Date: Tue, 16 Mar 1999 21:09:06 -0800 From: Darryl Okahata <darrylo@sr.hp.com> To: freebsd-hardware@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: P-II vs K6-2 Message-ID: <199903170509.VAA09660@mina.sr.hp.com> In-Reply-To: Your message of "Tue, 16 Mar 1999 14:44:57 EST." <3.0.3.32.19990316144457.0070c540@mail.embt.com>
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Tom Embt <tom@embt.com> wrote:
> The BH-6 is the all
> time favorite in this area, but the newer BX6-2 might also be worth a
> look.
I'll second the BH6. It's a good board for overclocking, as it's a
jumperless motherboard; you can change bus speed, multiplier, and even
CPU voltage from the BIOS setup menus (other motherboards require you to
open the case and fiddle with jumpers, if they even allow you to change
these at all).
[ NOTE: if you overclock, don't bother to report any problems with
FreeBSD unless you can reproduce them WITHOUT overclocking. ]
> If you do want to run SMP (and yes
> the Celly's can do this, you should just get the PPGA version and some
> slotkits, and get out the ol' soldering iron :)
If you're hardware-oriented, this is a good way to go. You'll need
a very fine-tipped soldering iron and some kind of magnifier (a stereo
microscope is good). Check out "http://www.cpu-central.com" for more
information.
One issue with dual Celerons (non-overclocked) is that Celerons run
at a 66MHz FSB bus speed, compared with the 100MHz FSB of 350MHz and up
PIIs. I haven't done any tests, but it would be interesting to see how
much the different FSB speeds affect SMP when all CPUs are constantly
accessing main memory.
> I'm not really sure what
> the best dual CPU board would be, but I think http://www.bxboards.com was
> gonna do a review. Oh, and I also believe the Intel chipsets to be
> superior. Go with a BX chipset board and you will be happy.
I'm using a Gigabyte 6BXDS motherboard (dual CPU, BX chipset, with
7895 F/W SCSI) with 3.1-RELEASE, and it's working well. You do need to
have the absolute latest BIOS, though, if you want to use Celerons; if
you don't, you'll have to borrow a PII CPU to flash the BIOS. The 6BXDS
only has F/W and narrow SCSI, though: no LVD. Best of all, the 6BXDS is
fairly inexpensive for a BX dual-CPU slot1 motherboard, but it's
difficult to find (I paid under US$240). However, the 6BXD (the same
motherboard, but without on-board SCSI) is still easily found (under
US$160); I imagine it may have the same issues with Celerons and BIOS,
though.
--
Darryl Okahata
darrylo@sr.hp.com
DISCLAIMER: this message is the author's personal opinion and does not
constitute the support, opinion, or policy of Hewlett-Packard, or of the
little green men that have been following him all day.
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