Date: Wed, 16 Aug 1995 18:02:22 -0700 (PDT) From: "Rodney W. Grimes" <rgrimes@gndrsh.aac.dev.com> To: jmb@kryten.atinc.com (Jonathan M. Bresler) Cc: freebsd-hardware@freebsd.org Subject: Re: i82424ZX vs i82424TX cache dram controller Message-ID: <199508170102.SAA21491@gndrsh.aac.dev.com> In-Reply-To: <Pine.3.89.9508161542.J25797-0100000@kryten.atinc.com> from "Jonathan M. Bresler" at Aug 16, 95 04:03:54 pm
next in thread | previous in thread | raw e-mail | index | archive | help
>
>
> anyone able to clue me in on the diffs between the Zx and the Tx ??
>
> i just picked up a book _pci_system_architecture_ from mindshare. cost
> $5 and talks about the i82420 TX pci chipset. is this the saturn
> chipset vs saturn ii chipset ?
Intel has done some real brain twisters in chip set model numbers, names
and postfixes.
i82420 is used as a generic number to refer to a family of PCI chip
sets, usually used for 486 designs.
The i82430 generic number is used to refer to a family of PCI chip
sets, usually used for Pentium designs.
The Saturn I, and II chip sets are a subclass of i82420.
> why was the saturn chipset replaced--new features or faulty
> chipset ?
Officially the former, technically, and really, the latter. Intel is
good at this. When the announced ``Triton'' it was a wonderful new
great thing, then 30 days later, they came out and said oh, and by
the way, Neptune does have these nasty bugs in it, but we fixed them
in the Triton chip set.
They just pulled the same stunt with Triton vs Triton II. Only this
time they are ``adding'' the main memory and PCI parity checking as
a feature, instead of ``fixing the bug'' of leaving this functionality
totally out of Triton I, for no good and real reason (yea, sure it
was a cost saving feature, like it saved all of $5.00 to leave that
out of a chip set, and I am talking about end user cost).
> jmb
>
> ps. the asus sp3g uses:
> chip0 <intel 82424ZX cache dram controller> on pci0:0
> chip1 <intel 82378IB pci-isa bridge> on pci0:2
You left out a bit of that string, and it is an important part:
chip0 <Intel 82424ZX cache DRAM controller> rev 4 on pci0:0
^^^^^
As far as I can assertain rev 0, 1 and 2 are Saturn I, 3 and 4
are Saturn II. Since Intel data books do not publish code names,
it is very hard to figure these things out at times :-(.
chip1 <Intel 82378IB PCI-ISA bridge> rev 132 on pci0:2
>
> the book talks of:
> intel 82424TX cache dram controller
> intel 82423TX data path unit
> intel 82378IB pci-isa bridge
The TX vs ZX are feature changes in the same chip set, the same data
sheet is used for both parts. The book is most likely talking about
Saturn I.
I can't even find in data in my Intel library on the 82424TX chip :-(.
But then, I don't have the Saturn data book sheets.
--
Rod Grimes rgrimes@gndrsh.aac.dev.com
Accurate Automation Company Reliable computers for FreeBSD
Want to link to this message? Use this URL: <https://mail-archive.FreeBSD.org/cgi/mid.cgi?199508170102.SAA21491>