TYAN Motherboards

Hi , i seen someone had mentioned something about TYAN motherboards..I currently have a Packard Bell P-100, get poor results with the Intergraph card..well just having the packard bell m/b is making sick.. I am going to use my P-100 intel chip and want to buy a real motherboard, one that I can actually use and upgrade. I kinda have my eye on the Tyan Tomcat I- primarily because of the 5 ISA slots/4 PCI slots...also 4 Hard drives/ 2 flopy drives controller. Does anyone have any experience with this kind of mb?? espiecially with the Intergraph Reactor card??? Any other suggestions would also be appreciated!! -- "He who fights with monsters might take care, lest he thereby become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you." -Freiedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche, "Beyond Good and Evil" ******Chris and Lesley Kolling****** ******HOME PAGE :http://shoga.wwa.com/~vampyre/ ***** **LESLEY'S BARBIE PAGE: http://shoga.wwa.com/~vampyre/barbie.htm**

Although I don't have the Tomcat, I do own two Tyan Titan III motherboards. These have the Intel FX chipset, and give very good performance. Tyan will usually post BIOS and bus mastering updates fairly often. I understand that the Tomcat I is one of the fastest Intel HX motherboards available. Both of the PC's that are using the Tyan Titan III also have an Intergraph Reactor installed, and I have had no problems. I would definately recommend this combo. Hope this helps- Eric Giles

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> Hi , i seen someone had mentioned something about TYAN motherboards..I > currently have a Packard Bell P-100, get poor results with the > Intergraph card..well just having the packard bell m/b is making sick.. > I am going to use my P-100 intel chip and want to buy a real > motherboard, one that I can actually use and upgrade. I kinda have my > eye on the Tyan Tomcat I- primarily because of the 5 ISA slots/4 PCI > slots...also 4 Hard drives/ 2 flopy drives controller. Does anyone > have any experience with this kind of mb?? espiecially with the > Intergraph Reactor card??? Any other suggestions would also be > appreciated!! > -- > "He who fights with monsters might take care, > lest he thereby become a monster. > And if you gaze for long into an abyss, > the abyss gazes also into you." > -Freiedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche, "Beyond Good and Evil" > ******Chris and Lesley Kolling****** > ******HOME PAGE :http://shoga.wwa.com/~vampyre/ ***** > **LESLEY'S BARBIE PAGE: http://shoga.wwa.com/~vampyre/barbie.htm**

:>Hi , i seen someone had mentioned something about TYAN motherboards..I :>currently have a Packard Bell P-100, get poor results with the :>Intergraph card..well just having the packard bell m/b is making sick.. :>I am going to use my P-100 intel chip and want to buy a real :>motherboard, one that I can actually use and upgrade. I kinda have my :>eye on the Tyan Tomcat I- primarily because of the 5 ISA slots/4 PCI :>slots...also 4 Hard drives/ 2 flopy drives controller. Does anyone :>have any experience with this kind of mb?? espiecially with the :>Intergraph Reactor card??? Any other suggestions would also be :>appreciated!! I have the Tomcat 1 with a Reactor (actually, I'm running two systems setup that way). Works great. Make sure ALL of your PCI cards comply with the 2.1 spec, or DMA performance could suffer. /*===================================================*/ There are three types of lies... lies, damn lies, and press releases. John Simmons (Redneck Techno-Biker) remove the *:)* characters from my address to email me http://www2.connectnet.com/~jms/ /*===================================================*/

I am using the Tyan Titan VX MB, very fast MB. With the latest Bios upgrade Tyan indicates "*When using SDRAMs, the Titan VX should outperform the Tomcat" (I did see a noticable speed increase with the V3.0 bios and I am using SDRAM). However, I am not using the the mentioned video card (using matrox millium 4mg) and cannot unless it becomes supportable under Linux... NCR2 WILL NOT RUN ON MY SYSTEM..... Regardless of the NCR2 issue,,,I would recommend this MB. Compared to a Gateway2000 P133 my Tyan P133 seems NOTICEABLY faster to me. IMHO Tyan would be a good selection. The Tomcat has the 430FX chipset vs the Titan VX wich used the 430VX chipset. From reading other posts, It seems the FX chipset would be the desirable chipset ??

