New Motherboard advice wanted

I've got an ancient, troublesome Pentium 60, and just bought a Screamin' 3D card. The Screamin' card helps tremendously with ICR2, but makes no improvement with GP2. I'm running dual-boot NT 40 and Windows 95, and have an Adaptec 2920 SCSI controller, 2 GB Connor SCSI drive, and 32 mb of 70 ns memory (not EDO). I've had a great deal of trouble with Windows 95 on this machine in the past, I think due to some incompatibility between the P60 motherboard (a no-name called the MB-60/66AUR) and the Adaptec (nee Future Domain) SCSI controller. Since I installed the Screamin' card, Windows 95 has corrupted itself so that it barely runs. This happened in the past when I added a second hard drive (since removed), which is when I did a complete re-install of everything and added NT 4.0. Now the disastrous, progressive self-corruption of Windows 95 has returned. It even brings down the other machines on my network if I try to access them from it. NT is still very stable on this machine, but of course, Sierra has not released NT drivers for the Screamin' card, so I can only run NT in VGA mode. Ick! Also, I have to run Win95 before I run ICR2; otherwise the Rendition chip does not get properly initialized and ICR2 just freezes the screen right after Paul Page gives his blurb. Anyway, I am hoping to escape the incompatibility problems in Windows 95 by trashing the P60 motherboard and getting a new board and CPU, probably in the 133 mhz range. Reading this newsgroup has convinced me that I should get an Intel CPU, since the Cyrix CPU's aren't supported by INDYFAST. However, there have been a bewildering array of motherboards and related issues mentioned on this newsgroup (VX vs FX, Award vs AMI BIOS, EDO vs SDRAM, etc.) I want to choose a motherboard that will give me good racing sim performance with the Screamin' 3D card, but will also run well with NT and Windows 95. One of my friends recommends a Tyan Tomcat, another swears I should get nothing but Intel. A lot of people seem to be using ASUS boards successfully. Can anyone give me some direction with this dilemma? I'd like to make an informed decision. I am hoping to spend in the $400-500 range for motherboard and chip, and have something which I can upgrade to a faster chip when I can afford it. Thanks for your help! -- Alison Hine

If you want to stick with non-SDRAM memory, you probably should get an HX chipset board. I would highly recommend either the ASUS P/I-P55T2P4 (83mhz bus speed) or the ABIT IT5H (slightly faster than the ASUS but only goes up to the 75mhz bus speed). You didn't say if you were going to replace your RAM. If you decide to, you may want to go ahead and make the jump to SDRAM. There's little reason to buy EDO anymore, unless you can get a great deal on it. TX boards should be out very soon (I've heard as early as next week), and look to be pretty decent. They're probably not as fast as the HX when using EDO, but better than the VX. Like the VX, they support SDRAM, and with it should be faster than an HX board with EDO. As far as the CPU goes, you can get a P133 for under $200 or you could jump up to a P166MMX for about $400. -- The IWCCCARS Project: Q & A Representative http://www.theuspits.com/iwcccars/index.html http://userwww.service.emory.edu/~ebusch/

<snip> : I want to choose a motherboard that will give me good racing sim : performance with the Screamin' 3D card, but will also run well with NT : and Windows 95. One of my friends recommends a Tyan Tomcat, another : swears I should get nothing but Intel. A lot of people seem to be using : ASUS boards successfully. : Can anyone give me some direction with this dilemma? I'd like to make : an informed decision. I am hoping to spend in the $400-500 range for : motherboard and chip, and have something which I can upgrade to a faster : chip when I can afford it. You will get as many different recommendations as there are replies. I own a Tyan Tomcat and am "almost" 100% satisfied with it. It does have it's quirks and Tyan seems to be late in getting BIOS fixes out. I have read good things about the ASUS boards. If I were to do it again, I still might go with the Tomcat (8 memory sockets & 4 ISA + 4 PCI + 1 shared slot is what I was looking for). Which ever you decide to get, make sure you buy from a dealer that will provide you support. This is the key decision to make. Preferably one that will let you swap boards within a 14-30 day time frame if you aren't happy with the brand you chose. -- **************************** Michael E. Carver ************************* Upside out, or inside down...False alarm the only game in town. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=<[ /./. [- < ]>=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

<BIG SNIP> > it. TX boards should be out very soon (I've heard as early as next > week), and look to be pretty decent. They're probably not as fast as > the HX when using EDO, but better than the VX. Like the VX, they > support SDRAM, and with it should be faster than an HX board with EDO. I have a VX motherboard with the Cyrix 166 chip. I want to know if I can run SDRAM (32mb) and still keep my 32mb of EDO for a total of 64mb that is fully addressable. My heart and experience (and the damn manual) say it cannot be done but the store I bought the board from says it can. Anyone know for sure? Or did I just fall for a 'line'? Jim Fitzgerald

Unfortunately you can't mix SDRAM and EDO. You have to use all of one or the other, not both. -- The IWCCCARS Project: Q & A Representative http://www.theuspits.com/iwcccars/index.html http://userwww.service.emory.edu/~ebusch/

says...

