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Document: PCI Motherboards for OS/2 list
Maintainer: Patrick Duffy, duffy@theory.chem.ubc.ca
Revision Dates: 11/5/95, 11/26/95, 12/3/95, 5/18/96, 5/26/96,
6/2/96
Archived at: ftp.netcom.com, in directory /pub/ab/abe/
CompuServe (GO BENCHMARK)
Web pages: http://warp.eecs.berkeley.edu/os2/workbench/work.htm
http://www.os2forum.or.at/english/info/os2hardwareinfo/
(note that the first URL may not have up-to-date
versions of the lists)
This document is intended for use by individuals and corporations in a
non-commercial manner. It may be distributed freely within those
limitations. Commercial use of this document in any manner requires
prior written permission of the author.
This is the PCI motherboards for OS/2 list. For detailed descriptions
of PCI chipset problems and workarounds, please refer to the PCI
chipsets list. For detailed descriptions of problems with built-in IDE
controllers on some motherboards, please refer to the PCI IDE
controllers for OS/2 list. As usual, '*' indicates the recommended
motherboards, and '**' indicates that I would choose this motherboard
myself when picking a PCI motherboard for my own PCI system. (D) in
brackets beside the model number indicates that the motherboard has been
discontinued.
Also as usual, please feel free to correct any continuing misconceptions
I might have, to insist that I should recommend a motherboard I don't,
or to add a new motherboard/bit of information to what's here already.
Your contributions and/or corrections are always welcome and certainly
appreciated. Please, when reporting problems or successes, try to be as
detailed as possible in your hardware descriptions. BIOS rev. numbers
are especially useful. I've added the PCI vendor IDs of the motherboard
manufacturer in brackets after the description of each board and before
the set-up tips. The first number is in HEX and the second in decimal.
Dates in brackets indicate the last revision date for the related entry.
NEW THIS WEEK
-------------
The latest BIOS for the Intel Premiere II board is 1.00.16.AX1. I've
updated the commentary to reflect that. The Intel Premiere board uses
the CMD chipset for IDE functions while the Premiere II board uses the
RZ1000 chipset. I've now had a report of success with the Tyan Titan
III motherboard and OS/2. I've also seen a report of success with the
Tyan Tomcat motherboard. The Adaptec 2940 SCSI controller may not work
with the Asus PVI-486SP3 motherboard with revision 1.21 of the Adaptec
BIOS.
I've added more new Asus Pentium and Pentium Pro motherboards to the
list this week, and have had a report of success with the P55T2P4 and
Warp (but not with an early build of Merlin). I've also updated the
data for the P/E-P6RP7D board from Asus. I've corrected the names for
all the Asus Pentium motherboards, which all start with "P/" rather than
"PCI/". I've added contact information for DFI, makers of the "double
shot" motherboard which apparently comes with OS/2 installed. I'll add
information on the board itself when I can get to the DFIUSA web site.
I've also added information about the current Intel Pentium Pro
motherboard. I've also added more (and more current) contact
information for Intel.
I've also learned that Lexar has gone out of business.
Useful Numbers: (6/2/96)
---------------
AIR: (408) 428-0800
Asus: (408) 956-9077 (tech. support)
ftp.asus.com.tw (ftp site)
www.asus.com.tw (WWW site)
gopher.asus.com.tw (gopher site)
tsd@asus.com.tw (tech. support E-Mail)
alt.comp.periphs.mainboard.asus (internet newsgroup)
Award: (415) 968-4433 (Voice)
(415) 968-0274 (FAX)
(415) 968-0249 (BBS - 8,N,1)
1:143/210@fidonet.org
DFI: (800) 909-4334 (sales)
support@dfiusa.com (tech. support E-Mail)
ftp.dfiusa.com (FTP site)
www.dfiusa.com (WWW site)
Gigabyte: (818) 854-9338 (tech. support)
HSB: (800) 497-0401 (sales)
(216) 498-1356 (customer service)
(216) 498-0382 (tech. support)
Intel: (800) 628-8686 (tech. support)
FAXBack:
--------
(800) 525-3019 (US or Canada)
+44 1793-432509 (Europe)
+65 256-5350 (Singapore)
+852 2 530-4116 (Hong Kong)
+886 2 514-0815 (Taiwan)
+822 767-2594 (Korea)
+61 2 975-3922 (Australia)
(503) 264-6835 (World wide)
BBSes:
------
(503) 264-7999 (US or Canada/World wide)
+44 1793-432955 (Europe)
+65 256-4776 (Singapore)
+852 2 530-4116 (Hong Kong)
+886 2 718-6422 (Taiwan)
+822 784-3430 (Korea)
+61 2 975-3066 (Australia)
ftp.intel.com (FTP site)
www.intel.com (WWW site)
J-Bond: (408) 946-9622
Micronics (510) 651-2300 (Office -- Faxback after hours)
(510) 651-6985 (BBS)
www.micron.com (WWW site)
MTI: (408) 441-8818 (tech. support)
(408) 441-8631 (BBS)
www.mtiusa.com (WWW site)
ftp.mtiusa.com (FTP site)
tech@mtiusa.com (tech. support E-Mail address)
QTC: (714) 258-4500 (voice)
Tyan: (408) 956-8000 (sales)
(408) 956-8044 (FAX)
(408) 956-8171 (BBS)
www.tyan.com (WWW site)
ftp.tyan.com (FTP site)
Washburn (AMI): (800) 836-9026 / (716) 248-3627 (General inquiries)
(800) 836-8027 (Motherboard Hotline)
(800) 836-8028 (faxback and information about specials)
(716) 383-6086 (tech. support)
(404) 246-8600 (tech. support)
(716) 381-7549 (FAX)
(404) 246-8780 (BBS - V.34)
(404) 246-8781 (BBS - V.34)
(404) 246-8782 (BBS - V.32 or HST)
(404) 246-8783 (BBS - V.32)
ftp.megatrends.com (FTP site)
www.megatrends.com (FTP site)
|-----------------------------------|
|PART ONE: 80486-based motherboards|
|-----------------------------------|
Manufacturer Model Comments
------------------------------------------------------
AIR 486VP (D) This is AIR's PCI/VL/ISA '486
board. It uses the Contaq chipset
and the Award (4.50g) flash BIOS. It will take all the different CPUs,
up to the DX4/100s and Pentium Overdrive processors. It comes with 256
kB of 15 ns cache. The board has been reported to work properly under
OS/2 2.1/2.11/Warp.
(Advanced Integration Research: 1075/4213) (8/27/95)
Setup tips: None so far.
Possible problems: None so far.
**********************************************************************=
AMI Super Voyager This is AMI's 486 board. It uses
PCI II** the SIS chipset and will
accommodate up to a Pentium
Overdrive processor. It is, apparently, plug-and-play 1.0A-compliant.
The board will accommodate up to 128 MB of 72-pin SIMMs on board, and
comes with 128 kB (upgradable to 256 kB) of cache. The flash BIOS (by
AMI, of course) uses the WinBIOS interface, and supports IDE,
auto-configuring of PCI slots, and all the green features. The PCI
slots (there are three) are all busmaster-enabled and 2.0-compliant.
There are four ISA slots. Presumably there is one shared PCI/ISA slot,
though I've no indication of this. Floppy/serial/parallel support is
built in. I've had a report of success with this board and Warp, and
since an AMI technician with whom I've spoken says that their boards
are not released to manufacturing _until_ they've passed compatibility
tests with all major PC operating systems, including OS/2, I believe
this board would be a very good choice.
(American Megatrends: 101E/4126) (9/21/95)
Setup tips: None so far.
Possible problems: None so far.
**********************************************************************=
Asus PCI/I-486 This board uses the Saturn rev. 4
SP3G (D) chipset, and will accommodate both
the Intel and Cyrix CPUs, up to the
DX4s. In addition, the socket will also accommodate a P24T/P24D. It
also has all the 'green' features. The board will accommodate up to 128
MB of RAM (four sockets which must be filled in pairs) and 512 kB of
write-through L2 cache (256 kB is standard). This board has the NCR
53c810 SCSI controller on-board (with a standard internal 50-pin socket
for internal SCSI devices), as well as super multi-I/O
(IDE/serial/parallel) and BIOS support for 2.88 MB drives. There is
BIOS support for up to four IDE drives, though the board will only
accommodate two (on the ISA bus). (Internal IDE must be disabled and an
EIDE controller obtained if support for four EIDE drives is desired.)
The board has 4 ISA/3 PCI slots (one slot is shared between the PCI and
ISA bus and so effectively you have 5/2 or 4/3 slots) and a built-in
floppy controller. There is also a socket for a mouse (either a
header-style socket or a PS2 style) which takes up IRQ 12 if enabled.
I've had reports of success with OS/2 2.1, 2.11, Warp Beta II, and Warp
GA and this board. The AWARD Flash-BIOS on board is at revision 4.50G,
and the NCR .ADD file is dated 28/4/94. It should also be noted that
the jumpers in these motherboards must be set up carefully, and by
consulting with the manual which comes with the board. Apparently, Asus
has just released an update to the flash BIOS for this board. Everything
is reported to work, with the exception that OS/2 apparently does not
start from the boot manager. OS/2 still boots from floppy, and
downgrading to the 301 bios fixes the problem. This board has,
apparently, been discontinued by Asus, and will only be manufactured in
special-order quantities of 1,000 or more, which is why I'm no longer
recommending it.
(Asustek Computer Inc.: 1043/4163) (11/12/95)
Setup tips: All 3 PCI slots on this board are fixed at
PCI INT A for level triggering assignment. IRQ to
PCI INT for each PCI slot is done in the BIOS. For
edge trigging, assignment of the IRQ is done with
the on-board jumper settings for the actual slot.
If you're running the board with an AMD DX4 (3x33)
CPU, it is necessary to set your jumpers as for a
non-SL enhanced DX4, except set J36 to 1&2 rather
than 2&3. To get the AMD DX4 to run in 4x mode, pin
B13 must be tied high. Tying the pin to ground
will cause the chip to run in DX2-66 mode.
Possible problems: apparently the on-board SCSI-controller has problems
co-existing with OS/2 2.1 and a Quantum Prodrive 540S,
as synchronous communication must be disabled in order
for the system to boot. Other drives seem to work
well with the NCR chip (I have a Quantum Empire
1080S). It may be necessary to also turn off tagged
command queueing to avoid data corruption (with a
Micropolis 4110 1 GB drive).
