CyberStorm 040 For Sale

[jmmijo]

I found this item on eBay today, just wondering if anyone out there has had any experience with Phase 5 products, good/bad or indifferent?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...tem=2015512112

[DrBong]

Most German Amiga hardware manufacturers on Amiga are a cut above the rest. However, Phase 5 hardware was of the highest quality IMHO. Phase 5 went bankrupt a couple of years ago and, another German company, DCE bought the rights to continue making and selling most of their products. DCE was more of a repair company than a hardware manufacturer before the buyout. This has definitely shown since they recommenced production of Phase 5 products, with many complaints in newsgroups of boards being DOA or biting the dust after only a few months of use. Some people have sent their boards back to DCE at considerable expense to get a repair or replacement under warranty never to see their boards again. Really really bad!

I, myself, am using a Cyberstorm 060/604e PPC, which has been in use since 1996 or 1997. Before that I had used a Cyberstorm 060 Mk 2 and Blizzard 1230 also. All the boards worked perfectly with longevity.

If you're thinking of buying a Cyberstorm my advice is to make sure that it was produced by Phase 5 and *not* DCE, so that the quality of the product is assured. Hope the information is helpful.

[jmmijo]

Good info, thanks Shadowen

I'll email the seller and see if this person knows this info or not.

[RetroMan]

Originally posted by Shadowen
Some people have sent their boards back to DCE at considerable expense to get a repair or replacement under warranty never to see their boards again. Really really bad!

Hmmm, thats something new to me I know many people who sent their Phase5 Products to DCE for repair/upgrade and they never had any problems ! I admit they aren´t really fast, but the prices are fair and they do good work. I personally sent in my Blizzard 2060 with a 040 CPU for an upgrade and I had no problems at all ....

[DrBong]

Admittedly, most complaints I have read are from people posting to comp.sys.amiga.marketplace or .hardware. IIRC most of these people were from the US and UK. My guess is that if you send your board into DCE and are not from Germany or a surrounding country, then you will have to either wait a very long time to get your board back or expect that you may not get it back at all. Some of the people who complained hadn't seen their boards for 1-2 years and had made numerous attempts to contact DCE by phone and email about the situation. Most emails were ignored and phone contact was little more useful since DCE really don't have anyone that can speak a great deal of English.

Phase 5 often took many months to return boards to their owners when they repaired/upgraded them, but I can't remember reading of any owners complaining that they never got them back or that Phase 5 charged excessively for the job. I remember one of my friends in Canada got his board back from Phase 5 within 3 months, which he thought was quite good at the time. All I can say is that DCE has been making the Phase 5 boards for too short a time (1.5-2 years) to have received as many complaints as I have read in the 2 comp.sys.amiga newsgroups.

[jmmijo]

Regardless of where you live in the world, this is still a poor business practice

The person selling this unit says it's made by Phase 5 and not DCE.

[RetroMan]

@jmmijo

Go ahead and buy it !!! Those Cyberstorm cards are the best you can get for your A3000/4000 !!!

[DrBong]

@jmmijo
Yeah, what Retroman said :-)

[jmmijo]

Thanks

I'll bid on it and see what happens.