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>Hi , i seen someone had mentioned something about TYAN motherboards..I >currently have a Packard Bell P-100, get poor results with the >Intergraph card..well just having the packard bell m/b is making sick.. >I am going to use my P-100 intel chip and want to buy a real >motherboard, one that I can actually use and upgrade. I kinda have my >eye on the Tyan Tomcat I- primarily because of the 5 ISA slots/4 PCI >slots...also 4 Hard drives/ 2 flopy drives controller. Does anyone >have any experience with this kind of mb?? espiecially with the >Intergraph Reactor card??? Any other suggestions would also be >appreciated!!

I bought a Tomcat III (the replacement for the Tomcat I) and a Reactor card together about a month ago. The system worked great out of the box and I was really happy with it. About a week ago someone on this list mentioned the alt.comp.mainboard.tyan (something like that) newsgroup and how there has been a problem with 'poor' DMA results with the Tyan boards. I've been monitoring the newsgroup ever since and it seems that the current bios for the Tomcat III doesn't have support to tweek the DMA transfer rates. If you want to tweek your system to get the maximum performance, the ASUS boards seem to get praise on the tyan newsgroup (go figure). I have had second thoughts about my Tyan purchase, but overall I'm definitely happy with everything. I don't run Nascar 2 (yet) so I haven't experienced the problems people are having with slow DMA transfers, but Indycar II and GP2 run good enough (considering I was upgrading from a 486) that I'm not complaining... Keith Richmond

:> :>The Tomcat has the 430FX chipset vs the Titan VX wich used the 430VX :>chipset. From reading other posts, It seems the FX chipset would be :>the desirable chipset ?? Actually, the Tomcat's have the HX chipset, and yes, it's the more desireable chipset. /*===================================================*/ There are three types of lies... lies, damn lies, and press releases. John Simmons (Redneck Techno-Biker) remove the *:)* characters from my address to email me http://www2.connectnet.com/~jms/ /*===================================================*/

The FX is the old Triton I chipset and really has nothing going for it. The HX chipset is the fastest, but it does not support SDRAM like the VX. If you are in the market for new RAM, it really doesn't make much sense to keep buying EDO. The upcoming 430TX chipset (designed for the P55c MMX Pentiums) will also use SDRAM. -- Emory University Graduate School of Arts & Sciences The IWCCCARS Project: Q & A Representative Nascar Setups Page: http://userwww.service.emory.edu/~ebusch/

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> The FX is the old Triton I chipset and really has nothing going for it. > The HX chipset is the fastest, but it does not support SDRAM like the > VX. If you are in the market for new RAM, it really doesn't make much > sense to keep buying EDO. The upcoming 430TX chipset (designed for the > P55c MMX Pentiums) will also use SDRAM. > -- > Emory University Graduate School of Arts & Sciences > The IWCCCARS Project: Q & A Representative > Nascar Setups Page: http://userwww.service.emory.edu/~ebusch/ > > It seems the FX chipset would be the desirable chipset ??

One of the important issues was that the New Tomcat I has 5 isa slots and 4 pci slots, as well as good performance...i am using plaino old RAM now, and can 32 MB EDO ram very cheap... Thanks to all who respnded...does anyone else have any more knowledge to contribute??? Chris -- "He who fights with monsters might take care, lest he thereby become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you." -Freiedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche, "Beyond Good and Evil" ******Chris and Lesley Kolling****** ******HOME PAGE :http://shoga.wwa.com/~vampyre/ ***** **LESLEY'S BARBIE PAGE: http://shoga.wwa.com/~vampyre/barbie.htm**

Yeah, I have an old tyan Titan III (p-133) and it gets 67 MB/sec when tested with DMADIAG. I saw some people posting in there that were only getting around 38 MB/sec with one of the newer Tyan Tomcat boards (I really can't remember the exact model number). Neither BIOS has PCi latency settings, which can be used to boost DMA performance with the Verite cards. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- This space intentionally left blank