+++++++++++
Asus PVI/486AP4 Asus may finally have it right with
(D) their line of 486 PCI boards. This
particular board has the Aries (rev. 2) chipset and was reviewed very
favourably by C't. This board will take all the different 486 chips,
including the new DX4 (at 75 or 100 MHz), and has a spot for a Pentium
Overdrive P24T via a ZIF socket. It comes with 256 kB of cache
(write-back, L2), and will accommodate 128 MB (4x32 MB 72 pin SIMMs). It
has the latest Green features (Award BIOS, etc.), and has the NCR SCSI
BIOS built in (though there is no 53c810 chip itself). EIDE (PCI) is
built in as well. The board has 1 combination ISA/VL/PCI slot (only one
of the three slots may be used), 3 ISA and 3 PCI slots. I have had a
couple of reports of success with this board and OS/2 (2.1/2.11/Warp)
and NT. Revision 1.6 of the board still requires you to use the reset
button to reboot your machine if you have a SCSI controller installed.
(Asustek Computer Inc.: 1043/4163) (9/21/95)
Setup tips: One person has suggested that it would be better to
not use the VL slot in the board (to just disable
it). Upon doing this, the board is said to be very
stable. If you get an NCR SCSI card, put it in slot
1 to get the system to boot.
Possible problems: One person has reported that the chipset ID
procedure given in the chipset list does not work
for this board. In addition, apparently the Aries
chipset has problems with zero wait-state caches and
protected-mode code. Set your cache timing to
"normal" (instead of fast) for stable operation.
+++++++++++
Asus PVI/486SP3* This motherboard uses the SIS
chipset and takes all the different
486 CPUs. Like the SIS Pentium chipset, the chipset used here will
allow many different external clock settings, so that DX2-80s and DX-40s
are well-supported. DX4-50/100 CPUs are not, however, so if you want
100 MHz use a DX4-33/100. The board has 3 PCI slots, 3 16-bit ISA
slots, and a (shared) PCI/VL slot, and all the on-board integrated I/O
(2 VL IDE ports, 1 floppy port, 2 serial poarts, a mouse port, and one
ECP/EPP parallel port). The board uses the flash Award BIOS (which has
the NCR SCSI BIOS built in) in boards past revision 1.2; earlier boards
apparently used a flash BIOS as an option. The board will take up to 128
MB of RAM (in two sockets, if you can find a 64 MB SIMM). The board is
reported to work very well under DOS, Windows (3.1), and Warp.
(Asustek Computer Inc.: 1043/4163) (6/2/96)
Setup tips: None so far.
Possible problems: The B2 revision of the SIS chipset apparently does
not support mode 3 IDE well. The Adaptec 2940UW SCSI
controller does not appear to work with this board,
though the 2940W does (make sure you do not have
version 1.21 of the BIOS). If a 3Com 3c590 PCI
ethernet adapter is installed, it may be necessary
to turn IDE prefetch off for the onboard IDE
controller to get the system to work properly.
Useful information:
This board comes in five slightly different varieties, corresponding to
different revisions of the SIS chipset used: A4, B2, B3, B4, and B5.
The A4 chipset supports IDE up to PIO mode 2. All later chipsets
support PIO mode 3 and above (in later revisions), though not always
very well. The various chipset revisions can be identified by their
labels:
A4 Version chipset: SIS 496 MU, SIS 497 MW
B2 Version chipset: SIS 496 NU, SIS 497 NS
B3 Version chipset: SIS 496 NV, SIS 497 NS
B4 Version chipset: SIS 496 NV, SIS 497 NU
B5 Version chipset: SIS 496 OR, SIS 497 OT
**********************************************************************=
Biostar 8433UUD This motherboard may also be found
as the Quantex MBD-4PB2. It uses
the UMC 888X chipset and has 4 ISA and 3 PCI slots (I don't know if any
are shared). It supports all the various 486 and 486-like processors
(including the AMD 5x86/P75). The board has all the usual on-board I/O.
One limitation is that it apparently cannot use 3 parallel ports
simultaneously; it knows about the one on-board and will use one
external one. There are (apparently) problems with the built-in PS/2
mouse support. The voltage on the board can be jumpered to 3.3 or 5
volts, and the clock speed can be jumpere to correspond with 25, 33, or
40 MHz external CPU clock speeds. It uses the Award BIOS and will only
use 72-pin SIMMs. The board is reported to support Warp well.
(Vendor ID unknown) (5/26/96)
Setup tips: None so far.
Possible problems: None so far.
**********************************************************************=
EliteGroup SA486P AIO-U Uses the Saturn chipset and has both
(STD) IDE and NCR SCSI onboard. Current crop
now has revision 4 of the Saturn
chipset. OS/2 2.1 has apparently been installed with all caches on and
runs (using the NCR controller) with no problems according to reports.
Apparently too rev. 0.4 of the board hangs if the cache is set to
"write-back". This board uses the SMC 37C665 I/O controller, so make
sure yours has 'GT' at the end of the model number, to fix problems with
system crashes when using comm. programs.
(Elitegroup Computer Systems: 1019/4121) (8/27/95)
Setup tips: The board has many jumpers and, apparently, nearly no
documentation to tell you how to set them. (Two pages
of photocopied jumper settings, I'm told, are all that
you get.) It may be necessary to set the on-board
NCR SCSI controller to IRQ 15 to get it to work.
Possible problems: Apparently the BIOS that ships with the board (burned
in, not flash) will not allow the user to change the
settings for 'Host-to-PCI'-Posting,
'Host-to-Memory'-Posting, or 'PCI-to-memory'-posting,
altthough this is possible via CTPCI.EXE, a small
program which is avaiblable from the German magazine
C't. (Flash BiOSes are available as an option.)
+++++++++++
EliteGroup UM8810P AIO* This board takes all the Intel and
Cyrix CPUs, including the Pentium
Overdrive series. The latest revision of the board will take up to 128
MB of RAM (older versions took up to 64 MB of RAM in either 4x16
single-sided or 2x32 double-sided SIMMs) and takes up to 512 kB of L2
cache. There are 3 PCI slots (none shared on newer boards, one shared on
older boards), all of which permit busmastering, and 4 ISA slots (five
on older boards with one shared). It should also be noted that newer
versions of the board have had J41 removed to allow the use of the P24T
PODP5V CPU. It uses the CMD chipset for PCI IDE, and the SMC chip for
built-in serial/parallel I/O. Support is built-in for up to 2.88 MB
drives. The board uses the Phoenix BIOS (The latest is version 4.04) and
supports all the green features. The board uses the UMC 888X chipset
for PCI support. I've had a report of success with Warp and this board.
In addition to this, this board has passed all (except multimedia)
certification tests in combination with an S3 Trio64-based card and BIOS
version 1.4-01. An EIDE HD (WD AC2540F) was also used in the
certification tests.
(Elitegroup Computer Systems: 1019/4121) (12/3/95)
Setup tips: None so far.
Possible problems: The BIOS allows you to run the PCI bus at either
half or all of the external CPU clock. This might
cause problems for DX40s, where you'll either be
able to run it at 20 or 40 MHz. The ISA bridge
(using these CPUs) will also not allow you to set
the bus speed to close to 8 MHz. Enabling the APM
(green) features of the board may cause it to not
reboot properly. Disable them for trouble-free
operation. This board may not work with Pentium
Overdrive processors.
**********************************************************************=
Gigabyte GA-486AM* This board (currently at revision
2.21) takes all Intel and Cyrix CPUs
(including the P24) and uses the UMC 888X chipset. It uses (up to) 1 MB
of L2 cache and the Award flash BIOS (version 4.50PG, currently dated
6/22/95). The board can take up to 128 MB of RAM in four 72-pin
sockets. All configuration for RAM and CPU type is done via jumpers.
All the usual I/O is on-board, and the IDE supports up to mode 4 and
ATAPI. Driver support is included to facilitate this. The board has 4
ISA and 3 PCI slots (I don't know if any are shared, but I presume they
are), and is 2/3 baby AT size (22x25 cm). Apparently the SIMMs on this
motherboard sit directly over the power supply, and the motherboard
power supply connector is right near them. I've had couple of reports of
success with this board and OS/2.
(Vendor ID unknown) (5/18/96)
Setup tips: Enable all the 32-bit disk access options in the
BIOS for better disk throughput. The PCI bus speed
is set by ratio to the external clock speed of the
CPU. Apparently (at least with a Matrox Millennium)
running the PCI bus at 40 MHz has not been a
problem. The ISA bus is set via ratio to the PCI
bus speed, and apparently running the ISA bus at 20
MHz also causes no problems. Your video card should
be installed in the third PCI slot.
Possible problems: None so far.
+++++++++++
Gigabyte GA-486IM This board is not apparently not a
good choice for OS/2. It takes all
Intel and Cyrix CPUs and uses the UMC 888X chipset. It uses 256 kB of
L2 cache and the Award flash BIOS (version 4.50B, dated 5 Dec. '94).
Presumably the board can take up to 128 MB of RAM. This particular
board does not work with an NCR SCSI controller made by Intel or Asus,
although it does work with an external EIDE controller.
(Vendor ID unknown) (8/27/95)
Setup tips: None so far.
Possible problems: Many. The board will not boot OS/2 at all with an
NCR controller made by Intel or Asus with a Cardex
Challenger in a PCI slot. A switch to an S3/864
card will allow the system to boot, but the serial
ports go undetected, or at best work poorly.
+++++++++++
Gigabyte GA-486IS This board uses the Saturn I rev. 2
chipset and has the NCR on-board
SCSI chip. It will accept up to four 72 pin SIMMs (parity or no
parity), and has 4 PCI and 4 ISA slots. The clock speed is switchable
between 25 and 33 MHz, and the board supports only 5 V CPUs. There is a
ZIF socket on board which will accept a 486 SX, DX, DX2, or P24T chip.
The board has 256 kB of L2 cache. OS/2 reportedly runs well (with no
problems) after upgrading the original BIOS, which had compatibility
problems.
(Vendor ID unknown) (8/27/95)
Setup tips: Disable the external cache on this board for
reliable operation under OS/2, especially if you use
a PCI-based SCSI controller.
Potential problems: See the PCI chipset list for a description of the
problems with the Saturn I rev. 2 chipset.
**********************************************************************=
HSB Computer Labs MB/ This board takes a 486DX4-100 CPU
MS4144PC100 and uses the SIS 85C496/85C497
chipset. The board will take up to
128 MB of RAM (in 72-pin SIMMs) and 1 MB of cache (256 kB is standard).
All the built-in I/O is there; IDE services are provided from the
Winbond chipset. The board has four ISA and three PCI slots, all of
which are useable, and uses an AMI (non-flash) BIOS, with built-in
support for green functions and an NCR SCSI controller. The board has
been reported to work well (for one person at least) with Warp.
(Vendor ID unknown) (12/3/95)
Setup tips: None so far.
