In message <1981.1022786247@eterna.com.au>, you write: 

-> 
->    > Pentium 200.  The only downside to the Ultra 5 is IDE. Just give it a
->    > 7200RPM drive and keep the amount of concurrent disk I/O to a minimum.
->    
->    The Ultra 5 IDE controller is a piece of shit. It can't even do UDMA 33,
->    so you just will not be able to get semi-decent performance out of it,
->    no matter how good the drive and how small the load is.
-> 
-> 
-> hmm, i can get just over 7MB/sec on my ultra5... i thought
-> this was the max of udma33 ?

The U5 certainly isn't a fast machine, given that it's only just about
2x faster on a "build the world" benchmark than my SGI Challenge S with
a R4400@200Mhz (which is quite an old machine).

The U5 replaced an original pentium@100Mhz with a non-UDMA capable IDE
interface (PIIX3 or PIIX4, can't recall which off the top of my head),
and there is a definite difference.  With the Intel box, any operations
on some of my big MH folders were a "go get coffee and come back" type
of operation; the U5 isn't lighting-fast, but it is quite snappy enough.
OTOH, if the Intel box were 2x faster than mine and did more than multi-
word DMA, it'd probably beat the U5.

--rafal

----
Rafal Boni                                                     rafal@attbi.com
  We are all worms.  But I do believe I am a glowworm.  -- Winston Churchill