Date: Wed, 30 Dec 1998 08:50:49 -0500 From: Graeme Tait <graeme@echidna.com> To: ANDREAS.KLEMM.AK@bayer-ag.de Cc: " - (052)hardware(a)FreeBSD.ORG" <hardware@FreeBSD.ORG> Subject: Re: FBSD 2.2.8: ASUS P2B-S, is AIC 7890 and Intel 82558 100/10 s Message-ID: <368A2FB9.53E7@echidna.com> References: <0006800007846172000002L022*@MHS>
next in thread | previous in thread | raw e-mail | index | archive | help
I'm using a couple of Asus P2B-S (as in your subject line). Note that the "S" suffix means onboard SCSI, but _not_ network interface - for both onboard, you need the P2B-LS. The only reason I ended up with the P2B-S was a temporary shortage of P2B-LS with the vendor, and they threw in Intel 100 cards at the price of the P2B-LS to compensate. Other details of the configurations are PII/400, 256MB ECC RAM (max. 512MB), Matrox G200 8MB AGP (great price/performance; I'm using Xi Graphics Accelerated-X), 2 x Cheetah 4.5GB, Toshiba 32x CD-ROM. These systems work great and are certainly fast, but you need either FreeBSD 3.x, or 2.x with CAM extensions to run the Adaptec 7890 controller. > I*%m looking for a motherboard, that is capable to drive the following > components: > > Intel Pentium II 450 MHz (single Prozessor) > Matrox Productiva G100 AGP 4 MB > or ELSA Gloria Synergy, 8 MB > 9/18 GB Seagate Barracuda or Cheetah Harddisk (Wide SCSI) > DDS3 Tape (Wide SCSI) > WIDE SCSI CD-Rom > > The mainboard should have the following interfaces / connectors: > 2 s / 1p > PS/2 connectors for mouse and keyboard > USB is not necessarily needed > > Can I choose this board with the integrated SCSI and Ethernet Controllers > or should I better go an get the P2B board and buy separate SCSI and Ethernet > PCI Cards ??? I don't know of any significant disadvantage for the on-board controllers; they are both top quality. Advantages include keeping all PCI slots (4 on the P2B) open (assuming you use AGP video), and considerably reduced price. The motherboard with on-board SCSI comes with a complete SCSI cable kit too - those LVD cables are not cheap. The on-board Ethernet has a wake-on-LAN feature. > What would be the fastest possible hardware/peripheral combination in a > Desktop / Mini Tower Chassis on one SCSI bus ? I'm not sure why you say one SCSI bus. The 7890 setup on the Asus P2B-LS includes the 3860 transceiver. There are 3 SCSI busses on the one controller: fast narrow SCSI, fast wide, and ultra-2 LVD. You can put regular wide devices on the LVD bus, but then any LVD devices on that bus run single-ended at 40 instead of 80 MB/s, and the bus behaves electrically like regular fast/wide, with a reduced length limitation. (Although with one hard drive, the reduced bus speed presumably makes little difference.) Surely, the "fastest possible" configuration would involve _multiple_ high-speed LVD SCSI drives, like the Cheetahs, which not only have 10,000 rpm spindle speed, but also have reduced diameter platters, for appreciably faster access times than competing drives. How many drives you can fit in a mini-tower/desktop is another matter. My mid-tower cases (16" tall, but wider than normal at 8 1/2") could readily fit a CD-ROM, tape drive, and 3 Cheetahs with more than adequate cooling, using extra fans. The new Cheetahs have much reduced power consumption, compared with earlier 10,000 rpm drives. The heat dissipation does increase a bit with increasing capacity. The only disadvantage I know is that they are rather noisy. Note that Seagate recommend airflow across the top and bottom (large sides) of the drive: mounting in conventional 3 1/2" bays immediately adjacent to another device like a floppy (or, even worse, a similar hard drive) is probably not a good idea. Also, what about a multi-processor board, like the P2-D series? > I need CD-ROM, 24 GB Tape (DDS3 preferred) and 9/18 GB Harddisk. If you can afford it and fit it, consider splitting the hard drive storage into 2 or more smaller drives. Depending on the application, you may want to consider CCD or Vinum to help spread load across multiple drives. > Is there a possibility to drive ??? -- Graeme Tait - Echidna To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-hardware" in the body of the message
Want to link to this message? Use this URL: <https://mail-archive.FreeBSD.org/cgi/mid.cgi?368A2FB9.53E7>