>Although I don't have the Tomcat, I do own two Tyan Titan III motherboards. >These have the Intel FX chipset, and give very good performance. Tyan will >usually post BIOS and bus mastering updates fairly often. I understand that >the Tomcat I is one of the fastest Intel HX motherboards available. Both of >the PC's that are using the Tyan Titan III also have an Intergraph Reactor >installed, and I have had no problems. I would definately recommend this >combo. >Hope this helps- >Eric Giles I'm running the Tyan Tomcat HX, Award 4.51, 166...rock solid and fast. cheers...duncan. motherboards..I >> currently have a Packard Bell P-100, get poor results with the >> Intergraph card..well just having the packard bell m/b is making sick.. >> I am going to use my P-100 intel chip and want to buy a real >> motherboard, one that I can actually use and upgrade. I kinda have my

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>> eye on the Tyan Tomcat I- primarily because of the 5 ISA slots/4 PCI >> slots...also 4 Hard drives/ 2 flopy drives controller. Does anyone >> have any experience with this kind of mb?? espiecially with the >> Intergraph Reactor card??? Any other suggestions would also be >> appreciated!! >> -- >> "He who fights with monsters might take care, >> lest he thereby become a monster. >> And if you gaze for long into an abyss, >> the abyss gazes also into you." >> -Freiedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche, "Beyond Good and Evil" >> ******Chris and Lesley Kolling****** >> ******HOME PAGE :http://shoga.wwa.com/~vampyre/ ***** >> **LESLEY'S BARBIE PAGE:

http://shoga.wwa.com/~vampyre/barbie.htm**

Hi thanks to all your help so far....I am now leaning towards the Tyan Titan VX, esentially the same as the Tomcat. The titan has the VX chipset, supports SDRAM (although too expensive right now, but nice to upgrade later), costs $159 from TC computers. The main other difference that I noticed is that the Titan VX has only 4 ISA slots, rather than the 5 of the Tomcat (the only one that I seen that has 5 ISA slots). Does anyone have any input on the Titan VX over the Tomcat??? I mainly use the machine for ***..Nascar2, Quake, Duke Nukem 3-D..etc.I have the Intergraph Reactor 3-D video card thanks, chris -- "He who fights with monsters might take care, lest he thereby become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you." -Freiedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche, "Beyond Good and Evil" ******Chris and Lesley Kolling****** ******HOME PAGE :http://shoga.wwa.com/~vampyre/ ***** **LESLEY'S BARBIE PAGE: http://shoga.wwa.com/~vampyre/barbie.htm**

If you're not getting SDRAM now, the VX is not a good choice. Even with SDRAM it's no faster than the HX boards and with EDO it's slower. Considering you may upgrade again in the near future to the upcoming 430TX chipset (AGP, SDRAM, USB, etc.), there's no sense using an inferior VX board in the mean time. Keep your EDO and get an HX aboard like the Asus P55T2P4 Rev 3.1 or Abit IT5H, or make the switch to SDRAM (you'll need to make the switch eventually) and get a VX board. -- Emory University Graduate School of Arts & Sciences The IWCCCARS Project: Q & A Representative Nascar Setups Page: http://userwww.service.emory.edu/~ebusch/

I've seen it for sale at various retailers on the web. It lacks the 83mhz bus speed, but apparently it is faster than the ASUS. A real cool feature is that it lacks jumpers and dipswitches on the board. Everything is set in the BIOS including the bus speed, multiplier, CPU voltage, etc. Off the top of my head try: http://www.ram-ware.com/ -- Emory University Graduate School of Arts & Sciences The IWCCCARS Project: Q & A Representative Nascar Setups Page: http://userwww.service.emory.edu/~ebusch/

Be warned. I tried the VX board and it sucks with the Reactor card. (37-39Mb/sec) -Andy

