From owner-freebsd-hardware Tue Apr 8 12:24:01 1997 Return-Path: Received: (from root@localhost) by freefall.freebsd.org (8.8.5/8.8.5) id MAA25332 for hardware-outgoing; Tue, 8 Apr 1997 12:24:01 -0700 (PDT) Received: from persprog.com (persprog.com [204.215.255.203]) by freefall.freebsd.org (8.8.5/8.8.5) with ESMTP id MAA25323 for ; Tue, 8 Apr 1997 12:23:54 -0700 (PDT) Received: by persprog.com (8.7.5/4.10) id OAA14075; Tue, 8 Apr 1997 14:15:29 -0500 Received: from dave(192.2.2.6) by cerberus.ppi.com via smap (V1.3) id sma014066; Tue Apr 8 15:15:11 1997 Message-ID: <334A9941.45A5@persprog.com> Date: Tue, 08 Apr 1997 15:15:13 -0400 From: Dave Alderman Reply-To: dave@persprog.com Organization: Personalized Programming, Inc X-Mailer: Mozilla 4.0b2 (Win95; I) MIME-Version: 1.0 To: Vincent Poy CC: hardware@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Pentuim or Pentuim Pro ? X-Priority: 3 (Normal) References: Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Sender: owner-hardware@freebsd.org X-Loop: FreeBSD.org Precedence: bulk Vincent Poy wrote: > > I thought the TX was supposed to be better than the HX chipset. > At any rate, is it better to get the new ASUS TX97 motherboards with the > TX chipset or the HX? Also, is the ATX form-factor the way to go or is > the standard AT footprint still supported even for future motherboards? > I'm thinking about getting another machine but didn't know if I should go > the ATX route or not. Like what are the advantages and disadvantages of > ATX? I believe the TX chipset is faster if you use SDRAM and you do not need more than 64 Meg of RAM. I'm sure someone can point you to some benchmark results (hint, hint). The HX is better for those who need more "server"-like features such as greater than 64 Meg of RAM support and multiple processor support. The HX does not support SDRAM (only EDO and FPM). Note: The TX does allow you to use more than 64meg but it does not cache it - not very useful IMHO. For Pentiums, Intel has not provided a single chipset that is clearly superior - it really depends on your needs. The VX chipset I think is obsolete unless there are serious cost savings involved. Serious Disclaimer: I have not tested the TX with FreeBSD (yet). Maybe someone else can comment on this? Does anyone know if the VIA Apollo VP2 is any better? What about the new AMD CMD640 chipset (which is based on the VP2 - maybe it IS the VP2)? -- David W. Alderman dave@persprog.com