What's the story with FPGA based Gate Arrays?

[salvogendut]

I was reading some old forum posts about the scarcity of GA chips when I actually searched for them on Ebay and found something like this:

GA replacement

What are these things? Who makes them ? Why are they so expensive?

[Brocky]

https://www.vretrodesign.com/products/vr40010-amstrad-cpc-gate-array-replacement
dunno if they work tho...

theres a site you can order NOS 40007 and 40010s....they only have 4 40007s left...but over 100 40010s
https://www.icompplus.com/en/shop?search=40010

[salvogendut]

Thanks @Brocky they seem only slightly less expensive than the ones on Ebay but I guess it's not easy to make them. I can see the schematics and everything is published on github at https://github.com/codedchip/AMSGateArray. The Xilinx CPLD by itself is like 10 Euros , perhaps another 2 euros for the PCB if made in large quantities and I think 15 Euros should be enough to cover the expenses. So I guess those are fair prices on the website you provided

[SerErris]

The vretrodesign works very well and has been tested by forum users (me  ). It is a very small design, fitting right into the slot. To be honest, that is a great replacement.

They also have the 40007 version and an AY-3-8912 replacement, that also works very well.

And all of them are the same size as the original chip, which is absolutely perfect. And looking at prices for original parts, they only get more expensive every day.

/Edit:
Checking the ebay prices for the vretrodesign chips - hillarious... 89€ ?

[salvogendut]

The vretrodesign works very well and has been tested by forum users (me  ). It is a very small design, fitting right into the slot. To be honest, that is a great replacement.

They also have the 40007 version and an AY-3-8912 replacement, that also works very well.

And all of them are the same size as the original chip, which is absolutely perfect. And looking at prices for original parts, they only get more expensive every day.

Glad to know that they are good trustable replacements.