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>I've got an ancient, troublesome Pentium 60, and just bought a Screamin' >3D card. The Screamin' card helps tremendously with ICR2, but makes no >improvement with GP2. >I'm running dual-boot NT 40 and Windows 95, and have an Adaptec 2920 >SCSI controller, 2 GB Connor SCSI drive, and 32 mb of 70 ns memory (not >EDO). I've had a great deal of trouble with Windows 95 on this machine >in the past, I think due to some incompatibility between the P60 >motherboard (a no-name called the MB-60/66AUR) and the Adaptec (nee >Future Domain) SCSI controller. >Since I installed the Screamin' card, Windows 95 has corrupted itself so >that it barely runs. This happened in the past when I added a second >hard drive (since removed), which is when I did a complete re-install of >everything and added NT 4.0. Now the disastrous, progressive >self-corruption of Windows 95 has returned. It even brings down the >other machines on my network if I try to access them from it. >NT is still very stable on this machine, but of course, Sierra has not >released NT drivers for the Screamin' card, so I can only run NT in VGA >mode. Ick! Also, I have to run Win95 before I run ICR2; otherwise the >Rendition chip does not get properly initialized and ICR2 just freezes >the screen right after Paul Page gives his blurb. >Anyway, I am hoping to escape the incompatibility problems in Windows 95 >by trashing the P60 motherboard and getting a new board and CPU, >probably in the 133 mhz range. Reading this newsgroup has convinced me >that I should get an Intel CPU, since the Cyrix CPU's aren't supported >by INDYFAST. However, there have been a bewildering array of >motherboards and related issues mentioned on this newsgroup (VX vs FX, >Award vs AMI BIOS, EDO vs SDRAM, etc.) >I want to choose a motherboard that will give me good racing sim >performance with the Screamin' 3D card, but will also run well with NT >and Windows 95. One of my friends recommends a Tyan Tomcat, another >swears I should get nothing but Intel. A lot of people seem to be using >ASUS boards successfully. >Can anyone give me some direction with this dilemma? I'd like to make >an informed decision. I am hoping to spend in the $400-500 range for >motherboard and chip, and have something which I can upgrade to a faster >chip when I can afford it. >Thanks for your help! >-- >Alison Hine

Alison, you mention AMI BIOS, you might be interested to know that AMI also sells motherboards. They are premium quality, but sometimes a little pricey. We use them at work in systems that the auto companies use on the plant floor. BIOS update support is understandably excellent. These boards are never on the bleeding edge, but you will never get burned either. I don't know their phone number, but they are in Norcross GA. **** Then visit my home page at http://www.wwnet.com/~jmeeks ****

One should never trust the salesman, haven't you learn that yet? Chris

Asus T2P4 rev 3.xx support 75Mhz and 83Mhz which makes this board the fastest P5 board. I am currently using 166MMX and overclocked to 207.5Mhz (83Mhz x 2.5). Very stable. At 83Mhz x 2 (166Mhz), it is already faster than a P5 200 Classic. Imaging running a P166MMX at 207,5Mhz :-) More details visit Tom's Home Page at http://sysdoc.pair.com Chris ====================== > <snip> > : I want to choose a motherboard that will give me good racing sim > : performance with the Screamin' 3D card, but will also run well with NT > : and Windows 95. One of my friends recommends a Tyan Tomcat, another > : swears I should get nothing but Intel. A lot of people seem to be using > : ASUS boards successfully. > : Can anyone give me some direction with this dilemma? I'd like to make > : an informed decision. I am hoping to spend in the $400-500 range for > : motherboard and chip, and have something which I can upgrade to a faster

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> : chip when I can afford it. > You will get as many different recommendations as there are replies. I > own a Tyan Tomcat and am "almost" 100% satisfied with it. It does have > it's quirks and Tyan seems to be late in getting BIOS fixes out. I have > read good things about the ASUS boards. If I were to do it again, I > still might go with the Tomcat (8 memory sockets & 4 ISA + 4 PCI + 1 > shared slot is what I was looking for). Which ever you decide to get, > make sure you buy from a dealer that will provide you support. This is > the key decision to make. Preferably one that will let you swap boards > within a 14-30 day time frame if you aren't happy with the brand you > chose. > -- > **************************** Michael E. Carver ************************* > Upside out, or inside down...False alarm the only game in town. > =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=<[ /./. [- < ]>=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

Thanks to everyone who sent me advice about motherboards. I've got some research to do, but will post results once I finally decide which one to get. Thanks again! Alison [snip] -- Alison Hine