Potential problems: This board will not work with a DX4-50/100 (like
the Asus PVI-486SP3, and presumably for the same
reason.
**********************************************************************=
Intel B486ED (D) This is Intel's 486 PCI board, and
can be outfitted with all the
different Intel CPUs, from the 33 MHz 486 SX to the 100 MHz DX4 (each
CPU gives the boards their own model number; for instance, the 486-DX2
processor-equipped board would be the B486ED8D266). The board may be
upgraded to the Intel P24T processor. It will accommodate up to 256 kB
of cache (128 kB is standard), and 64 MB of 72-pin SIMMs (with or
without parity). The board has IDE and serial/parallel on-board. These
boards use the Saturn II (rev. 4) chipset (I think), and have all the
energy-saving features.
(Intel: 8086/32902) (8/27/95)
Setup tips: None so far.
Potential problems: None reported so far.
**********************************************************************
J. Bond PCI400C-A This board is apparently not a good
choice for OS/2. It will use up to
a DX2-66 CPU, and has a spot for a Pentium Overdrive chip (whatever
those really are). It has rev. 2 of the Saturn Chipset (the latest
boards do), and the Phoenix BIOS rev. 1.03 (the board reported has a
BIOS dated April 2, 1994). The board has a built-in NCR SCSI controller
(presumably based on the 53c810, though this was not indicated). It
boots OS/2 successufully, though there seems to be long delays before
bootup when a Quantum LPS540S hard drive is used (but not a Seagate).
(This seems to be a problem with that particular Quantum drive.) The
board takes up to 4 72-pin 36-bit SIMMs, installed in identical pairs.
The board will take either three PCI and four ISA or two PCI and five
ISA cards (one slot is shared). The board has no on-board I/O at all
(except for the SCSI controller). Warp beta II has apparently installed
fairly painlessly on this board, though there are random lockups which
seem to be due to a design shortcoming of the motherboard. I wouldn't
recommend this board.
(J. Bond Computer Systems: 1086/4230) (8/27/95)
Setup tips: Disable the external cache for reliable SCSI
operation.
Potential problems: See the PCI chipset list for a description of the
problems with the Saturn I (rev. 2) chipset.
+++++++++++
J. Bond PCI400C-C This is a later revision of the
earlier 400-A board, and appears to
have more promise. It uses the SIS chipset (make sure you have the
latest for most reliable operation) and takes all the different 486-type
CPUs as well as a spot for the Pentium overdrive processors. A 3.3 volt
regulator is included for 3.3 volt CPUs. It has 4 ISA and 3 PCI slots
(all the PCI slots allow busmastering), as well as all the on-board I/O.
It will use up to 128 MB of RAM. As far as I can tell, the NCR chip in
the earlier board has been removed from this one. I've had no reports
of success with this board and OS/2 yet, though it does sound like it
_should_ work.
(J. Bond Computer Systems: 1086/4230) (9/12/95)
Setup tips: None so far.
Potential problems: Make sure (if you're using IDE) that you have the
latest revision of the SIS chipset for the best
chance at full IDE support. See the chipsets list
for information about how to determine which
version of the chipset you have.
**********************************************************************=
Lexar LXM-510(D) Lexar has gone out of business.
This motherboard will take all the
Intel 486 CPUs and has a spot for a Pentium Overdrive socket (though to
use the 3.3 V processors the "Model 99 Regulator" must be purchased).
Early revisions of the board had a separate connector for 3.3 V power to
the PCI sockets; this has been replaced with a separate voltage
regulator in later versions. It will take up to 128 MB of RAM in 8
30-pin SIMM sockets, and up to 512 kB of cache. It uses either the
Award or AMI flash BIOSes, and has 2 VL, 2 ISA, and 2 PCI slots. It
uses the IMS (Integrated Micro Solutions) chipset. The board also has
all the standard on-board super I/O and a mouse port. It has been
tested and found to be compatible with DOS/Win and Win/NT (no mention of
OS/2). I have had a report of success with this board and DOS/Win and
Linux.
(Vendor ID unknown) (8/27/95)
Setup tips: The manual, while apparently nicely printed, is
poorly written. This may cause problems when
configuring the many jumpers on the board.
Potential problems: None so far.
**********************************************************************=
Microgram ??? This motherboard will run at 25 or
33 MHz, has 5 ISA and 3 PCI slots,
and a Phoenix BIOS. The board will also accommodate up to 128 MB of
RAM, in 4 72-pin SIMM slots. Everything up to a DX2-66 can be put in,
as can a P24T into the available ZIF socket. The new DX4s will not work
because the board does not support 3.3V. (Though I suppose you could
get a 5->3.3V adapter if you _really_ wanted to.) This board apparently
runs OS/2 reasonably well, though there seem to be random lockups at
times. There were no SCSI devices on the board, and apparently with an
old WD90C11 video card things were quite erratic. I don't know what
chipset this board uses, but from the range of processors I'm guessing
Saturn, so make sure it's rev. 4 if you want SCSI (the board tested had
rev. 1 of the Saturn chipset).
(Vendor ID unknown) (8/27/95)
Setup tips: None so far.
Potential problems: See the PCI chipset list for a description of the
problems with the Saturn I (rev. 2) chipset.
**********************************************************************=
Micronics M4Pi This is Micronics' 486 PCI
motherboard. It will take
everything up to a DX4 (with a ZIF socket for a Pentium overdrive), and
supports 3.3V. It is (feature-wise) identical to the M5Pi board
below, except that it uses the Intel 82420 PCIset PCI chipset (the
Saturn chipset), and has an extra dedicated ISA slot.
(Micronics Computers Inc.: 1012/4114) (8/27/95)
Setup tips: None so far.
Potential problems: None reported.
**********************************************************************=
MTI PCI-486* This board uses the SIS chipset and
the Award flash BIOS. It will take
all the different CPUs, comes with 256 kB of cache (in 64 kB chips, so
you can just get more chips if you need more cache), and has all the
usual built-in I/O. The board has 3 PCI and 4 ISA slots (I don't know
if any are shared). Interestingly enough, this baord has room for eight
30-pin SIMMs and two 72-pin SIMMS, making it unique among the boards on
this list. I've had several reports of success from people running this
board with OS/2.
(Vendor ID unknown) (11/12/95)
Setup tips: Some boards will autodetect the required CPU
voltage and others will not. Be sure to check
carefully for the presence of JP48 and set it
accordingly for your CPU.
Potential problems: OS/2 may not like LBA mode for EIDE hard drive access
with this board. This can be disabled via the BIOS
(then OS/2 won't boot OSes in partitions greater
than 540 MB, of course). Make sure that if you do
this you also select "ignore HDD mode detect
errors" in the CMOS setup.
**********************************************************************=
SOYO 80486 As its name might suggest, this is
a 486 board which accommodates all
the different 80486 chips and the overdrive series as well. It has all
the green features, though the BIOS type is unspecified. The board has
four ISA (two of which are VL) and four PCI slots (all of which allow
busmastering). The board will take up to 128 MB of RAM, and will
accommodate cache RAM in increments of 32 kB. It is reported to work
well with Warp.
(Vendor ID unknown) (8/27/95)
Setup Tips: None so far.
Potential Problems: None so far.
**********************************************************************=
TMC PCI48PG4 This is a combination VL/ISA/PCI
board which uese the Opti chipset.
It uses the Opti PCI IDE controller (82C621), and the SMC chip for
serial/parallel/floppy I/O. It takes all the different 486 processors
and the P24D overdrive chip. The board has 2 PCI slots, one shared
PCI/ISA, 2 ISA, and 2 VL slots. The board will accommodate up to 128 MB
RAM (in four slots), though apparently if the first two slots are filled
the second two must be filled as well or the board will not work. The
board takes up to 256 kB cache and uses the Award or AMI BIOSes, though
it is reported to work only with the AMI (WinBIOS) BIOS. Apparently
also the 7/25/94 WinBIOS would not allow the computer to boot with a
Stealth 64 VRAM or a Stealth 64 Video VRAM installed. Also, the board
ran very slowly with all four SIMM sockets filled and this BIOS.
Downgrading to the 12/15/93 version of the BIOS fixed these problems,
but limited control over the peripheral I/O (there were few options
present in the BIOS setup to allow it).
(TMC Research: 1030/4144) (8/27/95)
Setup tips: Until AMI comes out with a later version (than
7/25/94) of the WinBIOS, use 12/15/93 for best
results.
Potential problems: None, with the 12/15/93 BIOS.
**********************************************************************=
UMC UMC88 This board takes a 486 CPU (type
unspecified, but presumably all of
them), and has all the latest green features. The board is reported to
work well with OS/2 (version unspecified), with the single exception
that it will not allow OS/2 to boot from a floppy drive for one user.
Another person reports that OS/2 will boot from floppy, but that the
board is unstable, and that OS/2 experiences random lockups. Replacing
the two 8 MB SIMMs with one 16 MB SIMM fixed the problem, which suggests
that the reported problems could be due to a bad SIMM. Replacing the
SCSI disk also helped (two bad hardware components at one go?)
Apparently too the board/video card combination does not seem to work
well with FeelX, causing random video corruption when FeelX is installed
(the card is a Cirrus Logic 543X).
(United Microelectronics: 1060/4192) (8/27/95)
Setup Tips: None so far.
Potential Problems: OS/2 might not boot from the floppy drive with this
board.
|-------------------------------------|
|PART TWO: Pentium-based motherboards|
|-------------------------------------|
Acer AP5C This board uses the Triton chipset
and takes all the standard Pentium
CPUs up to 133 MHz. It has four PCI and four ISA slots (one of each of
which is shared), and all the usual on-board I/O (IDE is via the
Triton chipset, of course). The board will take up to 128 MB of EDO or
conventional RAM, and takes up to 512 kB of pipelined burst or
asynchronous cache. It uses the AMI flash BIOS. I've had no reports of
success with this board and OS/2.
(Acer Incorporated: 1025/4132) (5/26/96)
Setup tips: None so far.
Possible problems: The ATI Mach64 card used in this system apparently
does not work well with this board, producing
ghosted images at high resolutions/colour depths.
**********************************************************************=
AIR 54CEP This is AIR's PCI/EISA 90/100 MHz
board. It uses the AMI BIOS (flash
optional), and the Mercury chipset (I'm not sure why it uses the Mercury
and not the Neptune chipset). It will accommodate 5 PCI cards and 4 EISA
cards, all of which support busmastering. The board will take up to 128
MB of 72-pin SIMMS, and either 256 or 512 kB of L2 cache. The board has
all the green features. There is a fast or fast/wide PCI SCSI port
(both connections are present, apprently) built in which is based on the
Adaptec 7870 chip. 2.88 MB floppy drives (up to two) are supported, as
are 2 16550 serial ports, one mouse port, and one parallel port. I've
had one report of success with this board using DOS/Win and Netware 3.12
(not surprising), as well as Warp.