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>Hi thanks to all your help so far....I am now leaning towards the Tyan >Titan VX, esentially the same as the Tomcat. The titan has the VX >chipset, supports SDRAM (although too expensive right now, but nice to >upgrade later), costs $159 from TC computers. The main other difference >that I noticed is that the Titan VX has only 4 ISA slots, rather than >the 5 of the Tomcat (the only one that I seen that has 5 ISA slots). > Does anyone have any input on the Titan VX over the Tomcat??? >I mainly use the machine for ***..Nascar2, Quake, Duke Nukem >3-D..etc.I have the Intergraph Reactor 3-D video card > thanks, chris >-- > "He who fights with monsters might take care, > lest he thereby become a monster. > And if you gaze for long into an abyss, > the abyss gazes also into you." > -Freiedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche, "Beyond Good and Evil" > ******Chris and Lesley Kolling****** > ******HOME PAGE :http://shoga.wwa.com/~vampyre/ ***** > **LESLEY'S BARBIE PAGE: http://shoga.wwa.com/~vampyre/barbie.htm

>Tyan will >usually post BIOS and bus mastering updates fairly often. I understand that >the Tomcat I is one of the fastest Intel HX motherboards available. Both of >the PC's that are using the Tyan Titan III also have an Intergraph Reactor >installed, and I have had no problems. I would definately recommend this >combo. >Hope this helps- >Eric Giles Hi Eric, can you find the DMADIAG program and let us know what your results are?? Thanks Dave Henrie

Here are the results from both of my PC's using Tyan Titan III motherboards. These were run by restarting in MS-DOS mode, and DMADIAG was not used or needed in this configuration. System 1: Tyan Titan III Revision 3 166MHz Pentium 512K Pipeline Burst cache 16 MB EDO RAM System 2: Tyan Titan III Revision 5 90 MHz Pentium 256K Pipeline Burst cache 16 MB EDO RAM System 1 System 2 Nominal FIFO performance:(MB/sec) 18.5 15.4 Nominal DMA performance:(MB/sec) 67.0 58.6 These probably aren't the best numbers out there, but they aren't too bad for an older FX chipset motherboard. Please respond if you have any more questions/comments. Eric Giles

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> >Tyan will > >usually post BIOS and bus mastering updates fairly often. I understand > that > >the Tomcat I is one of the fastest Intel HX motherboards available. Both > of > >the PC's that are using the Tyan Titan III also have an Intergraph > Reactor > >installed, and I have had no problems. I would definately recommend this > >combo. > >Hope this helps- > >Eric Giles > Hi Eric, can you find the DMADIAG program and let us know what your > results are?? > Thanks > Dave Henrie

You will be disappointed with the DMA transfer rates -Andy

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>Hi thanks to all your help so far....I am now leaning towards the Tyan >Titan VX, esentially the same as the Tomcat. The titan has the VX >chipset, supports SDRAM (although too expensive right now, but nice to >upgrade later), costs $159 from TC computers. The main other difference >that I noticed is that the Titan VX has only 4 ISA slots, rather than >the 5 of the Tomcat (the only one that I seen that has 5 ISA slots). > Does anyone have any input on the Titan VX over the Tomcat??? >I mainly use the machine for ***..Nascar2, Quake, Duke Nukem >3-D..etc.I have the Intergraph Reactor 3-D video card > thanks, chris >-- > "He who fights with monsters might take care, > lest he thereby become a monster. > And if you gaze for long into an abyss, > the abyss gazes also into you." > -Freiedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche, "Beyond Good and Evil" > ******Chris and Lesley Kolling****** > ******HOME PAGE :http://shoga.wwa.com/~vampyre/ ***** > **LESLEY'S BARBIE PAGE: http://shoga.wwa.com/~vampyre/barbie.htm

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>Here are the results from both of my PC's using Tyan Titan III >motherboards. These were run by restarting in MS-DOS mode, and DMADIAG was >not used or needed in this configuration. >System 1: >Tyan Titan III Revision 3 >166MHz Pentium > System 1 System 2 > FIFO (MB/sec) 18.5 15.4 >DMA (MB/sec) 67.0 58.6 >Please respond if you have any more questions/comments.

