website/content/museum/commodore-amiga-4000.md

---
title: Commodore AMIGA 4000
categories:
- Computers
types:
- Home Computer
origins:
- U.S.A.
years:
- '1992'
cpus:
- Motorola MC68EC030
params:
  name: AMIGA 4000
  company: /companies/commodore
  company_name: Commodore
  specs:
  - label: NAME
    value: AMIGA 4000
  - label: MANUFACTURER
    value: Commodore
  - label: TYPE
    value: Home Computer
  - label: ORIGIN
    value: U.S.A.
  - label: YEAR
    value: '1992'
  - label: KEYBOARD
    value: detachable full-stroke keyboard with 10 function keys and cursor keys and separate numeric keypad
  - label: CPU
    value: Motorola MC68EC030 (Eco version of the 68030) or MC68040
  - label: SPEED
    value: 25 mHz
  - label: CO-PROCESSOR
    value: Alice (Blitter and Memory Manager), Lisa (Video chip)
  - label: RAM
    value: 2Mb CHIP RAM + 2Mb or 4Mb Fast RAM (up to 16 Mb, and theorically to 4 Gb)
  - label: ROM
    value: 512 Kb
  - label: TEXT MODES
    value: 60 x 32 / 80 x 32
  - label: GRAPHIC MODES
    value: from 320 x 200 to 800 x 600 or 1280 x 400 and more with overscan
  - label: COLORS
    value: |-
      16.8 millions colors\
      2 to 256,000 user-definable colours displayable on screen
  - label: SOUND
    value: Four channel stereo sound, 8 bits D/A converters
  - label: SIZE / WEIGHT
    value: 15 1/4'' deep x 15'' wide x 5'' high / 20 pounds
  - label: I/O PORTS
    value: Centronics, RS232c, internal and external disk-drive ports, internal AT IDE port, keyboard, audio stereo output, mouse/joysticks (2), RGB,optional SCSI adapter, Four 16/32-bit Zorro III expansion slots, Three PC AT slots, Video slot
  - label: BUILT IN MEDIA
    value: 3.5-inch high density disk drive (880 KB/1.76 MB formatted) and 120Mb hard-drive
  - label: OS
    value: AMIGA WorKBench 3.x, AmigaDOS 3.0
  - label: POWER SUPPLY
    value: Built-in PSU
  tabs:
  - photos
  - adverts
  - hardware
  - emulators
  - links
  - videos
  photos:
  - title: AMIGA 4000/040
    subtitle: ''
    text: ''
    image: null
  - title: AMIGA 4000T
    subtitle: ''
    text: The TOWER model.
    image: null
  - title: 'AMIGA 4000T #2'
    subtitle: ''
    text: ''
    image: null
  - title: AMIGA 4000/040 UC
    subtitle: ''
    text: ''
    image: null
  - title: AMIGA 4000/040 LABEL
    subtitle: ''
    text: Note the "intel outside" sticker !
    image: null
  - title: REAR
    subtitle: ''
    text: This is the rear of an Amiga 4000 equiped with a video-toaster.
    image: null
  - title: 'REAR #2'
    subtitle: ''
    text: ''
    image: null
  adverts:
  - title: AMIGAWORLD PREVIEW
    subtitle: ''
    text: Thanks to Jun Suzuki [web site](http://member.nifty.ne.jp/tarucus/museum/cool/cool.htm)
    image: null
  hardware:
  - title: MIDI GOLD 500
    subtitle: by Golden Hawk Technology
    text: |-
      This is a MIDI interface for the Amiga 500, 2000, or 3000...

      It features :\
      \- one MIDI In\
      \- two MIDI Out\
      \- one switchable Out/Thru\
      \- one MIDI/Serial Switch\
      \- one Out/Thru Switch
    image: /media/museum/hardware/commodore_amiga_golden-hawk-midi-interface.jpg
  - title: AMIGA 1300
    subtitle: Genlock
    text: ''
    image: /media/museum/hardware/commodore_amiga1000_1300-genlock.jpg
  - title: MEMORY EXPANSION BOARD
    subtitle: ''
    text: 2 / 4 / 6 / 8 MB expansion card here fitted with 2 MB.
    image: /media/museum/hardware/commodore_amiga1500_memboard_1.jpg
  - title: VIDEO BOARD
    subtitle: ''
    text: This board featured 2 MB of RAM and allowed the Amiga to be connected to a standard VGA monitor. All the video modes could be displayed, including the interlace one.
    image: /media/museum/hardware/commodore_amiga1500_videoboard_1.jpg
  - title: A570 CD-ROM
    subtitle: ''
    text: Thanks to David Griffith for this picture
    image: /media/museum/hardware/amiga_cdrom_a570_1.jpg
  - title: HARD DISK CARD
    subtitle: ''
    text: |-
      40 MB SCSI card from SUPRA CORP.