(Advanced Integration Research: 1075/4213) (8/27/95)
Setup tips: None so far.
Possible problems: Quantum 1 GB drives do not communicate at full speed
with the Adaptec 7870 SCSI chip. It is necessary
(if you're using this drive with that chip) to set
communication to 8 MB/sec.
**********************************************************************=
ALI PCI P5-60/66 This motherboard is apparently not
a good choice for OS/2. It has 4
PCI and 4 ISA slots, one of each of which is shared, meaning you can run
it as 4 PCI/4 ISA or 3 PCI/5 ISA. It does not have built-in support for
the NCR 53c810 chip, so you'll need a 53c825-based controller if you
want NCR. The motherboard uses the ALI M1449 chip to support ISA/PCI and
Green standards, and the ALI M1451 chip to provide Host/PCI bridge. The
66 MHz version has been reported to work without problems with both OS/2
2.1 and OS/2 Warp, though not with Warp Beta 2 (it did work with Warp
Beta 1). The 60 MHz board has been reported to work with Linux.
(Acer Labs: 10B9/4281) (8/27/95)
+++++++++++
ALI J624 This is ALI's 90 MHz board. It has
all the green features, and uses
the AMI graphical BIOS. The board has been reported to not work 100%
reliably with Warp.
(Acer Labs: 10B9/4281) (8/27/95)
**********************************************************************=
AMI Apollo** This is AMI's Triton-based board.
It will take the 75 to 133 MHz
chips and up to 512 kB of write-back cache (I do not know if the board
takes synchronous burst cache). Up to 128 MB of RAM is supported, and
the board has all the usual integrated I/O. The board has 4 PCI and 4
ISA slots, one of each of which is shared. There is one floppy
interface which will support a 2.88 MB drive. I've had no reports of
success with this board and OS/2, but given that AMI does not release a
board to manufacturing until it's passed OS/2 compatibility tests, I'm
very optimistic.
(American Megatrends: 101E/4126) (9/23/95)
Setup tips: None so far.
Possible problems: None so far.
+++++++++++
AMI Apollo II** The second-generation of AMI's
Triton (430FX) board will take up
to a 166 MHz CPU and up to 512 kB of write-back or pipelined burst cache
Up to 128 MB of RAM is supported, and the board has all the usual
integrated I/O. The board has 4 PCI and 3 ISA slots, none of which are
shared. There is one floppy interface which will support a 2.88 MB
drive. I've had no reports of success with this board and OS/2, but
given that AMI does not release a board to manufacturing until it's
passed OS/2 compatibility tests, I'm very optimistic.
(American Megatrends: 101E/4126) (5/26/96)
Setup tips: None so far.
Possible problems: None so far.
+++++++++++
AMI ATLAS PCI** This is AMI's 90/100 MHz Pentium
motherboard. It uses the SIS
chipset and will take up to 128 MB of RAM in 72-pin SIMMS and 512 kB of
cache (256 kB is standard). The BIOS (AMI) supports all the green
features and advanced IDE modes. There are four PCI 2.0-compliant
slots, all of which allow busmastering, and four ISA slots (one of each
of these slots is shared). (E)IDE/serial/parallel/mouse support are all
built-in as well. The BIOS will automatically configure the PCI bus
and is plug-n-play 1.0A-compliant. The board is reported to work well
with OS/2.
(American Megatrends: 101E/4126) (8/27/95)
Setup tips: AMI has apparently released a BIOS for this
motherboard which is specific to S3-based cards.
Apparently the motherboard will not recognize cards
like the Stealth 64 Video VRAM unless this BIOS is
in place.
Possible problems: None so far.
+++++++++++
AMI ATLAS The second generation of AMI's
PCI II** ATLAS motherboard uses the Triton
II (430HX) chipset (I think) and
will take up to 256 MB of (parity) RAM in 72-pin SIMMS and up to 512 kB
of asynchronous, synchronous, or pipelined burst cache (256 kB is
standard). The BIOS (AMI) supports all the green features and advanced
IDE modes. There are four PCI 2.1-compliant slots, all of which allow
busmastering, and four ISA slots (one of each of these slots is shared).
All the usual built-in I/O is present. I've had no reports of success
with this board and OS/2, but am optimistic.
(American Megatrends: 101E/4126) (5/26/96)
Setup tips: None so far.
Possible problems: None so far.
+++++++++++
AMI Excalibur This is AMI's 60 MHz Pentium
PCI EISA** board. It uses the SIS chipset (as
do many of the AMI boards), and
will take up to 512 kB (256 is standard) of write-back cache. The board
supports up to 192 MB of RAM and has three PCI and six EISA slots, none
of which are shared. All of the usual integrated I/O is present, as is
BIOS support for green functions. I've had no reports of success with
this board, but as AMI will not release a board to manufacturing until
it has passed compatibility tests with OS/2, I'm very optimistic.
(American Megatrends: 101E/4126) (9/23/95)
Setup tips: None so far.
Possible problems: None so far.
+++++++++++
AMI Excalibur This is AMI's 60/66 MHz Pentium
PCI II** board. It uses the SIS chipset (as
do many of the AMI boards), and
will take up to 512 kB (256 is standard) of write-back cache. The board
supports up to 128 MB of RAM and has four PCI and four ISA slots, one of
each of which is shared. All of the usual integrated I/O is present, as
is BIOS support for green functions. I've had no reports of success
with this board, but as AMI will not release a board to manufacturing
until it has passed compatibility tests with OS/2, I'm very optimistic.
(American Megatrends: 101E/4126) (9/23/95)
Setup tips: None so far.
Possible problems: None so far.
+++++++++++
AMI TItan II** This is one of AMI's dual-processor
boards. It will take either one or
two Pentia (up to 150 MHz -- of course dual-processor systems must have
both processors running at the same speed) and uses the Neptune chipset.
The board will take up to 512 MB (!) of main memory (it has eight rows
for this), and up to 512 kB of write-back cache (256 kB is standard).
The board has four PCI slots and six EISA slots, all of which allow
busmastering and none of which are shared. All slots will accommodate
full-length cards in most twelve-slot cases. All the usual integrated
I/O is present. I've had no reports of success with this board, but as
AMI will not release a board to manufacturing until it has passed
compatibility tests with OS/2, I'm very optimistic.
(American Megatrends: 101E/4126) (5/26/96)
Setup tips: None so far.
Possible problems: None so far.
AMI TItan III** This is one of AMI's dual-processor
boards. It will take either one or
two Pentia (up to 166 MHz, with 200 MHz support apparently in the works)
and uses the Triton II chipset. The board will take up to 384 MB of main
memory (it has six rows for this), and up to 512 kB of pipelined burst
cache (256 kB is standard). The board has four PCI slots and four EISA
slots, all of which allow busmastering and two of which are shared (for
a maximum of seven cards at once). All slots will accommodate
full-length cards in most twelve-slot cases. All the usual integrated
I/O is present. I've had no reports of success with this board, but as
AMI will not release a board to manufacturing until it has passed
compatibility tests with OS/2, I'm very optimistic.
(American Megatrends: 101E/4126) (5/26/96)
Setup tips: None so far.
Possible problems: None so far.
**********************************************************************=
Asus P/E-P5MP3 This particular motherboard has
PCI/EISA (D) been reported to work well, with
the one caution that older
motherboards had a bug in the serial I/O hardware. This board has
identical specifications to the motherboard below, with the exception
that this board uses EISA slots instead of ISA.
(Asustek Computer Inc.: 1043/4163) (6/2/96)
Setup tips: None so far.
Possible problems: None so far.
+++++++++++
Asus MB-586A- This is Asus' bare-bones 60/66 MHz
PCI60C (D) PCI board. It does not have any
I/O on board, but does have a ZIF
socket for a future upgrade. 256 kB of L2 write-through cache is
standard, with 512 kB an option. The board uses the Mercury chipset
(Intel) and the Award Flash-BIOS. It has 4 ISA and 3 PCI slots, and
will accommodate up to 6x32 MB 72-pin SIMMs. This board is no longer
being produced, to the best of my knowledge.
(Asustek Computer Inc.: 1043/4163) (9/21/95)
Setup tips: None so far.
Possible problems: None so far.
+++++++++++
Asus PCI/I-P54NP4 This is an ISA-based board which
takes up to two 133 MHz CPUs with
the latest BIOS update from Asus' web site. It has all the standard I/O
built in (serial/parallel/IDE). It has 256 kB of on-board cache,
upgradable to 512 kB. It will take four 72-pin SIMMs (with parity), and
has a flash BIOS. The board uses the Neptune chipset. I have had a few
reports of success with various revisions of this board and OS/2
2.11/Warp. The board may now work with OS/2 SMP with the latest BIOS.
(Asustek Computer Inc.: 1043/4163) (6/2/96)
Setup tips: The board has many jumpers and, apparently, nearly no
documentation to tell you how to set them. (Two pages
of photocopied jumper settings, I'm told, are all that
you get.) One other person has written to say that
you get a very good manual with the board, so it
could be that the documentation you get depends
largely on where you buy the board. Get the latest
BIOS to ensure correct operation and support for 133
MHz CPUs and OS/2 SMP.
Possible problems: The board will not work with two CPUs and OS/2 SMP.
+++++++++++
Asus P/E-P54NP4 This is Asus' dual-processor board
which uses the Neptune chipset. It
will take up to 512 MB of (FPM only) DRAM in eight banks, and up to 512
kB of asynchronous cache. The board has four PCI slots and four ISA
slots, one of each of which is shared. The board uses the Award flash
BIOS. I've no reports for this board and OS/2, but Asus' website lists
it as OS/2 SMP compatible.
(Asustek Computer Inc.: 1043/4163) (6/2/96)
Setup tips: None so far.
Possible problems: None so far.
+++++++++++
Asus P/E- This is a dual-processor board (up
P55T2P4D to two 200 MHz Pentia may be used)
which uses the Intel Triton II
(430HX) chipset. The board has eight slots for up to 512 MB of
non-parity, parity, or ECC FPM or EDO RAM. 60 ns RAM is required for
CPUs with an external clock speed of 66 MHz. The board comes with 512 kB
of pipeline burst cache. There are four EISA slots, four PCI slots, and
one ISA slot on board. The ISA slot is shared with one of the PCI slots
(an Asus mediabus slot); none of the EISA slots are shared. All the
usual on-board I/O is present. The board uses the Award flash BIOS,
which has support for the NCR/Symbios SCSI controllers built in. I've
had no reports of success with this board and OS/2 yet.
