Motherboard Evaluation Form (Draft)

[John Plocher]

You asked for a "form" to evaluate motherboards.  While, here is one that might work.
I even filled it in with info from the board I have.

I would be interested in fleshing this out and then maintaining a centeral database
of these "evaluations".  I am rather well connected here at Sun, so it shouldn't
be too hard to set up a simple mail archive server... (famous last words :-)

Please use this as a DRAFT - don't y'all jump in and start posting these forms
with your system info - lets work on the form, not the data right now.

Should we add things like Dhrystones, Landmark speed, Norton numbers....
What else have I forgotten?

   -John Plocher

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

			MOTHERBOARD EVALUATION FORM
			---------------------------

  Part 1 is a technical overview of the motherboard in question.  This part is
should completed once for the specific hardware.  The other 2 parts may be
updated many times, by many people.  Note that the prices are very date-specific.
$2200 for a 4MB 25MHZ board in May 1989 is a good price since other boards were
selling for $3500.  Today, the median price for a 25MHz board is closer to $2000,
so the "good" price of $2200 doesn't look so hot.
  Part 2 is meant to be a pointer to where the board is avaliable
(Mail order house, retail store...) and the prices they charge.  NOTE:  These
prices may have little to do with the "Suggested Retail Price" found in part 1.
  Part 3 is the software reference section.  This part documents the software
which has been tested on the system.
  Part 4 is for comments by users of the system

PART 1
------
System Name ........................:	Abacus 386/25
Motherboard Mfgr ...................:	some Singapore mfgr
Submitted by .......................:	John Plocher <plocher at sally.sun.com>
Date prices taken ..................:	May 1989

System clock speed .................:	25MHz
CPU (model/step) ...................:	80386-25 Double Sigma
Rated CPU speed ....................:	25MHz
Weitek socket (1167 or 3167) .......:	3167
Seperate 387 socket ................:	Yes
387 speed ..........................:	25MHz
Base Memory ........................:	 4MB
Max Memory on motherboard ..........:	 4MB
Max Memory in system ...............:	16MB
Cost per Meg for add'l memory ......:	$329 for 0K 12MB board + $22.50/1Mx1 DRAM
Memory speed (ns) ..................:	100
Memory type ........................:	1MB x 1 Page Mode DRAM
Cache size .........................:	32Kb Intel 82385 Cache Controller
Cache speed ........................:	unknown
How can cache be disabled ..........:	unknown
Bus type (ISA, EISA, MCA, other) ...:	ISA
Bus speed ..........................:	8MHz
Number of  8 bit slots .............:	3
Number of 16 bit slots .............:	5
Number of 32 bit slots .............:	1 (uses one 8 bit slot)
32 bit slot compatability ..........:
32 bit boards avaliable from mfgr ..:	4MB and 12MB
Builtin I/O
	Serial ports ...............:	none
	Parallel Ports .............:	none
	Disk controller ............:	none
	Video controller ...........:	none
BIOS type ..........................:	Award
BIOS Version .......................:	unknown
ROM Setup program ..................:	Setup and Diagnostics
Size ...............................:	AT Form factor
Power Requirements .................:	5v @ 6a

Price (Suggested Retail) ...........:	$3000

PART 2
------

Retail and Mail Order vendors.  Include Name, Address, Phone number and price.
Also indicate your opinion of the vendor if you wish.  Do they offer support,
what else do they sell, ...

Micro1
557 Howard San Fransisco, CA  94105
(415) 974-5439  
(800) 338-4061
$2200 May, 1989

Stay away from them - they are in Chapter 11 and they are more interested in getting
your money than in you getting any product...



PART 3
------

Software testing.  Which software has been this board been tested with?  Xenix, 
Unix (Whose?), OS/2 (uugh ;-).  Strong and weak points.  etc...

[plocher at sally.Sun.COM  Tue Sep 12, 1989]
Microport Unix 3.0e
Bell Tech Unix 3.1
Everix ENIX 3.2 (June 89 version)
ATT Unix V3.2
ATT Unix V4.0

Strong points:	Fast - System CPU bound throughput is the same as the Compaq 386/25
		Works well with the DPT Caching disk controller, and all other
		hardware I have thrown at it.
Weak Points:	There is no documented way of bypassing the cache in order to use
		I/O boards that have dual ported memory on them.

PART 4
------

Comments