I don't know if these are still sold, but the most rock-solid high performance
system is probably the AlphaStation 500 and the AlphaStation 600/600a.
These came in both low and high clock-rate models; the fast ones would be
similar in speed to any of today's more common systems, and even the slower
ones were OK.

One advantage to that series of AS models was: they were not based on the
Pyxis chipset. The Miata is a nightmare of in-line releases, wierd
workarounds, and serious DMA bugs, partly because of Pyxis. We've had some
good reports of NetBSD installations on these systems recently, but given
the variations I don't know how much money I would bet on a successful go
for any one Pyxis system picked at random. OTOH, I would be completely
shocked if a AS 500 or 600 install bombed.

Forget the graphics card for now. At the moment, you are best off using an
i386 running NetBSD (or whatever) or perhaps a commercial workstation for
an X server. There are side benefits to using a serial console for your
alpha: remote administration, UPS integration, and security.

  -- Ross Harvey