I am interested in what BIOS you have in System 1. I also have a Tyan Titan III (no idea what rev) and I MUST run DMADAIG or I get the dreaded 'Your BIOS does not support DMA-Busmastering' in VQUAKE. I have the Award BIOS. Your scores on system 1 are the same as what I get with my P-133. Thanks. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ This space intentionally left blank

: Here are the results from both of my PC's using Tyan Titan III : motherboards. These were run by restarting in MS-DOS mode, and DMADIAG was : not used or needed in this configuration. : System 1: : Tyan Titan III Revision 3 : 166MHz Pentium : 512K Pipeline Burst cache : 16 MB EDO RAM : System 2: : Tyan Titan III Revision 5 : 90 MHz Pentium : 256K Pipeline Burst cache : 16 MB EDO RAM <snip> : Please respond if you have any more questions/comments. What BIOS and versions? -- **************************** Michael E. Carver ************************* Upside out, or inside down...False alarm the only game in town. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=<[ /./. [- < ]>=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

Unless you plan to use SDRAM, there is no reason to get the slower VX chipset. With regular EDO, the HX is a far superior board. This is especially true of the ASUS which can use it's 83mhz bus speed to run a P200 slightly overclocked at 208mhz (83mhzx2.5). This combo will blow the doors of any conventional Pentium system. Also, the MMX Pentiums are to be officially released tomorrow Jan 8th, although they've been out in limited quantities for some time now. Their price is not much more than the Pentium Classic (as little as $60 more from some sources), so it doesn't make too much sense not to get one. You didn't ***yourself, but you could have gotten an overall better system with a bit of research. -- Emory University Graduate School of Arts & Sciences The IWCCCARS Project: Q & A Representative Nascar Setups Page: http://userwww.service.emory.edu/~ebusch/

boards are slower even with the SDRAM on board The HX is still faster! even though it dont support the SDRAM> in fact the VX is a insult to the wonders of SDRAM. hope i helped

I just ordered a Tyan S1470 VX motherboard with 512 Pipeline Cache. Did I***myself. I also ordered a p200 cpu Thanks

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>Here are the results from both of my PC's using Tyan Titan III >motherboards. These were run by restarting in MS-DOS mode, and DMADIAG was >not used or needed in this configuration. >System 1: >Tyan Titan III Revision 3 >166MHz Pentium >512K Pipeline Burst cache >16 MB EDO RAM >System 2: >Tyan Titan III Revision 5 >90 MHz Pentium >256K Pipeline Burst cache >16 MB EDO RAM > System 1 > System 2 >Nominal FIFO performance:(MB/sec) 18.5 >15.4 >Nominal DMA performance:(MB/sec) 67.0 >58.6 >These probably aren't the best numbers out there, but they aren't too bad >for an older FX chipset motherboard. >Please respond if you have any more questions/comments. >Eric Giles >> >Tyan will >> >usually post BIOS and bus mastering updates fairly often. I understand >> that >> >the Tomcat I is one of the fastest Intel HX motherboards available. Both >> of >> >the PC's that are using the Tyan Titan III also have an Intergraph >> Reactor >> >installed, and I have had no problems. I would definately recommend this >> >combo. >> >Hope this helps- >> >Eric Giles >> Hi Eric, can you find the DMADIAG program and let us know what your >> results are?? >> Thanks >> Dave Henrie

Yes the HX is still faster, but with SDRAM the VX is not appreciably slower (especially since the Tomcat isn't a speed demon to begin with). For someone looking to buy a new board + RAM now, it makes little sense to keep buying the outdated EDO. Unfortunately to utilize SDRAM (even minimally) it requires the cheap VX chipset. This is a good intermediate step to the upcoming TX boards. If you happen to be in a position to wait, the best course of action would be to get SDRAM and a board using the TX chipset in March when they are released. -- Emory University Graduate School of Arts & Sciences The IWCCCARS Project: Q & A Representative Nascar Setups Page: http://userwww.service.emory.edu/~ebusch/

