AMD 133 or Cyrix 166???

I'm pretty sure this question has been asked before, but I don't know where to get the answers. I am looking at updating mu computer from: 486DX2/50 12 MB RAM VLB MB VLB Graphics board w/ 1MB (Cirrus Logic) 420 MB Hard Drive (Western Digital) Double speed CD-Rom to: AMD 133 or Cyrix 166 PCI MB Intergraph or Scierra rendition card one more hard drive I know that there are many opetions available. I am a student, so I have somewhat limited budget (more so than most people). If possible, I'd like to reuse the parts from my 486 as much as possible (case, power supply, hard drive, etc). If anyone can provide me with the suggestions about the CPU, MB, sound card (I am not very happy with "supposedly" sound blaster compatible Mozart card I have), I will really appreciate it. Big, big thanks in advance. Marry Chriastmas & Happy New Year to all. -- http://http.tamu.edu/~y0m9698/index.html

I was in that same position except with a 486DX4-100, and got a AMD-133. Mhz is a bad indicator, AMD586-133=P80($100); Cyrix686-133=P166($320). Needless to say I gave my mom the AMD586, Girlfriend 486-100, me a new Cyrix P166 and would like to sell a 486-40 with 8megs for $20/obo. Sierra games don't seem to treat Cyrix/AMD the same as Intel. Try www.onsale.com

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> I was in that same position except with a 486DX4-100, and got a AMD-133. > Mhz is a bad indicator, AMD586-133=P80($100); Cyrix686-133=P166($320). > Needless to say I gave my mom the AMD586, Girlfriend 486-100, me a new > Cyrix P166 and would like to sell a 486-40 with 8megs for $20/obo. > Sierra games don't seem to treat Cyrix/AMD the same as Intel. > Try www.onsale.com > I have a cyrix 586x p120 with an older motherboard. I just got a screamin 3d board, but it won't work with my MB.also, the older cyrix chips had a problem with their math coprocessors, something about floating decimal equations or some such, and I have gotten mixed

answers from the local computer dealers about the new cyrix chips. Some say that they're fixed and some don't.Tomorrow morning I'm off to get a triton hx 512 MB($127.78)because mine doesn't like dma, and the jumpers on the MB don't appear to change much. Also, for the first time I'm going to buckle and buy a pentium. The cost is much higher, but with microsoft and intell and all these other companies banding together I feel its worth the extra bucks to not have to worry about the compatability problems.(I can get a 133 for 250.00 or a 150 for 290.00) for all who have older MB's, check your manual for jumpers that enable or disable DMA, it may be why there's such a difference in all the frame rates out there... then again I could be elvis.... ANTRACER

The 6x86 hands down! The AMD 5x86 is still a 486 being multiplied by 4. I have a 5x86 over clocked at 160mhz, but once you get the 5x86, it is the end of the line for the 486s and you will have to get a new pentium MB anyway. At least if you get the 6x86, the new MB could be still used in a future CPU upgrade. Just sell the parts from the old system, the memory is most likely going to need to be in matched pairs and you aren't using two 6meg sticks right now so you will need to get new memory also. Maybe if you pick up a new case, you could just about sell the whole old system. I can't wait till after the holidays when we get our 6x86. Hope this helps out, C-YA. GGB3

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>Hello, hope you are having a very merry Christmas. >I would like to thank everyone who replied for my CPU question. As >far as CUP and graphic board are concerened, I have already decided >to go with Cyrix 686 P166 and Intergraph card. >I hope no one minds me asking one more question. I was wondering >which mother board I should use. My choices are Tyan Titan III, Titan >VX, and Asus P55TVP4. Do all these boards work with the Intergragh >card? Are there any known problems? I am planning to use EDO RAM as >$$$ is a big concern for me. >I will appreciate any info. Big big thanks in advcance. >Wish you all very marry Christmas and happy New Year. >-- >http://http.tamu.edu/~y0m9698/index.html

I would strongly recommend an Asus motherboard. I don't think it's the model you mention, but the Asus board with the Intel HX chipset supports a motherboard speed of 83MHz. Setting the multiplier at X2 makes a processor speed of 166 MHz. At X2.5 the processor would be running at 207.5 MHz. A speed 200 MHz pentiums seem to handle easily. The bus speed is the secret to faster video performance. The Asus with the HX chipset does NOT support SDRAM which is no problem for what you want to do anyway. We have set up two of these systems and they are blazing fast. The timings in bios settings have to be turned down in some cases but this configuration still blows anthing else away big time. You can get more info on Tom's Hardware homepage. I don't know about the video card you want to use on it. We have used the Matrox Mellinium and ET 6000 cards successfully. Good Luck. John