(Asustek Computer Inc.: 1043/4163) (6/2/96)
Setup tips: None so far.
Possible problems: None so far.
+++++++++++
Asus P/I-P54SP4* This board can take a 75/90/100 MHz
Intel Pentium CPU, accommodates
256/512/1 MB of L2 cache and uses the SIS PCI chipset (older boards used
the 5501/2/3; newer boards use the 5511/12/13). The AWARD BIOS (4.50g --
flash upgradable) is used, which has the NCR SCSI BIOS built into it.
There are four 72-pin SIMM sockets for RAM, so the board can take up to
128 MB. The board has two 32-bit PCI IDE ports (via the CMD 640B chipset
-- up to four drives may be attached), 1 floppy port (2.88 MB support
built-in), two 16550 serial ports, and one ECP/EPP parallel port. It
can be run with 3 PCI/4 ISA or 4 PCI/3 ISA slots. A beta release of
this board has apparently run OS/2 2.1 and Win/NT with no problems, and
revision 1.4 (the current version) apparently runs Warp (and Warp
full-pack) without problems. All PCI slots in this board allow
busmastering. People have reported problems with this board not booting
OS/2 with various PCI SCSI controllers; these problems were solved by
disabling the green functions in the BIOS. The same problems are not
reported by another person with a 2940W, however. I have also had
reports of success using an IDE drive in combination with the new ATAPI
IDE CD-ROM, on which Warp full-pack was reported to install without
problems (after modification of the install disks to point to the new
ATAPI driver, of course).
(Asustek Computer Inc.: 1043/4163) (6/2/96)
Setup tips: The PCI bus speed on the board apparently may be set
in the BIOS setup as either CPU CLK/2 or CPU CLK/1.5
(to support the 75 MHz chips or, alternatively, to
overclock the PCI bus). I don't know what effect
running the PCI bus at higher-than-spec rates would
have, though. The BIOS apparently also has many
settings for PCI bursts and wait-states. Setting
all of these to the fastest allowable values seems
to work. The parallel port is assigned to LPT2: by
default in the BIOS. The pin-out for the on-board
mouse connector is:
------------------------------
| Gnd Data N/C +5 |
| |
| Clk -- -- N/C |
------------------------------
On a PS/2 mouse, these correspond to the following
signals:
Pin # Signal
----- ------
1 Data
2 N/C
3 Gnd
4 +5
5 Clk
6 N/C
The "Computer Stop" (206) 644-5400 apparently sells
pre-made mouse cables.
Possible problems: The green functions in the BIOS are apparently
incompatible with many SCSI controllers; it may be
necessary to disable them in order to get Warp to
boot at any resolution beyond VGA. See the PCI IDE
list for a description of problems with the CMD PCI
IDE chipset. Some people have been having problems
with compressed files being corrupted as they are
uncompressed from floppy (a Diamond Stealth VRAM was
in use on both systems, though this may just be
coincidence).
+++++++++++
Asus P/I-P55SP3AV This board can take up to a 200 MHz
Pentium (via a socket 7) and uses
the SIS 5511/12/13 chipset. The board will take up to 512 MB of EDO or
FPM RAM (parity support is not explicitly mentioned). The board comes
with 256 kB of pipeline burst cache (512 kB is an option), though 256 or
512 kB of asynchronous cache are also available. All the usual on-board
I/O is present. Of note, though, is that the board also has integrated
video, provided by the SiS 6205 chipset. The on-board chipset uses up
to 2 MB of DRAM (shared with the on-board RAM), and apparently supports
up to 1280x1024x8bpp. Also on board is the ESS 1788 audio chipset, with
a built-in game port. A wavetable upgrade (unspecified) is available as
well. I do not know if any of this is supported under OS/2 or not. The
board has four ISA slots and three PCI slots, one of each of which is
shared (The shared PCI slot is an Asus mediabus slot as well). The
board uses the Award 1 Mbit flash BIOS, which has support for the
NCR/Symbios SCSI controllers built in. I've had no reports of success
with this board and OS/2 as yet.
(Asustek Computer Inc.: 1043/4163) (6/2/96)
Setup tips: None so far.
Possible problems: None so far.
+++++++++++
Asus P/I-P55T2P4* These boards (the "X" board has an
P/I-XP55T2P4* ATX form factor) will take all the
Pentium chips from 75 - 200 MHz and
use the Triton II (430HX) chipset. The boards have four PCI slots and
three ISA slots, one of each of which is shared (the Asus mediabus slot
and one ISA slot are the ones which are shared). The boards will take
up to 128 MB of non-parity, parity, or ECC RAM in either FPM or EDO
types. (You can mix and match types provided you use the same kind in
any given bank), and come with 256 kB of pipeline burst cache. A CELP
socket is available for upgrading to 512 kB of pipeline burst cache. The
boards use the Award BIOS (version 2.2 is the latest), which has support
for the NCR/Symbios SCSI controllers built in. I've had a report of
success with this baord and Warp, but not with Merlin; apparently in the
latest build (13) of Merlin the plug-and-play features in the BIOS had
to be disabled before it would install. The manual is, apparently,
well-written.
(Asustek Computer Inc.: 1043/4163) (6/2/96)
Setup tips: None so far.
Possible problems: None so far.
+++++++++++
Asus P/I-P54TP4(D) These are the boards by Asus
P/I-P55TP4(D) which use the Intel Triton
P/I-P55TP4XE(D) chipset, with all that that
P/I-P55TP4N** entails. The boards themselves
take everything from a 75 up to
a 200 MHz Pentium (in the newer revisions of the board -- older ones
could take only up to 133 MHz chips), and can be run with either 4 PCI/3
ISA or 3 PCI/4 ISA slots (all of the PCI slots allow busmastering).
Apparently one of the four PCI slots is a proprietary Asus Mediabus,
which means that any cards designed to be run in it may have multiple
functions (the combination sound/video card detailed in the video cards
list would be one of these). You can still use the proprietary slot as
a normal PCI slot, however. The boards will take from 8 to 128 MB of
DRAM or EDO RAM, and has 256 kB of SRAM cache (upgradable to 512 kB),
which may be either synchronous or asynchronous. The boards come with
asynchronous cache, which is disabled automatically upon the insertion
of synchronous cache. The boards have the SMC super I/O controller on
board, and PCI EIDE via the Triton chipset, which apparently supports
mode 4 data transfers and DMA mode 2. The board uses the Award BIOS
(which has the NCR BIOS built in). There is also a mouse port, but no
turbo switch connector on the board. The board was reviewed in the 4/95
issue of the German computer magazine C't. The review was very
favourable towards the new Triton chipset and the ASUS board they
tested. A board equipped with 256k Burst-SRAM and EDO-RAM achieved
transfer rates of 65 MB/sec to 2nd level cache, 39 MByte/s on a direct
memory access, 53 MByte/s on a write operation (STOSD), and 54 MByte/s
on a memory to PCI transfer. Application benchmarks were run under
Windows, OS/2 Warp, and Windows NT 3.5. They didn't mention any
incompatiblities with PCI-components. The board failed when running the
PCI BIOS check, which was attributed to the BIOS. (The PCI/I-54NP4 board
which they used as a comparison failed that test as well). I have had
several reports of success from people running these boards.
(Asustek Computer Inc.: 1043/4163) (6/2/96)
Setup Tips: The BIOS settings for the board are apparently
complex and the documentation minimal; new (as of
August 10/95) versions of the manual apparently do a
better job of documenting/explaining them than do
older ones. Some time may be required to get it set
up just right (though the board is reported to work
well with the BIOS defaults). To that end, make
sure you have the latest BIOS to ensure trouble-free
operation. In addition, the latest revisions of the
board seem to lack JP6, one half of the flash ROM
read/write selector. This apparently is normal, as
that jumper was never moved it was just bridged
closed. If you look at the board with the keyboard
connector in the top right corner, then, you'll see
JP4 and (right below it) JP5, but no JP6. The file
triton.exe, available on the major FTP sites,
contains drivers which take advantage of the
busmastering capabilities of the Triton chipset's
built-in IDE controller. One person has reported
problems with this driver and fixpack 9. It may be
necessary to remove old asynchronous cache before
these boards will recognize new pipeline burst cache
has been installed.
Possible Problems: One person has reported problems with this board and
a RAM chip labelled Ti -60 TMS417400DJ VBP 440230,
wherein NT/3.5 would neither install nor run on the
system. In addition, certain revisions of the
boards do a PCI bus reset after the SCSI BIOS scans
its bus, which causes problems for the QLogic SCSI
controllers. It will be obvious if you have this
problem; your system will not boot at all. Make sure
that if you are using this combination of hardware
and you have this problem that you get the fix for
the problem from QLogic (the ISP1020 firmware level
should be 1.27 or greater). 8-bit ISA networking
cards will _not_ work properly with this board; use
16-bit ISA networking cards if you have to use ISA
netowrking cards. Note also that if you have
problems booting OS/2 from floppy that you should
have your board replaced; the following revisions of
the floppy controller chip (identified as the SMC
37C665IR multi-I/O chip) are defective:
B9519/5-AIC, 6J75692-1
B9519/5-AIC, 6J75693-8
B9519/5-AIC, 6J75690-5
B9519/5-AIC, 6J75697-0
B9521/5-AIC, 6J75735-7
B9521/5-AIC, 6J75730-0
B9521/5-AIC, 6J75732-5
Useful information:
These Web sites (in addition to Asus' web site) contain some technical
information on the Asus boards:
http://www.infinet.com/~venkat/ (finger venkat@infinet.com)
http://www.tdl.com/~netex/ (finger netex@tdl.com)
+++++++++++
Asus P/I-P55TVP4 This board will take all the
various Intel and AMD Pentium-style
CPUs and uses the Triton III (430VX) chipset. The board will take up to
128 MB of non-parity, parity, or ECC FPM or EDO RAM, and has 256 kB of
pipeline burst cache on board, with a COAST socket for 256 kB more.
Apparently 60 ns RAM is required when using CPUs with an external clock
speed of 66 MHz. All the usual on-board I/O is present, including an IR
TX/RX header. The board has four PCI and three ISA slots, one of each
of which is shared (the shared PCI slot is an Asus mediabus slot as
well). The board uses the Award 1 Mbit flash BIOS, which has support
for the NCR/Symbios SCSI controllers built in. I've had no reports of
success with this board and OS/2 as yet, but given that the 430VX
chipset is reported to be slow due to its shared memory architecture,
I'm not likely to be recommending it.
(Asustek Computer Inc.: 1043/4163) (6/2/96)
Setup tips: none so far.
