From: hardgrov@pilot.njin.net (Roy Hardgrove)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware
Subject: The Best system!
Date: 11 Dec 92 18:46:41 GMT
Organization: Rutgers Univ., New Brunswick, N.J.


Hello Fellow Subscribers:

I am writing to share my view on what I perceive to be the ultimate PC
system.  Currently, I have a 386DX-40 (AMD) and have been very happy
with the performance.  Inside, I have a 210MB SCSI drive with an
Always IN-2000 card that yields an effective throughput of 1.42 MB/sec
(very important when working with Windows 3.1 and virtual memory.  In
fact a friend of mine has an Adaptec bus-master card that yields over
6MB/sec however it costs about $80.00 more).  Because of the intensity
of my work load now, the faster the system performs rudimentary tasks
the better, and because of my ever expanding quest for speed, I have
placed an order for a new motherboard today.  After much deliberation
and information gathering I decided upon an ISA "multiboard" solution.
A multiboard is a motherboard that will accept 386DX, 486SX, 486DX, or
Overdrive CPUs.  I ordered my board with with the CYRIX 486DLC-40,
which is pin compatible with the 386DX.  My reasoning is as follows:

1). The Cyrix CPU cost little more than the 486SX chip yet I expect it
will yield significantly better performance over the SX.  The Cyrix
does take advantage of the 486 reduced instruction set.  Plus you can
pick them  up for about $360.00 on a multiboard!

2). I will have a direct upgrade path to whichever manufacturer
reaches the best new solution:  The DX2-100 will be readily
installable on the multiboard since it is configured to handle the
Intel 486DX-50 chip.

3). I was intrigued by Local Bus, but have finally decided that as
fads come and go, ISA will always be around (at least for the next five
years).  On my 386/40 which has the AMI bios, I have my Clk2 (which
controls the bus speed) set at 20Mhz--reliably!!  SCSI has no problem
with this, and no video problems (even under Win 3.1).  When my new
motherboard arrives, I will configure it the same way.  **Caution to
those who do try jumping up their bus clocks:  you may experience
problems with:  hard drive, VGA, modem, or other device (garbled
print).  I however, have not.

4). I would have bought an EISA motherboard, but for the price.  I
truly believe that EISA will be the next standard, but there needs to
be a larger installation base to bring to market affordable EISA
alternatives.  At present, not only is the motherboard prohibitively
expensive, but the expansion cards cost a fortune.  Maybe next
year--sigh.

Additionally, one of my Christmas presents is the Diamond 24X which
will really put some juice in the system.  Since most of my work is
done under Windows (maybe OS/2 when they come by the support for my
current apps--the High Performance File System is hot! but I digress)
the single most important factor is CPU speed.  Other factors such as
amount of RAM, type of video accelerator, and hard disk speed (and
transfer rate--do not forget throughput when you consider performance.
Most IDE drives only yield throughput less than 800K/sec, which is not
slow but when you have a 5MB block of virtual memory, which could
conceivable seek to shift 2MB or more of information at once, 800K is
too slow.  Hell, 1.4MB is slow when you can install a SCSI bus-master
and really get some performance).

In closing, you don't have to drop a ton of cash to have a great
system.  All told my new motherboard cost $349.00 (I will use my
current ram), the Diamond 24X can be purchased for <$160.00, my hard
drive which I bought from HITECH (1(800) 922-2554) for $299.00 for the
drive (210MB Rodime--new!!!!!) and $180 for the controller equal a
grand system total of:
			$988.00!!!!
			===========
I guarantee that anyone suffering in the land of the 386SX, or worse,
will get performance from this above system that will make your jaw
drop.  

If this post helped anyone, I am glad.  If anyone has a comment they
wish to drop me, by all means do.  Please remember however, this is my
opinion and you are certainly entitled to yours.  Do not feel
compelled to write me if you solely wish to champion an equally
subjective viewpoint.  Although if someone has information which would
prove enlightening, please share it--that is supposedly why we engage
in discourse on the net anyway.

Happy holidays,

Roy F. Hardgrove
-----------------
"No man ever followed his genius till it misled him."
			- Henry David Thoreau