bjorn@valhalla.esd.sgi.com (Bjorn Lindstrom) (04/19/91)
The results are in!?!?!? (Sort of?): The number of responses was so small, that I can not recommend these results as a "consumer reports" type of analysis. Not enough of a sample was received to warrant what I feel would qualify as a good guide to quality hardware. Additionally, the brands of equipment were so spread out that, in conjunction with the rather pitiful response, and preferences shown are made due to a particular company showing up repeatedly, ie. AMI had one vote each for three different speeds of motherboards, since they wrote the bios used, and the manufacturer was unknown. This is not to suggest that ALL AMI bios boards are a good buy, but rather, given the small sample (and I DO mean SMALL) taken, there were more people responding with motherboards using this bios. Also, the Micronics board 386-33 received highest rating only because two (yes, you read it right,... two...) people responded who used the same speed motherboard. If you think that's unfair, then flame me. As Dr. McCoy would say: "Dammit Jim, I'm a doctor, not a statistician!" Summary: Micronics and AMI motherboards scored highest, with good showings by Mylex, AT&T, HP, and of course, IBM. The Orchid Prodesigner II (1 meg) and ATI VGA Wonder + (512k) tied for best video card (the majority of the cards reported to me were based on the Tseng 4000 chipset), and Sony monitors barely beating out Seiko with the 1304 being most popular. Details: Motherboards Responses ----------------- --------- Micronics 386-33 2 AMI 386-25 1 AMI 386-33 1 AMI 486 1 AT&T 386-16 1 AT&T 386-20 1 Mylex 386-33 1 HP Vectra 486 1 IBM PS/2 ?? 1 Monitors Responses ----------------- --------- Sony 1304 2 Sony 1953 1 Seiko 2050 1 Seiko 1440 1 Samsung Syncmaster 1 1 NEC 3D 1 IBM 8514/A 1 HP D1188A 1 Unknown brands 2 Video Cards Responses ----------------- --------- Orchid Prodesign II 2 ATI VGA Wonder+ 2 Swan SVGA (Tseng 4000) 1 Paradise CVGA1024 1 Matrox 1 IBM 8514/A 1 Unknown (Trident 8900) 1 Explanations: As far as the video cards go, I put the ATI video cards below the Orchid because I have had problems with their drivers, ie. not all drivers worked on a vanilla system (no TSR's, no memory managers, etc.), and I was using a Seiko monitor capable of taking everything ATI could dish out. Most times, the ATI chose to CRAP out, unless I ran in either STANDARD VGA mode, or 800x600 by 16 mode. Also of note: I am not sure about this but the Orchid and Paradise cards might be the same chip-set as the Swan (ET4000 by Tseng). Which would be a good response as far as an individual chip-set goes, but if I'm wrong, well, what the hell do I know! If more responses come in over the next week or so, I will post a follow-up to this report card. Again, these findings, IMO are such a small sample, due to lack of participation that I can't really recommend any manufacturer over another. There just is not enough information yet. I apologize if anyone feels slighted by this,... it certainly is not intended. I really know nothing about statistics, and am only reporting what I have received as a response. So flame me, OKAY? Bjorn ===================================================================== Lorne Michael's to John Belushi: "I want to feed your fingertips,... to the woverines."