Possible problems: none so far.
**********************************************************************=
DFI Double Shot
**********************************************************************=
DTK QUIN-35 This board uses the Award BIOS
(flash optional) and the SIS
85C501, 85C502, and 85C503 chipset. In addition, motherboard
specifications list the WinBond W83769F, W83787F, and W83768F chips,
though I'm not sure what they do. The board is PCI 2.0-compliant. The
board will accept up to 1 MB of standard cache, and 128 MB of
conventional DRAM in four 72-pin sockets. The board has 3 PCI, 3 ISA,
and one shared PCI/ISA slot, as well as the (nearly standard) 2 serial
(16550), 1 EPP/ECP parallel, and one game port. Support is provided for
up to a 1.44 MB floppy drive, and 2 EIDE drives. I've had no reports of
success or failure with this board and OS/2.
(Vendor ID unknown) (8/27/95)
Setup tips: None so far.
Possible problems: None so far.
**********************************************************************=
Gigabyte GA-586AL/S This is Gigabyte's 60/66 MHz
motherboard. It uses the Award
BIOS and ALI chipset. I don't have any other specifics on the board or
chipset, but apparently the board does _not_ work well with OS/2. The
system will apparently install well, but on reboot cannot locate the
desktop. To be avoided.
(Vendor ID unknown) (8/27/95)
+++++++++++
Gigabyte GA-586AP This board will take either a 75,
90, or 100 MHz Pentium. It uses
the ALI chipset and the Award Flash BIOS. The board has 2 dedicated PCI
slots, 3 dedicated ISA slots, and one shared ISA/PCI slot, so it can be
run as 3 ISA/3 PCI or 4 ISA/2 PCI. The board will accept up to 1 MB of
(asynchronous, I believe, and write-back) L2 cache. The board has six
slots for SIMMs, and can use 1/2/4/8/16/32 MB modules. The FDD
controller supports up to a 2.88 MB floppy, and the IDE controller is
the CMD 640 (so use the latest CMD drivers (included) to see all the
second-channel drives). The board also has 2 16550 serial ports and 1
EPP parallel port, and provides support for all the green functions.
The board does not have on-board SCSI, but does have support for the NCR
53c810-based GA-410 NCR 810 PCI SCSI card in the BIOS. The board claims
compatibility with all major operating systems, and I've had a report of
success with it and Warp and Linux.
(Vendor ID unknown) (8/27/95)
Setup tips: Use the CMD 640 driver instead of IBM1S506.ADD to
ensure that all IDE drives can been seen and
accessed properly.
Potential problems: None reported so far.
+++++++++++
Gigabyte GA-586ATE This board will take everything
from a 75 to a 133 MHz Pentium, and
has 4 ISA and 3 PCI slots (none of which are shared). The board
supports 1 floppy (up to 1.44 MB) and 2 IDE ports, and has all the
standard I/O ports as well, all in what are reported to be fairly
convenient locations. The board (currently at revision 3) uses the
Award 4.50G BIOS, the latest revision of which (for this board) is 2.08,
and will accommodate up to six 72-pin SIMMs (double- or single-sided).
The BIOS supports green functions, but apparently its flexibility is
limited because of the BIOS. The manual for this baord is reportedly
only fair, with many bad translations and many jumpers to set which are
not all covered by the manual. I've had couple of reports of success
with this board and OS/2. However, it seems that the board does not
work well with ATI cards; the Mach32 cards are only marginally stable,
and other people have reported (non-specific) problems with this board
and the Mach64 cards. The problems with the Mach32 (which were even
worse in Win/95) were solved with a BIOS update from ATI; this may help
with the Mach64 cards as well.
(Vendor ID unknown) (5/26/96)
Setup tips: None so far.
Potential problems: Apparently the Triton chipset IDE drivers will not
work with the board and Warp at any level of
fixpack. This board does _not_ work reliably with
ATI Mach32 cards, and is potentially problematic
with ATI Mach64 cards.
+++++++++++
Gigabyte GA-586IP This is Gigabyte's 90/100 MHz
motherboard, and takes one P54CT
running at 60/90 or 66/100 MHz. It has four PCI slots, all of which
allow busmastering, and four ISA slots. It takes either 256 or 512 kB
of L2 cache and up to 768 (!) MB of SIMMs in six 72-pin slots (if you
can get 128 MB strips). The board has the Award flash BIOS (4.50g).
The board has been reported to work reliably under OS/2 (2.1 and Warp),
as well as NT, etc.
(Vendor ID unknown) (8/27/95)
Setup Tips: If you are using the Adaptec 2940 SCSI controller
with this board, it is necessary to add the
switches '/A:0 /I' to the basedev line of the
driver. Failure to do so resulted in a consistent
TRAP 3 for one netter. In addition, it is necessary
to set the Int A jumper on the board itself _and_
set the BIOS. Warp full-pack requires the switch
/PCIHW to be added to the device driver line in
config.sys.
Potential problems: In a test in C't they had problems with the ATI
Xpression and the 586IP. Apparently, Gigabyte has
modified PCI slots 0 and 1 (in an unspecified
manner) so that the machine locks up when an ATI
card is installed in one of these slots.
Installing the Xpression in slot 2 is one
workaround.
**********************************************************************=
Intel Advanced** There are four boards in this
series from Intel, all of which
employ the Triton chipset and AMI BIOS, and will accommodate up to 128
MB of conventional or EDO RAM. All boards will support all the various
Pentium chips from 75 to 133 MHz. All boards have on-board busmastering
PCI IDE via the Triton chipset, as well as integrated
serial/parallel/game ports. All boards also have 3 dedicated ISA, 2
dedicated PCI, and 1 shared ISA/PCI slot, so that they can be run in
either 4 ISA/2 PCI or 3 ISA/3 PCI configurations. The file triton.exe,
available on the major FTP sites, contains drivers which take advantage
of the busmastering capabilities of the Triton chipset's built-in IDE
controller. One person has reported problems with this driver and
fixpack 9. Note that none of these boards supports the NCR 53c810 SCSI
controller in the BIOS.
(Intel: 8086/32902) (11/2/95)
Specific boards offer the following features:
Advanced/MN: This board features on-board video (S3/Trio32, up to 2 MB
of DRAM). The board will take up to 256 kB of asynchronous cache. The
low-profile version of this board (MN/LPX) will take up to 512 kB of
cache (still asynchronous). I've had no reports of success with this
board and OS/2. (8/27/95)
Setup Tips: None so far.
Potential Problems: None so far.
Advanced/ZP: This board will accommodate up to 256 kB of cache
(asynchronous). It does not have on-board video. I've seen one report
on the net which indicates that, although this board works well with
DOS/Win (what doesn't?), video cards seem to not work well at all with
this board and OS/2. One other report says that a board sounding very
much like this one and using a Diamond Stealth 64 DRAM video card has
worked very well. Another person says that PCI bursting must be turned
off if you have a slow video card (like and MGA Ultima) to avoid video
corruption. The built-in S3 Trio64 chipset apparently works well with
Warp as well. (This was on a European model; the S3 chipset may not be
available on the North American model.) A few people have reported
their systems to be crash-free. The board apparently has a large
capacitor next to the CPU which prohibits the use of full-length PCI
cards in the adjacent slot. (5/26/96)
Setup Tips: None so far.
Potential Problems: None verifiable or repeatable.
Advanced/ZE: This board is very similar to the ZP above, except that it
has one extra dedicated ISA slot and one extra dedicated PCI slot. I
have had no reports of success with this board and OS/2. (8/27/95)
Setup Tips: None so far.
Potential Problems: None so far.
Advanced/EV: This board will take all the Pentium processors (up to 166
MHz), and up to 512 kB of synchronous cache. It has built-in audio
(SoundBlaster 16 chipset) and, in the UK and Europe, the S3 Trio64 video
chip. It has four dedicated ISA slots, three dedicated PCI slots, and
one shared ISA/PCI slot. I've had several reports of success with this
board and Warp, and one report that the board does not work with the
Adaptec 2940UW SCSI controller. (5/26/96)
Setup Tips: Here's how to overclock your 120 MHz Pentium to 133
MHz with the EV board. Set the switches as
follows:
WARNING *** WARNING *** WARNING *** WARNING *** WARNING *** WARNING
The following setup information is provided with ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY
of ANY KIND. In no manner whatsoever shall I (Patrick Duffy, the author
of the PCI motherboards list) be held responsible for damage of any sort
caused by application of said information.
CPU Switch 2 Switch 6 Switch 7 Switch 8
--- -------- -------- -------- --------
75 OFF OFF ON OFF
90 OFF OFF OFF OFF
100 OFF OFF ON ON
120 ON ON OFF OFF
133 ON ON ON ON
WARNING *** WARNING *** WARNING *** WARNING *** WARNING *** WARNING
Potential Problems: None so far.
Advanced/AL: This board is used in computers sold by Gateway. They
support 75 - 133 MHz Pentium chips and have 256 kB of pipeline burst
cache soldered into the motherboard. It also has PS/2-style mouse and
keyboard connectors. The board comes with an ATI Mach64 with 2 MB of
RAM on the board. To get this working in OS/2, it is necessary to first
install for VGA then to get the latest Mach64 drivers from hobbes
(mach64.zip) and install those. (5/18/96)
+++++++++++
Intel AltServer* This board is intended for use
primarily in server applications.
It supports either one or two 75 or 90 MHz Pentia, and uses the Neptune
chipset and AMI flash BIOS. Up to 256 kB of (asynchronous) cache may be
used in combination with up to 256 MB of RAM in eight 72-pin strips (EDO
RAM is not supported). The board has an on-board Cirrus Logic 5430
video controller (with 512 kB DRAM expandable to 1 MB) and an Adaptec
AIC7870 fast/wide SCSI controller. There are two dedicated PCI slots,
five dedicated EISA slots, and one shared EISA/PCI slot, and all slots
allow busmastering adapters. When a second (expensive!) 90 MHz CPU is
added to the board with an SMP operating system installed, system
performance is claimed to only increase by 30% according to Intel. I've
had one report of success with the board.
(Intel: 8086/32902) (5/18/96)
Setup Tips: None so far.
Potential Problems: None so far.
