Date: Fri, 20 Apr 2001 00:39:15 -0700 From: "Charles Burns" <burnscharlesn@hotmail.com> To: vince@oahu.WURLDLINK.NET Cc: lplist@closedsrc.org, kris@obsecurity.org, mwlist@lanfear.com, freebsd@sysmach.com?, questions@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: the AMD factor in FreeBSD Message-ID: <F39yi67EKRuYDlrjbud00000ac3@hotmail.com>
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> > It has been replaced by the i815 chipset, which supports 133MHz RAM and > > ATA100 whereas the BX supports only 100MHz RAM and ATA33. It allows for >only > > 512MB RAM though so is totally unsuitable for any serious server. > > Actually, that isn't true since the BX motherboards have been >redone by many motherboard manufacturers to do 133Mhz and then ATA100 via >a third party (HigPoint/Promise) chipset. My ABIT BE6II v2.0 for example >has 768MB of RAM and is running at 133Mhz with ATA100 drives on the third >and fourth controllers while the first two controlls are ATA33. The i815 >is faster but the BX is supposed to be the better made chipset. That's quite a system you have there. Running at 133MHz is out of spec though and the ATA100 is done outside of the chipset. That can be done on any system and is in fact done on many of the VIA based Athlon boards to double the available ATA channels (and go from 66 to 100). These boards are just trying to stretch the life of a dying chipset. As far as speed, AFAIK the BX at 133MHz is faster than the i815 and is in fact probably the fastest SDR-RAM chipset that has and ever will be made. As far as not overclocking anything (the BX is even today speced at 100MHz) the i815 has basically replaced it. They probably should have just tweaked the BX, but they probably wanted to add the memory limitation so that P3s with SDRAM couldn't compete with P3 and P4 Rambust systems. Or something. Who knows? P.S. Can we trade? :-) > > > I would call the BX the best chipset ever made by Intel. It remained the > > best the longest and is to a degree still useful today. My server uses >one > > and despite my preference for AMD stuff for most cases, it works >beautifully > > with its little P2-400. > > I guess you're right that the BX is the best chipset ever made by >Intel. It's also been a favorite for system tweakers for the past few >years since motherboard manufacturers have been tweaking it to 133Mhz and >even 150Mhz plus added support for UltraDMA 100 via third party chipsets. >The only advantage the 815 has over the 440BX is the AGP 4x while the >440BX is 2x. > > > > I thought they recalled it as soon as they announced it, this was > > >what drove their stock prices down. > > > > Nope, they recalled it only after multiple waves of proof that it was > > faulty. They shipped many of them to manufacturers, but AFAIK no systems > > were shipped before the recall. Intel announced the recall after many >tests > > were done by review sites. I believe that TomsHardware was officially > > credited, which I suppose he deserves because he picked up quite alot of > > "You are anti-intel and I will never trust you again" flak. > > I bet it was very satisfying to be able to say "Told ya so!", but I >doubt he > > did being a mature person. ;-) > > I forgot, I sold my Intel shares right before they did the recall >and was counting my money to the bank, all 1700% gain of it! ;-) > > > > Yeah, true... Now, only if there is a AMD 760 chipset based > > >motherboard with a ISA slot since I need it for my $600 soundcard :( > > > > (jerks head backwards in shock) Damn. I normally say "Get an SBLive!" >when I > > hear about ISA card woes, but unless that card is very old it must have >some > > very spiffy features to cost that much. Professional musician? > > Well, back in 1997, I needed the SPDIF inputs so it was a >replacement for my GUS (I know, I run the GUS Mailing lists) and that was >what was recommended. It's still in production today... Terratec >AudioSystem EWS64XL which is German Made... http://www.terratec-us.com. >The new Hercules by Guillemot GameTheater XP seems to be similar these >days but not sure how it sounds. > > > > > Asus generally makes the most stable motherboards. > > > > > > True but I think ABIT motherboards have been good as well. ASUS > > >has a problem with the ATA100 area from what I heard. > > > > All manufacturers have problems here and there. MSI and Tyan make great > > boards too, but all have had their flops and their boards that were >perfect > > besides one or two serious (and later fixed) bugs. In general, stepping > > back, Asus seems to overall make the best boards most consistantly. >Abit's > > are good too, I like them both. > > I know ASUS has always been the recommended one. ABIT is the one >that makes tweaking possible and then MSI and Tyan are good but they are >slower in performance. > > > > > I often hear "Such-and-such a site is anti [AMD/Intel/Cyrix] because >of > > > > such-and-such." > > > > > > Yeah but on Anantech, atleast in the forums, people are all for > > >the Athlon with very few for the Intel side. > > > > The way I see it, that says something for the Athlon--not something >against > > Anandtech. > > Yeah, atleast there are supporters! > > > The people in the forum are hardware enthusiasts and are far more >educated > > about hardware (as I am sure you are) than the general public. > > True... It was more funny reading about the P4 versus Athlon >there. > > > I usually quote Tom's over Anandtech though--I mean--how competant could >a > > computer review crew really be when they choose to use Windows above all > > else for their server platform? I guess that's another issue entirely > > though. ;-) > > True but I think the Anandtech people are more Linux people... >That's even when I became part of the tacube dnet team, I added Team >FreeBSD after my name ;-) > > > > > Usually Tom's Hardware is accused more than Anandtech because they >are > > >more > > > > apt to be harsh on something that doesn't live up to the hype, but > > >Anandtech > > > > isn't immune. > > > > > > I haven't visited Tom's Hardware in ages... > > > > That's ok. As the joke goes, you probably saw his latest article last >time > > you visited. }:> > > I visit for his daily summary of news so I don't need to go to 15 >different > > sites. Just Tom's, The Register, Anandtech and /. > > Hehe, I don't goto Tom's because I goto storagereview, anandtech >and reading the forums and newsgroups takes too much time already. I do >goto Tom's when I am trying to look up some info.. > > >Cheers, >Vince - vince@WURLDLINK.NET - Vice President ________ __ ____ >Unix Networking Operations - FreeBSD-Real Unix for Free / / / / | / |[__ >] >WurldLink Corporation / / / / | / | __] >] >San Francisco - Honolulu - Hong Kong / / / / / |/ / | __] >] >HongKong Stars/Gravis UltraSound Mailing Lists Admin >/_/_/_/_/|___/|_|[____] >Almighty1@IRC - oahu.DAL.NET Hawaii's DALnet IRC Network Server Admin > > > >To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org >with "unsubscribe freebsd-questions" in the body of the message _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-questions" in the body of the message
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