Oh, BTW, about the Tyan v3.00 bios (for the S1469VX). I have noticed that unlike the previous v1.10 it does a reset (i.e. cuts power) when I do a Ctrl-Alt-Del which was a warm boot in all previous motherboards/bioses I have seen. When I use a staged-write disk cache in BIOS (ncache2, speedrv, hyperdisk) none of them has the time to fully flush its cache at the three-fingers-salute before the bios resets power - constant FAT corruption. Anyone else noticed this? Tyan don't read e-mails. [Sorry: my ISP does not carry the c.s.i.p.h.m.tyan group] Sincerely, Karim ---------------------------------------- Warning: e-mail address protected by Anti-Bot Protection:) Please double any reply with an e-mail. My ISP loses them less often :(

>If you happen to be in a >position to wait, the best course of action would be to get SDRAM and a >board using the TX chipset in March when they are released. >-- >Eric Busch Hi Eric, is the TX chipset a 1st or 2nd generation chipset? It seems that most of Intel's first chip offerings for the Pentium line have been failures. The P5 didn't really seem to get the expected performance til the Triton sets came out. So will this new TX line be just as sluggy as the pre-Triton chips?? Dave Henrie

My Friend has a Tyan Tomcat II with P150, 512k cache 64mb ram and a Matrox Mystique running NT workstation and GP2 runs in svga with sky

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>Hi , i seen someone had mentioned something about TYAN motherboards..I >currently have a Packard Bell P-100, get poor results with the >Intergraph card..well just having the packard bell m/b is making sick.. >I am going to use my P-100 intel chip and want to buy a real >motherboard, one that I can actually use and upgrade. I kinda have my >eye on the Tyan Tomcat I- primarily because of the 5 ISA slots/4 PCI >slots...also 4 Hard drives/ 2 flopy drives controller. Does anyone >have any experience with this kind of mb?? espiecially with the >Intergraph Reactor card??? Any other suggestions would also be >appreciated!! >-- > "He who fights with monsters might take care, > lest he thereby become a monster. > And if you gaze for long into an abyss, > the abyss gazes also into you." > -Freiedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche, "Beyond Good and Evil" > ******Chris and Lesley Kolling****** > ******HOME PAGE :http://shoga.wwa.com/~vampyre/ ***** > **LESLEY'S BARBIE PAGE: http://shoga.wwa.com/~vampyre/barbie.htm**

I run a TomCat1 board and am very impressed. I've tried other boards but have never come across such a reliable one as this. I run a P200 on it and have hung just about every peripheral known to man off it without so much as a hiccup. Currently I have a 3D Blaster Video Card installed and was also impressed with the accelerated SVGA performance as well as the Rendition enhanced games which frankly are wonderful.

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>>Hi , i seen someone had mentioned something about TYAN motherboards..I >>currently have a Packard Bell P-100, get poor results with the >>Intergraph card..well just having the packard bell m/b is making sick.. >>I am going to use my P-100 intel chip and want to buy a real >>motherboard, one that I can actually use and upgrade. I kinda have my >>eye on the Tyan Tomcat I- primarily because of the 5 ISA slots/4 PCI >>slots...also 4 Hard drives/ 2 flopy drives controller. Does anyone >>have any experience with this kind of mb?? espiecially with the >>Intergraph Reactor card??? Any other suggestions would also be >>appreciated!!

**************************************************************** http://dspace.dial.pipex.com/town/terrace/abk85/leeker/index.htm

says...

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>My Friend has a Tyan Tomcat II with P150, 512k cache 64mb ram and a >Matrox Mystique running NT workstation and GP2 runs in svga with sky >>Hi , i seen someone had mentioned something about TYAN motherboards..I >>currently have a Packard Bell P-100, get poor results with the >>Intergraph card..well just having the packard bell m/b is making sick.. >>I am going to use my P-100 intel chip and want to buy a real >>motherboard, one that I can actually use and upgrade. I kinda have my >>eye on the Tyan Tomcat I- primarily because of the 5 ISA slots/4 PCI >>slots...also 4 Hard drives/ 2 flopy drives controller. Does anyone >>have any experience with this kind of mb?? espiecially with the >>Intergraph Reactor card??? Any other suggestions would also be >>appreciated!!

