks to everyone for the tips here. They are enough to get me going setting this system up. It is booting now, but too noisy for any serious use until I get a new fan. I don't understand how the previous owner was able to use it without going crazy as it is as loud as a 747 taking off!