From owner-freebsd-smp Thu May 1 13:29:38 1997 Return-Path: Received: (from root@localhost) by hub.freebsd.org (8.8.5/8.8.5) id NAA14508 for smp-outgoing; Thu, 1 May 1997 13:29:38 -0700 (PDT) Received: from Ilsa.StevesCafe.com (Ilsa.StevesCafe.com [205.168.119.129]) by hub.freebsd.org (8.8.5/8.8.5) with ESMTP id NAA14502; Thu, 1 May 1997 13:29:33 -0700 (PDT) Received: from Ilsa.StevesCafe.com (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by Ilsa.StevesCafe.com (8.8.5/8.8.5) with ESMTP id OAA08130; Thu, 1 May 1997 14:29:26 -0600 (MDT) Message-Id: <199705012029.OAA08130@Ilsa.StevesCafe.com> X-Mailer: exmh version 2.0gamma 1/27/96 From: Steve Passe To: "Eric J. Chet" cc: "Jonathan M. Bresler" , msmith@atrad.adelaide.edu.au, macgyver@db-net.com, Don@PartsNow.com, hackers@freebsd.org, smp@freebsd.org Subject: Re: 7860 In-reply-to: Your message of "Thu, 01 May 1997 15:59:31 EDT." Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Date: Thu, 01 May 1997 14:29:25 -0600 Sender: owner-smp@freebsd.org X-Loop: FreeBSD.org Precedence: bulk Hi, > > what's the skinny on this board. i am looking to get into > > the smp fray and need a new mobo. > > jmb > > > > Hello > Steve turned me on to this board, It's what we use for > FreeBSD-SMP. It's a rock solid 430HX board with an onboard 7880 and > 512k of pipeline burst cache. Performance is very good. The only down > side to this board is it has a ATX form factor but requires a AT > power supply. I believe we are talking about the GA586DX here. I am told that gigabyte is now shipping a new version that uses the ATX PS connector. If buying this board be sure to verify that your vendor will be supplying you with the new version. I haven't seen the original mail (from jmb) yet, but as to the issue of a good SMP mb, I recommend going with the P6 at this point in time. Gigabyte 686DX Dual Pentium Pro ATX $ 365 Intel Pentium Pro 166 512K $ 490 Intel Pentium Pro 166 512K $ 490 ---- $1345 Gigabyte GA-586DX-512 Dual Pentium $315 Intel Pentium 166 $215 Intel Pentium 166 $215 ---- $745 $1345 - $ 745 $ 600 so you have about $600 difference, but for a system that will probably cost you $3000+ this isn't that much more. And this will give you a box thats about TWICE as FAST!!! And you could save a few $hundred by going with the 256k cache versions: Pro 150 256K $199, actually CHEAPER than the P5x166 (but avoid 150mHz, means a bus speed of 60mHz vs 66mHz for 166mHz). This makes the difference almost nil, (but I really recommend the 512k cache). You *probably* could overclock 150s to 166, I have been overclocking my P6-166x512s to 200mHz for almost a month now without any sign of trouble. -- Steve Passe | powered by smp@csn.net | Symmetric MultiProcessor FreeBSD