      Additional SCSI devices could be connected in chain trough the back connector
    image: /media/museum/hardware/commodore_amiga1500_hdboard_1.jpg
  emulators:
  - title: Amiga Forever
    url: http://www.amigaforever.com/
    platform: Windows
    text: Complete but commercial Amiga emulator
  - title: AMIthlon & AmigaXL
    url: http://amigaosxl.haage-partner.de/index-e.html
    platform: Windows
    text: Powerful commercial emulators
  - title: WinFellow
    url: HTTP://FELLOW.SOURCEFORGE.NET
    platform: Windows
    text: Probably better at some games than UAE, but not as versatile.
  - title: WinUAE
    url: http://www.winuae.net/
    platform: Windows
    text: The best Amiga emulator ? :-)
  - title: Max UAE
    url: http://maxuae.de/
    platform: Apple
    text: UAE for Mac OS X
  - title: AmigaSYS
    url: http://amigasys.fw.hu/
    platform: Unix / Linux
    text: AmigaSYS is a pre-installed full Amiga OS for WinUAE
  - title: Pocket UAE
    url: http://pocketinsanity.sourceforge.net/
    platform: Other platform
    text: Amiga Emulator for Pocket PC
  - title: Experimental UAE
    url: http://www.rcdrummond.net/uae/
    platform: Multiplatform
    text: Standard UAE enhanced with features from WinUAE.
  - title: MESS
    url: http://www.mess.org
    platform: Multiplatform
    text: MESS now emulates the Commodore Amiga
  - title: UAE
    url: http://www.freiburg.linux.de/~uae/
    platform: Multiplatform
    text: '(Ubiquitous Amiga Emulator) for BeOS, Mac OS, Linux, NextStep, MSDOS, OS/2 and Win95/NT : Homepage.'
  links:
  - title: Amiga animations
    url: http://www.randelshofer.ch/animations/
    text: A collection of Amiga Animations. This is the only site where you can see them online!
  - title: Amiga Interactive Guide
    url: http://amiga.emugaming.com/
    text: Excellent site ! A lot of very interesting infos there.
  - title: Amiga Island
    url: http://www.virtualpast.de/
    text: Excellent site with ROMs to download!
  - title: Amiga Web Directory
    url: http://www.cucug.org/amiga.html
    text: ''
  - title: AMIGART.COM
    url: http://www.amigart.com
    text: Nice site with Amiga news
  - title: Back to the Roots
    url: HTTP://WWW.BACK2ROOTS.ORG/
    text: Amiga culture, guides, huge collection of legally downloadable software, and much more.
  - title: Lex Site - Amiga Hardware Database
    url: http://amiga.multigraph.com/
    text: The website title says it all!
  - title: NetBSD-Amiga
    url: http://www.netbsd.org/Ports/amiga/index.html
    text: ''
  - title: Old Computer Mags
    url: http://www.old-computer-mags.com/
    text: Scans of old computer and videogames magazine
  - title: Recorded Amiga Games
    url: http://www.recordedamigagames.org
    text: Speedrun, longplay and misc videos of Amiga games and more.
  - title: RetroPack
    url: http://www.retropack.co.uk/
    text: Website dedicated to selling original Amigas, CD32s and Amiga/CD32 Games.
  - title: The Amiga Monitor
    url: http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/MikeWebb/amhome.html
    text: ''
  - title: The Big Book of Amiga Hardware
    url: http://www.amiga-hardware.com/
    text: Pics & info (pinouts, jumpers etc.) for just about every piece of Amiga related hardware there is
  - title: The English Amiga Board
    url: http://eab.abime.net/
    text: Community site for Amiga fans
  - title: World-Wide Amiga - Online!!
    url: http://www.amiga.org/
    text: ''
  - title: Web Wiz CAPTCHA
    url: http://www.webwizcaptcha.com
    text: Reviews of Amiga software, hardware
  videos:
  - title: Commodore Amiga commercial - EXIT
    url: http://video.google.com/googleplayer.swf?docId=8721405286052618769&hl=fr
    text: 'Length: 41 s'
  - title: Commodore Amiga 500 commercial
    url: http://video.google.com/googleplayer.swf?docId=5737538578208665725&hl=fr
    text: 'Length: 29 s'
  - title: Commodore Amiga 1000 commercial
    url: http://video.google.com/googleplayer.swf?docId=5356507595228759374&hl=fr
    text: 'Length: 32 s'
  - title: Commodore Amiga 600 italian commercial
    url: http://video.google.com/googleplayer.swf?docId=-768109352967297990&hl=fr
    text: 'Length: 19 s'
  - title: Commodore Amiga packs commercial
    url: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fdaMq8JLyHA
    text: 'Length: 21 s'
  - title: Commodore Amiga TV Ad - Celebrities
    url: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iEFoj6sbDjU
    text: 'Length: 29 s'
  - title: Commodore Amiga 500 promotional video
    url: http://video.google.com/googleplayer.swf?docId=9038863557655975739&hl=fr
    text: 'Length: 15 min 06 s'
  - title: 'Computer Chronicles: Amiga & Atari (1985)'
    url: http://video.google.com/googleplayer.swf?docId=8978343825632445107&hl=fr
    text: 'Length: 29 min 18 s'
  comments:
  - author: Conrad (Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada)
    date: Sunday 11th September 2011
    text: Some of the information in the main text body is incorrect, in addition to 3 ISA slots and 1 AGA video slot, there are also 4 Zorro III slots for cards designed specifically for Amigas. The ISA slots are not active, in their factory configuration they only provide power lines. You need a bridgeboard that connects to both a Zorro and an ISA slot to make them active. The Zorro III slots are also backwards compatible with Zorro II cards, such as cards designed for the Amiga 2000.
  - author: ProgMizer (USA)
    date: Monday 5th September 2011
    text: Software hut is still selling most versions of the amigas there web site address is http://www.softhut.com/cgi-bin/test/Web_store/web_store.cgi
  - author: brandon (Pasadena,California)
    date: Friday 27th February 2004
    text: Where can i get a Amiga 400 CHEAP with Video Toaster installed in it ????
  - author: Joseph Feero (Watertown Ct)
    date: Wednesday 26th February 2003
    text: where can i get some prices
  - author: xaccrocheur (Paris)
    date: Monday 24th February 2003
    text: This machine is a killer. I mean, this is ALL one need as a main computer, period.
  related:
  - /museum/commodore-amiga-1000
  - /museum/commodore-amiga-1200
  - /museum/commodore-amiga-1500
  - /museum/commodore-amiga-2000
  - /museum/commodore-amiga-2500
  - /museum/commodore-amiga-3000
  - /museum/commodore-amiga-500
  - /museum/commodore-amiga-500-plus
  - /museum/commodore-amiga-600
  - /museum/commodore-amiga-600hd
  - /museum/commodore-cdtv
  oc_id: 32
  source:
    url: https://web.archive.org/web/20230327210005/http://www.old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?c=32
    date: '2023-03-27'
---

