wolfordj@cbnewsc.ATT.COM (j.w.wolford) (11/07/89)
I would like to get a new system board (mother board for those who still
use "gender")...to do multi-tasking with DESQview and such...
I have the following request list, but is there anything else I should
consider:
1 - Processor and chips marked at rated speed (ie not 20Mhz parts at 25Mhz)
2 - Coprocessor slot for 80287/80387 (ok if it has Weitek, but I won't use it
287 for now because a 387 is $450-500... and I don't need anything
faster than a 10Mhz 287 for now (that does not mean I don't want a 387)
3 - Bus speed, for a 386's this usually 8Mhz... but
4 - Being able to enable/disable shadow RAM... Have heard problems with
this with non-DOS operating systems
5 - System board memory...amount, speed, type (DIP, SIMM, SIPP), 256K, 1M
anywhere from 4MB to 8MB maxed.
6 - 32bit wide memory bus slot... again, amount and type
2-8MB per board.
7 - BIOS - AMI requested for configuration capability... Pheonix and Award
acceptable.
8 - Cache....NOT required...32K, 64K, or 128K... Almost doubles the cost
of the board... is a cache worth that much (I feel its mostly
marketing hype... it helps, maybe ~20% over a interleaving system.
9 - Number of layers - 6 min, 8 is better for noise.
10- Chipset vs descrete....286 everyone uses a chip-set, but for a 386
this does not seem as clear cut if one is better than the other.
98- Board size, xt or full size.... does not matter, case takes both.
99- Number of slots (fairly standard...)..
Jeff Wolford uunet---+
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decvax--+davidsen@crdos1.crd.ge.COM (Wm E Davidsen Jr) (11/07/89)
wolfordj@cbnewsc.ATT.COM (j.w.wolford) writes: | 1 - Processor and chips marked at rated speed (ie not 20Mhz parts at 25Mhz) I have the same feeling, although I have never seen a DX part which wouldn't run 25MHz. | 2 - Coprocessor slot for 80287/80387 (ok if it has Weitek, but I won't use it | 287 for now because a 387 is $450-500... and I don't need anything | faster than a 10Mhz 287 for now (that does not mean I don't want a 387) This is a lousy economy. The 10MHz 287 will be about $200, the 25 MHz 387 about $450 (from _PC Week_ ads). The 387 will be about 10x faster. If you have a real need for for a coprocessor buy the 387. The Weitek is a lot more money (you have to buy a compiler which uses it, too). I have a 10MHz 287 in my home system because I couldn't get a 387 in 1986, but I regret it every time I do something f.p. intensive. | 3 - Bus speed, for a 386's this usually 8Mhz... but Faster than 8MHz may give trouble with some boards. I would NOT buy a machine which didn't offer the option of 8MHz operation, although you can get some minor performance gains from a faster bus. The only thing which really shows the gain is video, since disk, tape, serial and parallel are all slower than the 8MHz bus. | 4 - Being able to enable/disable shadow RAM... Have heard problems with | this with non-DOS operating systems You may lose 384k with UNIX or OS/2. Never heard of an operational problem, and even if you turn off shadowing you may not get the 384k back. | 5 - System board memory...amount, speed, type (DIP, SIMM, SIPP), 256K, 1M | anywhere from 4MB to 8MB maxed. If you get a system which will go 8MB on the sysbd you will not have to buy an extension board for quite a while. | 6 - 32bit wide memory bus slot... again, amount and type | 2-8MB per board. See 5. | 7 - BIOS - AMI requested for configuration capability... Pheonix and Award | acceptable. | 8 - Cache....NOT required...32K, 64K, or 128K... Almost doubles the cost | of the board... is a cache worth that much (I feel its mostly | marketing hype... it helps, maybe ~20% over a interleaving system. cache can make a big difference for some operations in video memory (if you are reading back for some reason). I don't see any indication that it doubles the price of the board, dealer price goes up about $200. Some of the cached boards are very pricy, but that's brand name, not manufacturing cost (see my earlier posting about this). | 9 - Number of layers - 6 min, 8 is better for noise. I guess... good layout is far more improtant than # of layers for both noise and RF emission. | 10- Chipset vs descrete....286 everyone uses a chip-set, but for a 386 | this does not seem as clear cut if one is better than the other. Generally the fewer connects the less failures. Since this is a statistical thing, it doesn't apply to any single machine, but I feel better about low part counts, if only because they allow the board design to concentrate on noise rather than getting all those connections in there. -- bill davidsen (davidsen@crdos1.crd.GE.COM -or- uunet!crdgw1!crdos1!davidsen) "The world is filled with fools. They blindly follow their so-called 'reason' in the face of the church and common sense. Any fool can see that the world is flat!" - anon
torkil@psivax.UUCP (Torkil Hammer) (11/08/89)
In article <4548@cbnewsc.ATT.COM> wolfordj@cbnewsc.ATT.COM (j.w.wolford) writes:
#I would like to get a new system board (mother board for those who still
#use "gender")...to do multi-tasking with DESQview and such...
#
#I have the following request list, but is there anything else I should
#consider:
#
#
#98- Board size, xt or full size.... does not matter, case takes both.
#99- Number of slots (fairly standard...)..
#
Slots are anything but standard. Check a byte magazine for range.
Also, a new game is 'free slots' because it used to be that built-in
standard hardware took 3 slots (graphics, disk, i/o) but some boards
now come with such amenities and now you wonder whether the motherboard
VGA is the VGA you want and such things.
Anything else equal you should get more slots in a full size board.stevel@phred.UUCP (Steve Leach) (11/09/89)
>j.w.wolford writes: >I would like to get a new system board (mother board for those who still >use "gender")...to do multi-tasking with DESQview and such... > >I have the following request list, but is there anything else I should >consider: ><list deleted> Consider a mother board without built-ins, ie built in serial/parallel ports and or video card. Reason if one of the built-ins crap out, its a pain to work around. -- What can I say, fuvg unccraf. Returns to sender: uw-beaver!pilchuck!seahcx!phred!stevel