Hello, hope you are having a very merry Christmas. I would like to thank everyone who replied for my CPU question. As far as CUP and graphic board are concerened, I have already decided to go with Cyrix 686 P166 and Intergraph card. I hope no one minds me asking one more question. I was wondering which mother board I should use. My choices are Tyan Titan III, Titan VX, and Asus P55TVP4. Do all these boards work with the Intergragh card? Are there any known problems? I am planning to use EDO RAM as $$$ is a big concern for me. I will appreciate any info. Big big thanks in advcance. Wish you all very marry Christmas and happy New Year. -- http://http.tamu.edu/~y0m9698/index.html

<snip> : I hope no one minds me asking one more question. I was wondering : which mother board I should use. My choices are Tyan Titan III, Titan : VX, and Asus P55TVP4. Do all these boards work with the Intergragh : card? Are there any known problems? I am planning to use EDO RAM as : $$$ is a big concern for me. I can't speak for the Asus board, but at the present all Tyan boards (even though they are good boards) have the PCI Latency timing set low. Tyan does not provide a BIOS option to change this timing. Maybe in the future they will. But I wouldn't buy one of the boards betting that they will do so in a timely manner. Their customer support when it comes to BIOS fixes is very poor and late in coming. This latency timing issue will degrade some of the speed you should receive by using the Reactor's DMA modes. You had mentioned that you where going for a Cyrix chip & the Reactor card. If I am correct in what I remember, there seems to be a joystick issue related to the Reactor & Cyrix chips. Can some one out there more knowledgeable address this issue? -- **************************** Michael E. Carver ************************* Upside out, or inside down...False alarm the only game in town. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=<[ /./. [- < ]>=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

Huh!!.. don't go to a 133MHz all that is is a 486.... and a Cyrix? you need patches to run programs with a cyrix.. Here's what i am doing soon.. get a pentium MB with pipeline burst cache and maybe a SDRAM socket :) about 150 bux in canada next for a CPU get a AMD K-5 100MHz Pentium CPU 130bux (CND) (you buy a lowend CPU now and upgrade it later) My friend has a AMD K-5 100 and it runs perfect.. nascar2 Highres all detail...Don't try that with a AMD133MHz (486) Next buy like a 38 dollar Video card <PCI> to get started but please don't be confused with the 133MHz its much faster then a DX50 really... and stay away from Cyrix.. and Good luck

These are all good, but if you've ever looked into Tom's Hardware & Performance page: http://sysdoc.pair.com/ Some of the hottest chipsets out there are the VIA VP-1 and VP-2. About the only thing non-Intel that is any good. The VP-1 and VP-2 are both officially rated to run at 75MHz, that which a Cyrix P200 requires. I know you're going with P166, and the 66MHz clock is fine, but even still if you plan on upgrading to MMX CPUs in the future, you'll have a chipset that already supports 75MHz bus speeds, USB, multi-voltages, SDRAM, and the latest IDE performance protocol the UltraDMA-33. This chipset currently comes included on board several models of the FIC motherboards, because FIC and VIA are both subsidiaries of the same conglomerate company. Yousuf Khan -- Yousuf J. Khan Ottawa, Ont, Canada Nation's capital

Snip SNIP I am in the process of returning two different Tyan board due to poor PCI/DMA performance. Stay away from Tyan. I have heard good things about the Asus with the HX chip set....but then again, I had heard good things about the Tyan. Good luck, -Andy

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> Snip > >I hope no one minds me asking one more question. I was wondering > >which mother board I should use. My choices are Tyan Titan III, Titan > >VX, and Asus P55TVP4. Do all these boards work with the Intergragh > >card? Are there any known problems? I am planning to use EDO RAM as > >$$$ is a big concern for me. > SNIP > I am in the process of returning two different Tyan board due to poor PCI/DMA > performance. Stay away from Tyan. I have heard good things about the Asus > with the HX chip set....but then again, I had heard good things about the Tyan.

I have an Asus with the HX chipset and I'm very happy with. Reactor works great, it has support for 83MHz bus (I run a P200 oc'd to 2.5 x 83MHz = 208MHz). Also, to my knowledge, it supports P55C processors ... -- Henrikki (Hena) Hakkanen Tel. +358-(0)9-345 5538 -------------------------------------------------------------- Disclaimer: Opinions expressed here are mine and does not necessarily reflect those of my employer!

Where the hell did you get the idea that you need patches to use a Cyrix? Maybe mine's just special.

Not just yours, mine is to. I haven't had a problem running N2 on my machine with a Cyrix chip.