Date: Wed, 24 May 1995 10:00:43 -0700 (PDT) From: "Rodney W. Grimes" <rgrimes@gndrsh.aac.dev.com> To: maddox@CS.Berkeley.EDU (William Maddox) Cc: freebsd-hardware@FreeBSD.org Subject: Re: Proposed p90 hardware configuration Message-ID: <199505241700.KAA09055@gndrsh.aac.dev.com> In-Reply-To: <199505241027.DAA14196@redwood.CS.Berkeley.EDU> from "William Maddox" at May 24, 95 03:27:15 am
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> > > I am about to buy a P90 system to run FreeBSD. My intention is to put > together a reasonably high-performance and well-balanced system using > proven, well-regarded components. I insist on parity memory, and thus > have disqualified Triton-based systems, despite their performance > edge. At current S.F. bay-area discounted prices, the following > system can be put together for approximately $5000. I have put these > specs out for quotations from several local dealers, and expect to > plunk down the money in the next week or so. I will make a few breif comments, I can not compete with S.F. Bay area clone shops on most of this... > > Intel Pentium 90 OK > Micronics M54Pi motherboard w/256k cache, > (Intel Neptune chipset, Phoenix BIOS) Unknown by me, but I have a dislike for Phoenix BIOS's and lack of flexibility in there setup menus. Perhaps this has changed in there Pentium Bios. > 16 Mb DRAM (2 x 72-pin 8Mb 60ns SIMMs w/parity) OK > Adaptec 2940 PCI Fast SCSI-II host adapter OK > Hewlett-Packard 3724 1.2Gb 9.5ms 3.5" disk drive w/512k cache Unknown, but should be a good drive base on other HP drive experience. > Hewlett-Packard 35470 2Gb 4mm DAT Unknown, I would use a ARCHIVE Python DDS-2/DC drive instead, 8G native. > Toshiba XM3601B 4x CDROM Unknown, don't like, it is the caddyless type drive. > #9GXE64 PCI graphics accelerator w/ 2Mb DRAM Good card, have had no problems with #9 in the past. > Nokia 447x 17" .25mm dot-pitch Trinitron Monitor Good. > Teac 1.44 Mb 3.5" floppy drive OK > Lexmark (IBM) 101-key keyboard Unknown, very much a personal preferance item, use it before you buy it. > Logitech First Mouse 3-button serial mouse Unknown, very much a personal preferance item, use it before you buy it. > PC Power and Cooling Turbo Cool 300 power supply Good. > PC Power and Cooling Solid-Steel Mini-Tower case w/ 2nd cooling fan Good. > Heatsink and fan for P90 chip Since you are springing for PC Power and Cooling case and power supply make sure you get a PC Power and Cooling CPU fan, they are the only one I will use any more, they have a 5 year warranty on it. Unlike most other fans that die within a year when run 24 hours a day PC Power and cooling CPU fans keep on going, kinda like the Eveready Battery bunny. > MS-DOS 6.2x (for diagnostics, setup utilities, DOOM, etc.) :-(. > Can anyone find any obvious faults with this? Faults can only be obvious if I have experiernce with the products, much of what you are buying I have not had first hand experience with. > I chose the HP drives purely on the strength of HP's reputation and > warranty. I would be interested in hearing if anyone has had > experience, good or bad, with HP SCSI products and the AHA2940 SCSI > host adapter using either the FreeBSD or the Linux drivers. Is anyone > using an HP DAT drive? I seem to hear the WangDAT mentioned more > often, and specifically avoided it because it is on the rogue list > in the FreeBSD driver source. The WangDat models you find in the rouge gallery are obsolete products, personally I like the Archive Python series of DAT drives, and use the DDS-2/DC drive (now known as Conner Model 4326RP) for it's speed and capacity. > The choice of the #9 GXE64 2Mb DRAM (S3-864) is almost a shot in the > dark, and perhaps a timid one. I chose a #9 product primarily because > the X-Inside folks claim to work very closely with #9, which means I > should be able to expect good support if I go the Accelerated-X route. The #9 GXE64 2MB DRAM card is a safe bet, I use it, and an ASUS card that is basically the same (easily supported since all the chip are S3 chips, clock, RAMDAC, etc). You'll have to talk to the X folks about the other stuff you mention, and you have been, so let them stear you on this choice. -- Rod Grimes rgrimes@gndrsh.aac.dev.com Accurate Automation Company Custom computers for FreeBSD
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