Robert Shady
>
>Okay, here is a question for ya...
>
>I've always been under the impression that a 486DX/40 would be overall faster
>than a 486DX2/66 since with VLB, you can get 40Mhz throughput across the bus
>with the 40, vs. 33Mhz with the 66.  After speaking with a friend though, he
>claims that the 66 has MUCH better overall performance than the 40's...
>Which is the case in real life?  We have several 40's running as servers
>here now, is it worth upgrading them to 66's??  Should we buy 66's in the
>future?  Is it better to get EISA, ISA, VLB, or PCI motherboards??

Just my $.02 but:

ISA - Should be relagated to /dev/null unless you have a need for a cheap
      low-end machine for a small dedicated app.

VLB - VLB *graphics* boards appear to be the fastest thing currently,
      but as for scsi controllers, tests have shown that most company's
      EISA boards beat their equivalent VLB board. Also, EISA seems to
      have less problems vs. VLB. Also, VLB is currently only spec'd to
      33mhz and most adapters are only spec'd to 33mhz. RUN A VLB SYSTEM
      AT 40MHZ AT YOUR OWN RISK!!!!! I'd also question whether you
      were *really* getting 40mhz through the pipe.

EISA - I'd go this way for a server. See above. I think that the roughly
       35% better CPU throughput that you get from a DX2-66 vs. DX-40
       driving the I/O pipeline, more than outweighs the 20% I/O increase
       in the pipeline itself, that you get from 40mhz VLB vs. 33mhz.

PCI - Probably Tomorrow's-Motherboard(Tm). I'd wait and see though.


Greg Cronau
gregc@edi.com


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