+++++++++++
Intel Premiere The 60/66 (Premiere) and 75/90/100
(D) MHz (Premiere II) Pentium boards
have passed OS/2 certification (with the 66 and 90 MHz CPUs in place,
respectively). These boards are, therefore, highly recommended. The 60
MHz board has been reported to be problematic with SCSI, though Adaptec
now seems to think their AHA-2940 SCSI controller should work with it,
as do BusLogic and QLogic (I have had reports of success with the QLogic
controller but not with the Adaptec or BusLogic). The 60/66 MHz board
uses the Mercury chipset, while the 90/100 MHz board uses the Neptune
chipset. All the boards come with 256 kB of L2 cache, can accommodate
up to 128 MB (4x32 MB 72-pin SIMMs) of RAM, and use the AMI flash BIOS
(currently at revision 1.00.16.AX1 for the 90 MHz boards -- other boards
have different BIOSes specific to them). All boards have the NCR SCSI
BIOS built in, and have IDE (for ISA and PCI) and I/O ports on the
board. The 60/66 MHz boards use the CMD chipset for IDE functions while
the 90/100 MHz boards use the PC Tech RZ1000 for IDE support. The
boards can be run with 4 ISA/3 PCI or 5 ISA/2 PCI slots.
(Intel: 8086/32902) (6/2/96)
Setup tips: Get (at least) rev. 1.00.10.AX1 of the AMI flash
BIOS (for the 90 MHz boards) to fix problems with
Guaranteed Acess Timing (GAT) and BackMaster 1.1.
If you have an ATI card and an intermal modem, make
sure you turn off intelligent remapping of the COM
ports to avoid conflicts with the ATI card and
COM4. If you are using an NCR SCSI controller,
you'll have to set IRQ9 to 'used by ISA card'
during the install to get the install to work
(under 2.1/2.11). If you're running a SCSI drive
as your boot drive, turn off the drive C: timeout
for a faster boot.
WARNING *** WARNING *** WARNING *** WARNING *** WARNING *** WARNING
The following setup information is provided with ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY
of ANY KIND. In no manner whatsoever shall I (Patrick Duffy, the author
of the PCI motherboards list) be held responsible for damage of any sort
caused by application of said information.
That said, here's how to make your 90 MHz Premiere II board run at 100 MHz:
Move the "reserved" jumper (J13) on the board to pins 1 & 2 (the 75 MHz
side) from pins 2 & 3 (the 75/90 side). This causes the Pentium to run
at 100 MHz instead of 90.
WARNING *** WARNING *** WARNING *** WARNING *** WARNING *** WARNING
Potential problems: See the PCI chipset list and the PCI IDE list for
descriptions of the Neptune chipset and IDE drive
problem, The SMC chip used to control the serial
ports should have the letters "GT" after it for
trouble-free communications.
**********************************************************************=
J. Bond PCI500C-A This board is, from a report I've
received, no better than the 486
board above. Apparently the only way to make _this_ board stable (the
test configuration had a 66 MHz Pentium, 512 kB cache, Phoenix BIOS
1.03, shadow RAM enabled, Mercury chipset, and the NCR 53c810 controller
(built in) attached to a Quantum SCSI HD) is to disable the on-chip 16
kB cache. This, of course, makes the Pentium _really_ slow. New boards
may have this problem fixed (whatever's causing it), but I have no way
of knowing. If you're still curious, the board has 4 PCI and 4 ISA
slots, and can accommodate up to four 72-pin SIMMs.
(J. Bond Computer Systems: 1086/4230) (8/27/95)
Setup tips: Disable the CPU cache for reliable operation.
Potential problems: Motherboard problems could be caused by:
- Early BIOS (Feb. 02/94, rev. 1.03)
- Early Mercury chipset (not sure)
- Bad CPU or poor cooling
**********************************************************************=
Micronics M5Pi This particular board takes
either a 60 or 66 MHz Pentium chip,
and has a ZIF socket for future upgrades. Like many of the other
Pentium motherboards here, this has 256/512 kB of (write-back) cache,
and will accommodate up to 128 MB (4x32 MB SIMMs) of RAM. The PCI
chipset used is the Intel 82430 PCIset (don't know it's common name,
though I suspect that this is the Mercury chipset), and it uses a
Phoenix Flash-BIOS. Like the Intel boards, this board can be run with 4
ISA and 3 PCI slots or 5 ISA and 2 PCI slots.
(Micronics Computers Inc.: 1012/4114) (8/27/95)
Setup tips: None so far.
Potential problems: None reported.
+++++++++++
Micronics M54pi* This is the 90 MHz Micronics
motherboard for OS/2. Presumably
it has the Neptune chipset. The board reported has Phoenix BIOS V4.04-N
08. With this BIOS, the board is reported to work very well with the
Adaptec 2940, though earlier versions of the BIOS had problems with
disk-intensive programs crashing. Make sure, therefore, that you get at
least this revision of the Phoenix flash BIOS when buying your
motherboard, or at least that you can upgrade to it. I have now had
several reports of success with this board and various flavours of OS/2
(all using the 2940 controller).
(Micronics Computers Inc.: 1012/4114) (8/27/95)
Setup tips: Make sure you have the latest revision of the BIOS
for your best chance at trouble-free operation.
Potential problems: None, with the latest BIOS.
**********************************************************************=
MTI R526** This board, like the 486 board on
this list from MTI, has among its
unique properties that it will use 30-pin SIMMs. It uses the SIS 551X
chipset, and has support for up to 128 MB of RAM, either in 30-pin SIMMs
or 72-pin. The board also supports all the different Pentium CPUs (it
has a socket 7 for up to 200 MHz), and supports all the different types
of cache as well (up to 1 MB for standard SRAM and 256 kB for pipelined
burst). The board has four ISA and three PCI slots, and has all the
usual built-in I/O; the IDE controller supports up to mode 4. The board
will take either the Award or AMI BIOSes (flash upgrability is an
option; the standard BIOS is the Award 4.50PG which is not). Apparently
people seem to prefer the Award BIOS to the AMI version. I've had
several very positive reports about this board and OS/2.
(Vendor ID unknown) (5/26/96)
Setup tips: The spacing for the 30-pin SIMMs is very tight, so
make sure that, if you're using 30-pin SIMMs,
they're in tight. Also (as with all PCI
motherboards) make sure that if you have an ISA
card which uses IRQ 9, 10, or 11, that you stop the
PCI bus from using it (this is done via the system
BIOS). If you don't do this, the system will have
problems accessing the hard drive.
Potential problems: None so far.
**********************************************************************=
QTC P54TS* This board uses the Triton chipset
and has 3 PCI and 4 ISA slots.
Apparently the board has jumpers for everything from a 75 to a 200 MHz
Pentium, and a built-in AIC7870 SCSI chip (from the Adaptec 2940) with
the associated support in the BIOS. The board will take four 72-pin
SIMMs (EDO or page mode), and will take normal or pipelined burst cache.
All the standard I/O is built in. I've had a report of success with
this board and Warp Connect and Win/95.
Setup tips: None so far.
Potential problems: None so far.
(Vendor ID unknown) (11/4/95)
**********************************************************************=
SuperMicro P55* This motherboard is based around
the Intel Triton chipset, and as
such will support a 75 to 180 MHz CPU. The board itself comes in two
types: CWA, which has an asynchronous cache, and CWS, which has a
pipelined burst synchronous cache. Either board can have 256 or 512 kB
of cache. The board has 3 ISA slots, 3 PCI slots, and one shared
ISA/PCI slot, all of which allow busmastering. The board has 4 SIMM
sockets, for up to 128 MB of RAM, in either 60/70 ns fast page-mode or
EDO. The board has EIDE support through mode 4, but that's about it for
I/O, as it has no built-in serial/parallel/game or floppy. In return
for this the board is relatively inexpensive, costing less than $US 1000
with the 100 MHz pentium. I've had two reports of success with this
board and OS/2 Warp (full-pack, CWS configuration, EDO RAM, 100 MHz), as
well as DOS/Win, NT, and SCO Unix (75 MHz), though apparently with SCO
Unix the SCSI controller fails after a warm boot and must be reset.
(Vendor ID unknown) (8/27/95)
Setup Tips: The file triton.exe, available on the major FTP
sites, contains drivers which take advantage of the
busmastering capabilities of the Triton chipset's
built-in IDE controller.
Potential Problems: One person has reported problems with system
lock-ups with the triton driver and fixpack 9.
**********************************************************************=
TMC PCI54IT This board is based around the
Intel Triton chipset and the Award
BIOS (revision 4.50GP, 95/04/20). It is plug and play 1.0a-compliant.
It will take at least up to a 90 MHz Pentium and has four 72-pin SIMM
slots. Support for IDE (via the Triton chipset), floppy, and
serial/parallel/game I/O is built in to the motherboard. The board is
reported to work well with Warp.
(TMC Research: 1030/4144) (8/27/95)
Setup Tips: The file triton.exe, available on the major FTP
sites, contains drivers which take advantage of the
busmastering capabilities of the Triton chipset's
built-in IDE controller.
Potential Problems: One person has reported problems with the triton
driver and fixpack 9.
+++++++++++
TMC PCI54PV3 This motherboard uses up to a 90 MHz
Pentium chip and has the Opti "Viper"
chipset in combination with the Award BIOS. It has 3 PCI slots, 4 ISA
slots, and all the usual serial/parallel/game ports. The board will take
up to four 72-pin SIMMs. Support for IDE and floppy drives is built in,
though what type of IDE is unspecified. The board is reported to work
well, though somewhat slower than the PCI54IT above, with Warp.
(TMC Research: 1030/4144) (8/27/95)
Setup Tips: None so far.
Potential Problems: None so far.
+++++++++++
TMC PCI58PL This board will take either a 60 or
66 MHz Pentium, and up to 128 MB of
(parity only) RAM. This board has in common with the MTI boards that
it will accept 30-pin SIMMs; the board has four sockets for 30-pin SIMMs
and three for 72-pin SIMMs. The 30-pin sockets (all four) comprise bank
0, while the 72-pin sockets are banks 0, 1, and 2, so that if you use
30-pin SIMMs you'll only have two sockets left over for 72-pin SIMMs.
The board will take 1Mx9, 4Mx9, 16Mx9, 256kx36 (total 1 MB), 512kx36,
1Mx36, 2Mx36, 4Mx36, 8Mx36, and 16Mx36 SIMMs for a maximum of 192 MB. It
will take up to 512 kB of cache, and comes with 256 kB. The board has 2
ISA, 1 VL, and 3 PCI slots, all dedicated, and one shared PCI/VL slot.
All PCI slots allow busmastering, and one of the VL slots does. It has
no built-in I/O support for floppy drives or serial/parallel ports. The
board uses the OPTI 82C822, 82C571, and 82C572 chipset and the Award
(4.50G) BIOS. The board is reported to work well with OS/2 Warp and
DOS/Win.
(TMC Research: 1030/4144) (8/27/95)
Setup Tips: None so far.
Potential Problems: The version of the Award BIOS which comes with this
board has a bug. Apparently pressing [F1] for help
when in the PCI configuration screen does not
produce any help.
