On Sun, 21 Nov 1999, you wrote:
> I'm going to build a new computer and wanted to know if there is any problems
> with the athlon cpu and linux. I'm going to be using an Athlon 550Mhz and the
> FIC SD11 motherboard with PC133 Ram. Any input would help. If I can't use linux
> with it, I'll go with another setup.
>
> Thanks a lot.
> Jeff Filapose
Hard for me to believe anybody's spending big $$'s for mhz just
now. Between Intels' P3-600 disaster, they're scramblin' around to
get a Cu proccessor/mobo market ready, and AMD's Athlon lack of, or
'unwilling' mobo/chipset support, problems with even ram/PS's, why
anybody'd want to jump into the fray .... beyond me (?)
Unless you've got an application specific need for processor
power and SMP doesn't fit the bill, the only reason I can think of
to go for CPU mhz, 133 fsb, and such ...... is games under Windows.
Certainly, I'd be cautious about trusting anything else to the
current 'not ready for prime time' hardware.
that off my chest, let's get down to opinion...
There is no such thing as PC133 ram. There's 7, 7.5, and 8 ns
dimms which will run flawlessly at 133 or (lot's) higher FSB's.
The only way to rate it is to use it, IMNSHO. For over a year now,
and before the gimmick of 'PC133' was advertised, clocker's have
been runnin some ram 'rated' as PC66 ---- at 133 mhz! The label
doesn't mean a thing. It's how fast you time it in bios that
provides the memory speed. I'm runnin a stick of 13 mo. old 'pc100'
at 2-2-2 (cas2 timings) 126mhz right now as I type. Before they
hyped 'PC133, I ran it in a p2-467 at 133.6 mhz for almost a year.
OK, down to facts. There's all kinds of problems with Athlon's
and with iCuMine's, any OS. Not this boy, wouldn't touch one with a
10' pole. When a quality manufacturer's like Asus won't even put
they're name on it (you haven't seen an Aopen-Athlon bd. yet (?)
either), and Intel's in there squashing they're own 8<whatever>
chipset based boards 'cause they're (....own, Intel boards are
defective -- ram wise) not ready for 'prime time', I say... stay
away.
Guess I'm just defending why I spent $186 to go from a p2-467
to a p3-567 (one reason, a M$ flight sim that does use the Katmai
instructions) recently. There's nothin on the market right now
that deserves going to ... or is ready yet ....'specially in a U*ix
environment that lags behind the leading edge hardware.
to answer the original question...
I do a lot of hardware reading and the worst Athlon board
reportedly is the FIC SD11. Which doesn't surprise me 'cause they
never made a good BX board either.
--
.. Tom Brinkman [EMAIL PROTECTED] .
