Date: Wed, 30 Jul 1997 09:48:28 -0600 (MDT) From: FreeBSD Mailing List <freebsd@atipa.com> To: hackers@freebsd.org Cc: Tom Samplonius <tom@sdf.com> Subject: Re: Pentium II? Message-ID: <Pine.BSF.3.91.970730085949.29912D-100000@dot.ishiboo.com> In-Reply-To: <Pine.GSO.3.95.970730031654.1492A-100000@sparkie.gnofn.org>
next in thread | previous in thread | raw e-mail | index | archive | help
On Wed, 30 Jul 1997, Craig Johnston wrote: > > > Not buying into Intel's slot 1 ploy is a good enough reason not to run > > > PII's. Slot 1 is not going to be around very long and I wouldn't count > > > on not running into bugs in the relatively untested slot 1 chipset. > > If you use that arguement, you shouldn't by anything then! The PPro > > Um, no. There's this idea of relative quantities, you see? Slot 1 > is going to be short-lived _compared_ to other solutions. How long > has socket 7 been ticking along now? It's well known that slot 2 is > coming right on the heels of slot 1. Just to make the point more muddled, the PII's and PPro's use THE EXACT SAME CHIPSET! In fact, you can buy a SEC to ZIF SOCKET 8 converter. The chipset is not or should not be the concern (97% of all P2's and Pro's are using the Intel Natoma (440FX) chipset). > Why bother with the Intel "chipset of the week" game? Slot 1 systems > don't offer anything you can't do better with the same cash with PPro and > socket 7 systems. The only folks likely to benefit from slot 1 at > all are likely to be Intel -- they'll make a bundle off upgrade-happy > power-lusers who've been exposed to one too many Ziff-Davis magazines. With the same cash is important. P2 boards will be more expensive, along with the chips. > > (socket 8?) is doomed too, as Intel will not be developing it further (a > > 233mhz version would be nice). The Pentium MMX is going to max at 233, > > before being put out to pasture. So, every option is "doomed"... ZIF architecture is being promoted heavily by AMD, Cyrix, etc. The new Socket 7 motherboards we carry go up to 363MHz (66 x 5.5) and above (83MHZ x 4.5). I expect ZIF-8 solutions to be available soon from competitive vendors. > The real issue is that the PII is untried, whereas FreeBSD systems > on PPro hardware, like ftp.cdrom.com (which serves 2000 simultaneous > ftp users) have been ticking along reliably for quite some time > now. Correct. Pro is definitely solid. > > > The PPro 200 offers all the CPU horsepower you're going to need on > > > a FreeBSD network server. I'd worry about the amount of RAM and > > > the speed, latency, and number of hard drives. SCSI, of course. > > > > Really? You need to get out more... SCSI vs. IDE is a whole different issue, but I definitely agree with the gist of the statement. Overemphasizing the CPU is a common mistake. > Oh, I should have said "unless you're going to be doing a significant > fraction of what ftp.cdrom.com does" -- pardon me. ( Notice I said > "on a network server.") The main justifications for the P2 are gaming and multimedia. If you are a gamer, I dont think you will be using FreeBSD for your jollies. For NFS servers, web servers, and shell machines, I'd go with the Pro. We migrated our machines from Pentium 133's to Pro 166 512k's, and the network as a whole was very noticably faster. Our custmoers who know almost all go with Pro. Check out http://www.atipa.com/pentium2.shtml for additional reference. Kevin
Want to link to this message? Use this URL: <https://mail-archive.FreeBSD.org/cgi/mid.cgi?Pine.BSF.3.91.970730085949.29912D-100000>