In 1992 Commodore launched the most advanced Amiga yet. The A4000 used the AGA chipset to allow it to show 256,000 colours on screen from a palette of 16.8 million, as well as the new Workbench 3 that introduced the concept of among other things, datatypes. The Amiga 4000 is one of the most powerful Amigas ever made.

As a replacement for the A3000 & A3000T, the A4000 was a combination of the A2000 (big box), A3000 (vertical slots (integrated hard drive controller) and A1200 (AGA chips). As standard it allows memory expansion for up to 18Mb RAM on the motherboard. It shipped with either a 25 MHz 68030/68882 or 25 MHz 68040 CPU. The A4000 was never intended for release, but was a prototype for a system known as the A3000 Plus which was a considerably better machine. The machine was eventually cancelled and the A4000 drafted for release due to the low cost of development.

Like the [Amiga 3000](/museum/commodore-amiga-3000/), the 4000 has 2 MB of chip RAM (reserved for its coprocessors) and 4 MB of fast RAM (used directly by the 68040).

The Amiga 4000 mainboard was planned to use the AAA chip (the video custom chip designed to replace the AGA chip), the AAA chip was theoretically designed to use 8 MB FastRAM (see the "Chip RAM : ON=2MB, OFF=8MB" jumper on the motherboard), unfortunately, Commodore didn't use this chip, so this jumper is absolutely useless.

There's an internal 120 MB IDE hard disk and 4 expansion slots: three ISA slots (for PC compatible cards) and one dedicated 32 bit video slot used for graphics cards.

The Amiga 4000 works under WorKBench 3.0, a very powerful and flexible multitasking system which looks like UNIX, it can read & write directly to DOS 1.44 Mb floppy disks.

The Amiga 4000 was mainly used for video production but was in direct competition with the PC compatibles when most of its major products (ImageIn, Real 3D, & Lightwave, to name a few) were adapted for Windows.

There were in fact two models of Amiga 4000 :\
\- the **A4000-040** released in September 92 with a Motorola 68040 Processor, 6 Mb RAM, internal 3.5" 1.76 Mb Floppy Drive and 120 Mb IDE Hard Drive,\
\- and the **A4000-030** released March 93, with Motorola 25MHz 68030EC processor, 4Mb RAM (2Mb Chip, 2Mb Fast), 3.5" FDD, 120Mb hard disk, etc.

There was even a more powerful successor called **Amiga 4000T** ("T" stands for Tower). The A4000T is basically an A4000 in a full tower case with IDE & SCSI-2 Fast controllers integrated as well as 2 video slots and shipped with a 25MHz 68040 processor.

A lot of expansion hardware has been developed for the 4000/1200 : Video cards (2000 x 1500 in 24 bit), 3D cards, Wide SCSI controllers and PowerPC 604e/233 MHz accelerator cards.

The Amiga scene is still very active and great software is still being developed.

Source : [Amiga Interactive Guide](http://amiga.emugaming.com/).

**Todd Deery** reports:\
There was at least one other version of the Amiga 4000 available (at least in Canada) -- the Amiga 4000LC. This version contained the 25Mhz LC version of the 68040, which lacked a math coprocessor.

from **Chris Coulson**:\
Here in the UK, the 4000-030 (not sure if this is true for the -040 as well) was also available with an 80MB HD in place of the 120MB drive.