Date: Wed, 27 Sep 1995 11:29:34 +0100 From: David Clear <davidc@pdd.3com.com> To: questions@freebsd.org Subject: PC configuration advice wanted. Message-ID: <12620.9509271029@isolan.pdd.3com.com>
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Hi, I'm very close to buying what Gateway here in the UK call a a "P5-90 Premium Multimedia". This has: P90 Processor 16MB EDO RAM 1Gb EIDE disk Quad speed CDROM 17" Vivitron monitor 2Mb Graphics card (ATI Mach 64 (?????)) I'm planning to run FreeBSD and Windows 95 (or 3.1 if 95 turns out to be a turkey). The first kind of response to this I'm looking for is: "Yes it will work, no problems." or "No! Don't do it Dave." The one thing I am concerned about is that the advert doesn't mention cache memory. The 133 model does have 256K sync burst mode cache. I don't know much about PC motherboards, memory types or cache technology. I've been hearing words like Zappa and Endeavour recently - I assume Endeavour is better than Zappa as it's newer... but I don't know why.. nor do I know which one Gateway uses. I've heard EDO RAM lets you access data in the same row quicker - sounds good. But I've also heard that EDO ram without a sync burst mode cache doesn't give you anything - so EDO _without_ a L2 cache? I'm missing something I think. I'd like to hear from someone who knows. The last point is on graphics. I'd like 1280x1024. Will I get it from this setup? If not, what do I need? Gee... I've been working with UNIX systems for the past 8 years and it's just been a case of plugging the bits in that DEC or Sun provide and off you go. Now it's my own money (Gateway quote 2213 UK pounds - I'll leave my American friends to work it out for themselves... then they can have a good laugh and be thankful they live where they do...) and there are a million choices. All I want to do is get to an XDM prompt... Advice is appreciated. Cheers, Dave.
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