I'm a little backlogged in my email

In message <199605150446.VAA28268@MindBender.HeadCandy.com>, "Michael L. VanLoo
n -- HeadCandy.com" writes:
>A 5x86 is a "486-class" chip in the sense that it uses 486 hardware.
>It has a 32-bit external data bus, and plugs into a 486 socket on a
>486 motherboard.  It uses 486-generation support chips.

You're right here.  Don't be fooled by the misleading marketing XX86 crap.

>Simply put, a 120MHz Pentium motherboard will run significantly faster
>than a 120MHz Cyrix or AMD 5x86, and it has a lot more potential for
>growth.

Yep.  Unix is certainly I/O intensive, and fairly memory intensive, with
not very good localization.  You're gonna want fat pipes to memory and
disk, and a 486/5x86 just isn't going to do as well as a Pentium-class
mboard.  Okay, an ASUS 486 with interleaved memory and a PCI bus isn't
anything to sneeze at, but starting afresh you'll want something with a 
better upgrade path.

>If you're going to buy a PCI motherboard, you might want to take a
>good hard look at whether you can afford to go up to the next 33x MHz

Some chipsets (like the SiS) can lock the PCI bus to 33MHz, running it
async from the memory/mainboard bus.

Also, if you're gonna get a Triton, get the Triton II... now called the
430HX; it supports ECC/parity and is pennies more.  Of course, you're talking
about fairly new tech here, so there may be bugs to work out, and you are
giving Intel money and helping them squeeze chipset manufacturers out of
the market, but... them's the breaks.

Note that the Intel 430HX won't run the PCI bus async; why should it, when
Intel can force you to buy a faster CPU?

That having been said, I like mine :) 100MHz+16MB+430HX < US$600