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From: "That Doug Guy" <tiller@connectnet.com>
To: "FreeBSD Questions" <FreeBSD-Questions@freebsd.org>
Cc: "maddox@cs.berkeley.edu" <maddox@cs.berkeley.edu>
Date: Sun, 16 Feb 97 13:52:43 -0800
Reply-To: "That Doug Guy" <tiller@connectnet.com>
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Subject: Re: Pentium vs. Pentium Pro
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On Wed, 12 Feb 1997 23:51:34 -0800, William Maddox wrote:

>I'm putting together another FreeBSD system and am trying to determine
>whether a Pentium Pro is worth the extra expense..  I would appreciate
>any pointers to meaningful benchmarks on the relative performance of
>the Pentium 133 and Pentium 166 vs. the Pentium Pro 200 and Pentium
>Pro 180 under FreeBSD.  The system will be used primarily for program
>development, i.e., lots of compiling.

	We upgraded our IRC server to a Ppro 200 from a P133, and have 
had mixed results.  Unfortunately, since this is a dedicated IRC server, the 
Ppro has not proven to be a great advantage.  IRCd runs almost entirely in 
memory, and from what I've been given to understand, the main value of a 
Ppro + FreeBSD 2.2 combination is interrupt processing.  

	OTOH, it is faster for compiling than the old system was, however we 
also increased the RAM to 128M.  For reference, a make world on this system 
took almost exactly 4 hours.  

>I'd also be interested in any comments, good or bad, on the Intel
>Venus and the ASUS P/I-XP6NP5, as well as the vendors Aberdeen and
>NetExpress.

	I am also curious about this subject for myself.  What is the "best" 
motherboard value out there right now (for straight pentiums and/or pros)?  
I'm looking to upgrade my home machine, and got an almost too good to be 
true offer on a Travan mb.  Fully configurable for various clock speed/cpu 
combos, 4 72 pin SIMM slots, 2 128 pin slots, 5 PCI, 4 ISA, and some other 
bells and whistles for $125.  Sorry, I don't remember the model number.  I 
have had real good treatment from this local vendor before, and he says they 
use this board in high-end systems that they build.  

	Any pertinent comments welcome, and feel free to follow-up to -chat if 
it's more appropriate as I'm subscribed there too.

Hope this helps,

Doug