Building new computer. Thoughts?

[rir at mediaone.net (rir at mediaone.net)]

On Fri, 20 Aug 1999, David Kramer wrote:

> I want to build a new computer.  Normall I would just go to a Ken Gordon
> show, but there isn't going to be one for a while.  This machine will
> run dual-boot Windows and Linux (prolly NT, but I understand it's harder
> to make that dual-boot).

> 1) ATX or non-ATX?  I didn't like ATX the last time I looked at them,
> but it's getting harder to find non-ATX motherboards and cases.  Do the
> on-board extra subsystems ever die?  Are they usually flexible enough to
> (dis|en)able individual subsystems, like com ports and IDE?

All the on board stuff has been disable-able on every board I've had.
I'd go ATX as that is what all the new designs are.  The temp and
rpm sensing are good things.

I like having the free slots. Even low end video on board is
nice, if it suffices.  On board sound has not panned out for
me the couple of times I tried it.

> 2)AMD K6-3, PII or PIII?  The serial number thing really bugs me.  I
> know there's an initiative to have the kernel return arbitrary serial
> numbers when polled.  Is this in place in a kernel rev yet?  Can it be
> reliably disabled in Windows too?  Is there a big performance increase
> in the PIII?  The hardware compatibility list supports the AMD K6-3, but
> are there really no compatibility problems at all?

I don't think you'll see any problems with these chips.

I don't know if there is any benefit, under linux yet, to a K6-3 
or PIII aside from cache or clock issues.

> 3)Network card- I've been using $11 DEC Tulip cards, and have been happy
> with them.  Is there a prevailing favorite card for a little more money
> that might be better?

For linux the tulips are good.

> 4)Video card-  this one can be tricky.  I've never gone all-out on a
> video card before, but beyond the hardware compatibility list, are there
> any ones that work exceptionally well with linux and take 4MB or 8MB? 
> Are AGP cards fully supported, or are there limitations?

The Riva TNT works for me on AGP.  I'm not a gamer or graphics sort.
I had a ET6000 4 meg card and found that it had to dither large jpg 
images and that inspired the upgrade.

I've liked ASUS boards a lot.  I have a P2B-DS, running dual PII's,
that has been solid.  I long ago lost faith in Adaptec's host adapters
as far as quality of signal on the SCSI bus.  The AIC7890 hasn't
totally restored my faith, but it hasn't been bad, and the Ultra2 Wide
is OK.

Tyan's products have served well, they had a cheap SP-97V(I think) 
with on board video, that made a nice box.  

Altron, also seen with other labels, are junk, junk, junk.  Arbitrary
crashes, problems running fast nics, reliable memory becomes unreliable.
I had bought three, on 3 separate occasions, and had the same problems.
The various windows people who bought them from me were satisfied though.



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