Path: asustek.asus.com.tw!voyager.iii.org.tw!spring.edu.tw!serv.hinet.net!news.uoregon.edu!arclight.uoregon.edu!usenet.eel.ufl.edu!news-feed-1.peachnet.edu!news.service.emory.edu!news.atl.bellsouth.net!usenet From: fourphun@bellsouth.net (Victor Healey) Newsgroups: alt.comp.periphs.mainboard.asus,alt.comp.periphs.mainboard.supermicro,alt.comp.periphs.mainboard.tyan,comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.chips Subject: Cyrix 686+ Cpus seem to be BAD NEWS Date: Wed, 14 Aug 1996 13:14:54 -0400 Organization: 4-Phun Lines: 81 Message-ID: NNTP-Posting-Host: d01581.atl.bellsouth.net X-Newsreader: MicroPlanet Gravity v1.00 Xref: asustek.asus.com.tw alt.comp.periphs.mainboard.asus:14597 comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.chips:58351 I have been researching CYRIX 686+ as an alternative to the Intel Pentium 133. The comparable Cyrix chip is the CYRIX 686 166+. What I have found is interesting. There are vendors who say the Cyrix chip is slightly faster etc. contasted with many more vendors who are having reliability problems with the Cyrix! Benchmarks are impressive for the Cyrix. Stability problems, even in Cyrix approved mainboards, seem to say the Cyrix CPU isn't for everyone. This is especially true if you have to support the darn thing after it is sold. I have also noticed that there is a fair amount of deceit and fraud among those marketing the Cyrix chip. The worst is that many vendors include the esential cooling fan while others immediately state that the fan is an extra cost item. Other forms of deceit are the vendors who price a plus chip close to but slight cheaper then the true Intel Pentium chip. ie A Cyrix 133 clock called a Cyrix 686 166+ will be priced slightly cheaper then an Intel P-166. The Cyrix 166+ chip is only better in specs when compared to a 133 Pentium. But not that much better! There is a price premium for the Cyrix ranging from about $50 to $100+ more then the same clock speed pentium. You can verify this by using the web tool at http://www.pricewatch.com/ Search - 133 Pentium CPU Intel P133 Pentium P5 133MHz $239 Aberdeen (800) 552-6868 Intel P133 Pentium P5 133MHz $247 S.E.G. Technologies, Inc Intel P133 Pentium P5 133MHz $249 Drive Outlet Center no.1 Search - 166+ Cyrix CPU CYRIX Cyrix - 6x86 - P166+ 686 166MHz Plus (133MHz) $285 Aten Research Inc. CYRIX Cyrix - 6x86 - P166+ 686 166MHz Plus (133MHz) $298 Arbor Systems CYRIX Cyrix - 6x86 - P166+ 686 166MHz Plus (133MHz) $319 Astra Computers Corp Those were the three lowest prices in that data base a few minutes ago. It tells me that a quote of $225 for the true Intel Pentium 133 is a very good street price from HIQ here in Atlanta GA. I think the quote on the CYRIX Cyrix - 6x86 - P166+ 686 166MHz Plus (133MHz) was $290. But what I notice in examining the data that of the so called fifty lowest prices for the CYRIX Cyrix - 6x86 - P166+ 686 166MHz Plus (133MHz) chip the spread was from a low of $285 to $667. Fully eleven of the lowest Cyrix prices were well over $400! for a 133MHZ clocked chip! Now compare that with a true Intel Pentium running at 166 MHZ not 133 MHZ. by Search - 166 Intel CPU First out of the fifty 'lowest' prices I see that the highest priced P- 166 is $625. Compare that to a 'low priced' Cyrix wannabe Pentium type 166+ for $667. Next notice that most of the true Intel P-166 chips are in the $400 range for the CPU. A consumer who could not find a Cyrix chip dirt cheap is getting screwed because he can get a much more reliable Intel chip for only a few dollars more or maybe even a few dollars less! Regarding talking with tech support a various vendors locally I found that the the Cyrix chip will often setup and appear to be working ok only to fail in a few weeks. Then there will be a mysterious dance of changing main board settings, adding cooling options etc. Each of these introduce a host of other problems in the system. As one poor fellow said it is a never ending nightmare! In other video news groups I have noticed that the Cyrix 686 will not work with some advanced video cards no matter what kind of motherboard you install them in. Why? You may draw your own conlusion. IMHO the real world problems and potential problems of buying a clone CPU far out way any real benefits derived from choosing a Cyrix CPU at this time. -- Victor Healey Sysop 4-Phun Net Posted from the new 32 bit Gravity 1.0 Off-line Newsreader for Win 95-NT. http://www.microplanet.com/ Path: asustek.asus.com.tw!voyager.iii.org.tw!spring.edu.tw!serv.hinet.net!news.uoregon.edu!hunter.premier.net!news.mathworks.com!news.kei.com!newsfeed.internetmci.com!news.nrv.net!usenet From: "Rob Eiben" Newsgroups: alt.comp.periphs.mainboard.asus,alt.comp.periphs.mainboard.supermicro,alt.comp.periphs.mainboard.tyan,comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.chips Subject: Re: Cyrix 686+ Cpus seem to be BAD NEWS Date: 14 Aug 1996 18:04:50 GMT Organization: Litton Poly-Scientific Lines: 49 Message-ID: <01bb8a0a$efd5e8a0$9cec63ce@reiben.nrv.net> References: NNTP-Posting-Host: port-10.server4.nrv.net X-Newsreader: Microsoft Internet News 4.70.1155 Xref: asustek.asus.com.tw alt.comp.periphs.mainboard.asus:14598 comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.chips:58355 Victor Healey wrote in article ... > I have been researching CYRIX 686+ as an alternative to the Intel Pentium > 133. The comparable Cyrix chip is the CYRIX 686 166+. What I have found > is interesting. There are vendors who say the Cyrix chip is slightly > faster etc. contasted with many more vendors who are having reliability > problems with the Cyrix! > > Benchmarks are impressive for the Cyrix. > Stability problems, even in Cyrix approved mainboards, seem to say the > Cyrix CPU isn't for everyone. This is especially true if you have to > support the darn thing after it is sold. > > I have also noticed that there is a fair amount of deceit and fraud among > those marketing the Cyrix chip. The worst is that many vendors include > the esential cooling fan while others immediately state that the fan is > an extra cost item. Other forms of deceit are the vendors who price a > plus chip close to but slight cheaper then the true Intel Pentium chip. > ie A Cyrix 133 clock called a Cyrix 686 166+ will be priced slightly > cheaper then an Intel P-166. The Cyrix 166+ chip is only better in specs > when compared to a 133 Pentium. But not that much better! There is a > price premium for the Cyrix ranging from about $50 to $100+ more then the > same clock speed pentium. > Well, lets look at some real numbers. www.jncs.com has Intel 166 for 449 and Cyrix P166+ for 279. That is a $170 difference. According to most benchmarks not involving the FPU, the Cyrix performs about as well as an Intel 166. So what does $170 buy you? a better FPU. My Cyrix P166+ benches under CBench (which uses the FPU) like an Intel Pentium 133. I haven't tested Quake yet, but I expect the numbers to be worse. On average, I expect to get P100 performance in heavy FPU environments. For me it doesn't matter since the CBench benchmark is the only FPU aware program I use. (Quake bored me within the first hour... I know, I know that's blasphemy, but System Shock is still better) Non-FPU benchmarks are quite good. As a matter of fact, my machine is currently at the top of the Winbench 96 scores for 1024x768x65kx76Hz. And it has been quite stable with the Titan III board. Instability is caused by a voltage regulator that cannot provide 7.5a to the CPU reliably. The Tyan Titan III can and does and also supports the chip in BIOS. Rob Path: asustek.asus.com.tw!voyager.iii.org.tw!spring.edu.tw!serv.hinet.net!news.wildstar.net!cancer.vividnet.com!hunter.premier.net!news.cais.net!zdc-e!zdc!enews.sgi.com!news.mathworks.com!fu-berlin.de!news.uni-potsdam.de!news.dfn.de!uni-muenster.de!news From: "Lars Ehlers" Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.video,alt.comp.periphs.mainboard.asus Subject: Re: Matrox Millennium 3.11 driver crash Date: Wed, 14 Aug 1996 20:34:22 GMT Organization: WWU Muenster Lines: 18 Sender: "Lars Ehlers" Message-ID: <4utcsk$e0a@majestix.uni-muenster.de> References: <3201120c.497221@news.nuernberg.netsurf.de> <3207637d.4083708@news.pacificnet.net> <32088086.2A2D@nottingham.ac.uk> <320bf009.412401@news.usa.net> Reply-To: ehlersl@uni-muenster.de NNTP-Posting-Host: pppe201.uni-muenster.de X-Newsreader: Forte Free Agent 1.0.82 Xref: asustek.asus.com.tw comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.video:45539 alt.comp.periphs.mainboard.asus:14599 jbeal@usa.net (Jeremy Beal) wrote: >Just for another data point, the Matrox 3.11 drivers work fine with my >P/I-P55TT2P4. Did you play the mpeg movie (\mpeg\milen.mpg) with the 3.11 drivers? I had the color effects like playing 16 bit movies on 256 colors! (btw: the card was on 16 Bit ;-). Then the movie was so slow, i changed back to 3.01. cu lhe o ___________________________\ /I___ lars.ehlers@uni-muenster.de \/\/ I (PGP available) http://www.uni-muenster.de/WiWi/home/ehlersl