Tyan Tomcat I This board will take up to a 200
MHz Pentium (via a ZIF socket 7)
and uses the Triton II (430HX) chipset. The board will take up to 512
MB of parity or ECC FPM or EDO RAM in eight slots, and 256 or 512 kB of
pipelined burst cache via a coast socket. The board has four PCI slots
and five ISA slots, one of each of which is shared (for a maximum of
eight cards on the motherboard at once). All the usual on-board I/O is
present, as is support for USB via two on-board connectors. The USB
will apparently support up to 126 attached devices and 12 Mb/sec data
transfer-rate. Either the AMI or Award BIOSes may be ordered with this
board. I've had a report of success with this board and OS/2.
(Tyan Computer: 10F1/4337) (6/2/96)
Setup Tips: None so far.
Potential Problems: None so far.
+++++++++++
Tyan Tempest II This board will take up to two 166
MHz Pentium processors and uses the
Intel Neptune chipset. Up to 512 MB of FPM-only RAM can be installed in
eight slots, and will take either 256 kB (standard) or 512 kB (optional)
of asynchronous cache. The board has four PCI slots and five EISA
slots, one of each of which is shared (for a maximum of eight cards on
the motherboard at once). The board also has connectors for 3.3 or 5
volt power supplies. I do not believe the board has any integrated I/O
(none is mentioned on the Tyan web site). I've had no reports of
success with this board and OS/2 as yet.
(Tyan Computer: 10F1/4337) (5/26/96)
Setup Tips: None so far.
Potential Problems: None so far.
+++++++++++
Tyan Titan III This board will take a single
Pentium CPU running at up to 166 MHz
or the Cyrix 686 chip and uses the
Triton (430FX) chipset. The board uses either 3.3 or 5 volt FPM or EDO
DRAM (up to 128 MB in four sockets), and takes up to 512 kB of pipelined
burst cache (256 kB is standard), or 64/256 kB of asynchronous cache.
There is a COAST socket for cache as well. The board has four PCI slots
and four ISA slots, none of which are shared and all of which allow
busmastering. No on-board I/O is present, except for the built-in IDE
provided by the Triton chipset. The board can be ordered with either the
Award or AMI flash BIOSes. I've now had a report of success with this
board and OS/2.
(Tyan Computer: 10F1/4337) (6/2/96)
Setup Tips: None so far.
Potential Problems: None so far.
+++++++++++
Tyan Titan III This board will take a single
Pentium CPU running at up to 200
MHz and uses the Triton (430FX) chipset. The board uses either 3.3 or 5
volt FPM or EDO DRAM (up to 128 MB in six sockets), and takes up to 512
kB of pipelined burst cache (256 kB is standard), or 64/256 kB of
asynchronous cache. The board has four PCI slots and five ISA slots,
one of each of which is shared (for a maximum of eight cards on the
motherboard at once). All the usual on-board I/O is present. The board
can be ordered with either the Award or AMI flash BIOSes. I've had no
reports of success with this baord and OS/2 as yet.
(Tyan Computer: 10F1/4337) (5/26/96)
Setup Tips: None so far.
Potential Problems: None so far.
|-------------------------------------------|
|PART THREE: Pentium Pro-based motherboards|
|-------------------------------------------|
AMI Goliath** This board uses the Orion chipset
and is truly for the power-hungry.
It will take up to four Pentium Pro processors (running at 200 MHz) and
uses the Orion chipset. This is accomplished by something called the
CPU board approach, wherein the main motherboard takes two CPUs, but
there is a slot for a secondary board which holds up to two more CPUs.
The board will accommodate up to 1 GB (!) of RAM in 8 slots; there is
apparently support for 168-pin DIMMs, as there is for ECC RAM. The board
has six PCI slots (two buses and three slots per bus) and supports
concurrent operation of the two buses. There are four EISA slots. All
the usual built-in I/O is present. I've had no reports of success with
this board, but AMI has a good track record, so I'm optimistic.
(American Megatrends: 101E/4126) (5/26/96)
Setup Tips: None so far.
Potential Problems: None so far.
+++++++++++
AMI MegaPro** Here's another over-achiever from
AMI. This one will support "only"
up to two Pentium Pro processors (running at 180 or 200 MHz, with others
being supported as they are available), and uses the Natoma chipset. The
board supports up to 1 GB (!) of FPM, EDO, or BEDO RAM, any of which can
optionally have parity/ECC. Symmetric and asymmetric DRAM is also
supported. The board has six PCI slots (three per bus and two
independent PCI buses), all of which busmaster, and four EISA slots
(also busmastering). One EISA slot and one PCI slot are shared, for a
maximum of nine cards on the board at once. All the usual built-in I/O
is present, and a connector for a 3.3 volts is present. I've had no reports of success with the board, but am
optimistic, as AMI does not release boards to manufacturing until they
have passed OS/2 certification.
(American Megatrends: 101E/4126) (5/26/96)
Setup Tips: None so far.
Potential Problems: None so far.
+++++++++++
AMI Merlin** This board supports a single 180
or 200 MHz Pentium Pro (others will
be supported as they become available) and uses the Natoma chipset. The
board supports up to 512 MB (!) of FPM, EDO, or BEDO RAM, any of which
can optionally have parity/ECC. Symmetric and asymmetric DRAM is also
supported. The board has four PCI slots and four ISA slots. One ISA
slot and one PCI slot are shared, for a maximum of seven cards on the
board at once. One of the PCI slots will accommodate only a half-length
PCI card. All the usual built-in I/O is present, and a set of two 4-pin
connectors for USB support. I've had no reports of success with the
board, but am optimistic, as AMI does not release boards to
manufacturing until they have passed OS/2 certification.
(American Megatrends: 101E/4126) (5/26/96)
Setup Tips: None so far.
Potential Problems: None so far.
**********************************************************************=
Asus P/E-P6RP7D This baord uses the Orion chipset
and takes up to two 200 MHz
Pentium Pros (via a ZIF socket #8). The board uses the Orion chipset
and the AMI flash BIOS, currently at rev. 2.2. The BIOS supports the
NCR/Symbios SCSI controllers. The board will accept up to 1 GB (!) of
(non-EDO) RAM in 8 sockets, and has 6 PCI slots and 1 EISA slot (The
EISA slot is shared with a PCI slot; the PCI slot is an Asus mediabus
slot). All the usual I/O is there with the exception of an IDE port,
though an IR TX/RX header is present. There is a VRM (voltage regulator
module) on board, but I don't know what that is for. Note that this
board is full-AT size.
(Asustek Computer Inc.: 1043/4163) (6/2/96)
Setup Tips: None so far.
Potential Problems: None so far.
+++++++++++
Asus P/E-P6P4S This baord uses the Orion chipset
and takes the 133, 150, and 166 MHz
Pentium Pros (via a ZIF socket #8). The board uses the Orion chipset
and the Award 1 Mbit flash BIOS, currently at rev. 2.2. It will accept
up to 512 MB of (non-EDO) RAM in 4 sockets, has 4 PCI slots and 3 ISA
slots (one of each of which is shared). All the usual I/O is there
including two EIDE ports and an IR TX/RX header. This board will only
take one Pentium Pro. Quite obviously, I've had no reports from anyone
using it yet.
(Asustek Computer Inc.: 1043/4163) (12/3/95)
Setup Tips: None so far.
Potential Problems: None so far.
+++++++++++
Asus P/I-P6NP5 These baords (the "X" board has an
P/I-XP6NP5 ATX form factor) take all the various
Pentium Pros (one at a time, up to
200 MHz), and uses the Intel Natoma (440FX) chipset. The boards will
support up to 256 MB of non-parity, parity, or ECC FPM, EDO, or BEDO RAM
in four sockets. All the usual on-board I/O is there. The boards have
five PCI slots and three ISA slots. One of the PCI slots has (attached
to the end) a mini-ISA slot, and so is called a "Mediabus" slot. This
slot is shared with a full-size ISA slot. There is a voltage regulator
module on-board (2.1 to 3.5 volts), though I don't know what this is
for. The boards use the Award 1 Mbit flash BIOS and have support for the
NCR/Symbios controllers built in. I've had no reports of success with
these boards as yet.
(Asustek Computer Inc.: 1043/4163) (6/2/96)
Setup Tips: None so far.
Potential Problems: None so far.
+++++++++++
Asus P/I-P6RP4 This baord takes all the various
Pentium Pro processors (one at a
time, up to 200 MHz), and uses the Intel 450KX (Mars) chipset. The
board will take up to 512 MB of non-parity, parity, or ECC RAM, in
either FPM or EDO varieties. The board has four PCI slots and three ISA
slots; one of the PCI slots (a mediabus slot) is shared with an ISA
slot. All the usual on-board I/O is present, including an IR Tx/Rx
header. The board uses the AMI flash BIOS, which has support for the
NCR/Symbios SCSI chips built in. There is apparently also a voltage
regulator module which supports 2.1 to 3.5 volts built on to the
motherboard, but I'm not sure what that would be used for. I've had no
reports of success with this board as yet.
(Asustek Computer Inc.: 1043/4163) (12/3/95)
Setup Tips: None so far.
Potential Problems: None so far.
**********************************************************************=
Intel Performance Note that this board has an ATX
AU form factor. The board takes a
single Pentium Pro processor and
uses the 450KX (Mars) chipset. The board takes up to 128 MB of
non-parity, parity, or ECC FPM RAM (60 ns RAM is required). All the
usual integrated I/O is present, along with an IR TX/RX header. The
board has four PCI slots and three ISA slots, two of each of which are
shared. The board uses a 1 Mbit flash Intel BIOS. I've had no reports
of success with this board and OS/2 as yet.
(Intel: 8086/32982) (6/2/96)
Setup Tips: None so far.
Potential Problems: None so far.
**********************************************************************=
Tyan Titan Pro This board takes up to two Pentium
Pro CPUs (running at 200 MHz) and
uses the Intel Natoma (440FX) chipset. The board takes up to 1 GB (!)
of RAM (parity or ECC, EDO/BEDO/FPM). The board has five PCI slots (all
accommodate full-length cards), presumably split into two PCI buses
(though this is not stated explicitly), and three ISA slots, one of each
of which is shared. The board supports concurrent PCI. All the usual
built-in I/O is present, as is support for USB. I've had no reports of
success as yet with this board and OS/2.
(Tyan Computer: 10F1/4337) (5/26/96)
Setup Tips: None so far.
Potential Problems: None so far.
There's what I know. Please E-Mail suggestions/corrections and I'll
post again.
--
Patrick Duffy, duffy@theory.chem.ubc.ca
"Evil is out there making hand-crafted mischief for the swap meet of villany."
-- The Tick