SCOUG-HELP Mailing List Archives

>> Next Message >>

Date:	Wed, 8 Aug 2001 14:14:26 PDT
From:	"J. R. Fox" <jr_fox@pacbell.net >
Reply-To:	scoug-help@scoug.com
To:	scoug-help@scoug.com
Subject:	SCOUG-Help: Re: Chip Board Rev., ASUS P3B-F

Content Type: text/plain

=====================================================
If you are responding to someone asking for help who
may not be a member of this list, be sure to use the
REPLY TO ALL feature of your email program.
=====================================================

> >I'm hoping we have some readers here who are well up on hardware topics,
> >otherwise I may have to take this to the h/w forum on Compuserve or
> >(shudder) the noisegroups.

Steven Levine replied:

> I would suggest the os2hardware list at groups.yahoo.com.

O.K., I'll stop in there soon.

> >If anyone has worked with the ASUS P3B-F, I'm trying to confirm that it
>
> I happen to be typing on one.

Good. ASUS had one of the best reputations among mainboard mfr.s, and the two previous ASUS m/b's I had
were great for OS/2 and first-rate overall. If there are other great m-b brands / models (for OS/2,
especially), I'd like to know about them. My preferences are: high performance, high reliability, takes
Intel CPUs (I've decided not to go the AMD route for now, although successors to the Athlon family are
reportedly going to offer better x86 backwards compatibility than what Intel has in store for us next.).
I wanted to keep at least one ISA slot, and went with the P3B-F to keep the h/w migration as close to what
I have now with my current P2B-F as possible, in the hope this would maximize compatibility. Change a
couple chipsets here and there, and that might get to be an issue.

> >can accomodate an Intel P-3 1Ghz. CPU. The Spec.s on the ASUS site
>
> Don't know. Mine is older and the manual only specs it up to 550mHz which
> was the fastest PIII available when I bought the board.

I'm pasting in a Bios Rev. description that I found somewhere on the ASUS site:

P3B-F (6 PCI/5 PCI, 4 DIMM, Jumperless BIOS, STR, ATX)
- BIOS Upgrade and Road Map :
bx3f1006.zip

P3B-F BIOS Ver. 1006. 06/30/2000

- Fix Windows 2000 cannot be installed if all PnP devices in Super I/O are disabled.

- Support 566MHz and 850MHz CPU with clock ratio equal or greater than 8.5x.

- Revise Coppermine Vcore limit for 128K cache Coppermine.

- Fix Hardware Monitor false alarm of CPU vcore when using old celeron CPU.

So, apparently, it will go up as high as 850, if you flash the BIOS. My former h/w guy was usually all
over this stuff, and if he said the board could do 1Ghz. (reliably), I still tend to think he must have
been basing that on something. OTOH, he has essentially disappeared with a nice chunk of cash I fronted
him, and nothing ever delivered. ;-(

> I don't think that will work. My scanpci listing does not show any
> version information. However, pciexe reports that the 440BX is revision
> 3, FWIW.

I'll keep that in mind, and re-inspect the chip.

> How much is a 1Gz slot 1 chip going to cost you?

Not sure what I paid for the one that was among the components I had advanced payment for to my former
dealer, but I could look it up. (That stuff was ordered last winter.) Of course, the Slot 1 stuff is
well out of production now, and the problem is finding them at all, particularly certain models. I have
managed to locate one source, more or less local, that sometimes has them. (Retail Box, not OEM.) When
available, the going rate seems to fall in the $300. to $350. range, I think. Since there's a good
chance I'll never see the gear I had ordered, I'm gradually starting to replace it, piece by piece,
concentrating first on what's hardest to get or may become unavailable. Given the uncertainty over this
processor speed issue for the m/b in question, I just purchased a P-III / 850E Slot 1 CPU for around
$200., incl. sales tax & shipping.

Many models of the P-III CPUs were manufactured in the Phillipines or Honduras. Should that be any cause
for concern ?

Jordan

=====================================================

To unsubscribe from this list, send an email message
to "steward@scoug.com". In the body of the message,
put the command "unsubscribe scoug-help".

For problems, contact the list owner at
"rollin@scoug.com".

=====================================================

Return to [ 08 | August | 2001 ]

SCOUG, Warp Expo West, and Warpfest are trademarks of the Southern California OS/2 User Group. OS/2, Workplace Shell, and IBM are registered trademarks of International Business Machines Corporation. All other trademarks remain the property of their respective owners.