Date: Sun, 15 Feb 1998 12:31:21 -0600 (CST) From: Bruce Albrecht <bruce@zuhause.mn.org> To: Greg Lehey <grog@lemis.com> Cc: hrothgar@hrothgar.com, freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: Hardware Message-ID: <199802151831.MAA02559@zuhause.mn.org> In-Reply-To: <19980215182747.44828@freebie.lemis.com> References: <34E69E6E.5DA474A9@hrothgar.com> <19980215182747.44828@freebie.lemis.com>
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Greg Lehey writes: > On Sat, 14 February 1998 at 23:51:11 -0800, hrothgar wrote: > > I have a friend who is a Unix programmer who is going to set up a > > machine I am purchasing with FreeBSD that claims that there are > > configuration problems with MMX machines. Could you tell me if that is > > true or is he just lost in the old days. He keeps telling me that I > > MUST get a dual pentium pro or nothing. > > There are a *lot* more problems with a dual Pentium Pro than a single > Pentium MMX. That's because of the multiprocessor, not because of the > MMX. As far as I know, there are no FreeBSD-specific problems with > any Intel processor. As someone with a dual Pentium-Pro, I'd have to say that probably wouldn't buy one today. It may be slightly faster than the equivalent clock speed Pentium II because the the onboard cache, and definitely a lot faster than the equivalent clock speed Pentium MMX, it's not clear to me that the price premium is worth it. You can get a 333 Mhz Pentium II system for at least $500 less than a dual 200 MHz Pentium Pro. Sure, if you want to wait 6 months to a year, the new Pentium II chip sets that do a better job at multiprocessing will be out. Sure, FreeBSD, Linux, Windows NT and Solaris x86 support SMP, but FreeBSD and Linux still have a ways to go to do it well. A second CPU is wasted money for a Win95 user. The FreeBSD SMP mailing list has several reports with problems with Supermicro boards. For the money you would spend on a dual Pentium Pro system, buy a high end Pentium II and not worry about it. To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-questions" in the body of the message
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