I purchased a Tomcat3 and a Tyan VX. Both are pitiful as far as dma speeds. I finally got a ASUS and am well pleased. -Andy

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>I run a TomCat1 board and am very impressed. I've tried other boards >but have never come across such a reliable one as this. I run a P200 >on it and have hung just about every peripheral known to man off it >without so much as a hiccup. >Currently I have a 3D Blaster Video Card installed and was also >impressed with the accelerated SVGA performance as well as the >Rendition enhanced games which frankly are wonderful. >>>Hi , i seen someone had mentioned something about TYAN motherboards..I >>>currently have a Packard Bell P-100, get poor results with the >>>Intergraph card..well just having the packard bell m/b is making sick.. >>>I am going to use my P-100 intel chip and want to buy a real >>>motherboard, one that I can actually use and upgrade. I kinda have my >>>eye on the Tyan Tomcat I- primarily because of the 5 ISA slots/4 PCI >>>slots...also 4 Hard drives/ 2 flopy drives controller. Does anyone >>>have any experience with this kind of mb?? espiecially with the >>>Intergraph Reactor card??? Any other suggestions would also be >>>appreciated!!

I had heard the Tomcat 1 works well. I wonder what they did differently on the Tomcat3 (Dual) and the VX to make them suck with DMA access. -Andy

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> says... > >My Friend has a Tyan Tomcat II with P150, 512k cache 64mb ram and a > >Matrox Mystique running NT workstation and GP2 runs in svga with sky > >>Hi , i seen someone had mentioned something about TYAN motherboards..I > >>currently have a Packard Bell P-100, get poor results with the > >>Intergraph card..well just having the packard bell m/b is making sick.. > >>I am going to use my P-100 intel chip and want to buy a real > >>motherboard, one that I can actually use and upgrade. I kinda have my > >>eye on the Tyan Tomcat I- primarily because of the 5 ISA slots/4 PCI > >>slots...also 4 Hard drives/ 2 flopy drives controller. Does anyone > >>have any experience with this kind of mb?? espiecially with the > >>Intergraph Reactor card??? Any other suggestions would also be > >>appreciated!! > I purchased a Tomcat3 and a Tyan VX. Both are pitiful as far as dma speeds. > I finally got a ASUS and am well pleased. > -Andy

The ASUS is a good board. The trick is to put the biggest CPU you can afford into it. I run a Freesus motherboard (I distribute it from Seattle) with a Cyrix P166, 32 megs EDO, and the real secret... Matrox Millenium 4 meg video. I can run all detail everywhere at 24-25 FPS+ or run sky and get 23 with a few slow spots where the grandstands are. I hve yet to see any machine do this well, but I haven't played with the multi CPU MMX machines yet either. The Intergraph is a 2D slug, they will tell you that. 3D is their world. Get a Matrox or the ATI pro graphics turboTV with 4+ megs. its' darn close to the Matrox and you can plug it into the big screen TV. Top it off with my new driver controller unit (coming soon) and you begin to see why so many good drivers die in this sport!. Just a suggestion

It's only that slow in VGA ModeX. VESA speeds about the same as the Matrox and ET-6000 cards. -- The IWCCCARS Project: Q & A Representative [link lost in import] [link lost in import: /~ebusch/]

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>The ASUS is a good board. The trick is to put the biggest CPU you can >afford into it. I run a Freesus motherboard (I distribute it from >Seattle) with a Cyrix P166, 32 megs EDO, and the real secret... Matrox >Millenium 4 meg video. I can run all detail everywhere at 24-25 FPS+ or >run sky and get 23 with a few slow spots where the grandstands are. I >hve yet to see any machine do this well, but I haven't played with the >multi CPU MMX machines yet either. The Intergraph is a 2D slug, they >will tell you that. 3D is their world. Get a Matrox or the ATI pro

I have an Intergraph Reactor card that replaced my Matrox Millenium 2MB card. While what you say is true in standard VGA mode (320x200), my testing shows the Reactor to be equal to or faster than the Matrox in VESA SVGA modes. Most of the games I play, I play in VESA anyways, so it was not a terrible loss for me YMMV. And the Matrox can't touch the smoothness of Verite Tomb Raider or Verite Descent II (26-35 FPS in 640x480 versus 18-20 with matrox at same res) . ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ This space intentionally left blank