Return to BSD News archive
Path: euryale.cc.adfa.oz.au!newshost.anu.edu.au!harbinger.cc.monash.edu.au!munnari.OZ.AU!news.ecn.uoknor.edu!news.wildstar.net!imci5!imci4!newsfeed.internetmci.com!news.mathworks.com!nntp.primenet.com!news.cais.net!newshub.sdsu.edu!saturn!larryr From: larryr@saturn.sdsu.edu (Larry Riedel) Newsgroups: comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc Subject: Re: FreeBSD system specification Date: 1 Jul 1996 18:51:05 GMT Organization: San Diego State University Lines: 98 Message-ID: <4r96mp$frf@hole.sdsu.edu> References: <4r8e4e$m2@nntp5.u.washington.edu> NNTP-Posting-Host: saturn.sdsu.edu X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.2 PL2] William R. Somsky (somsky@dirac.phys.washington.edu) wrote: > Motherboard: > * [$200] ASUS P55T2P4 [430HX] 512K PB Cache w/ PS2 mouse connector I have one and it works great. > RAM: > * [$350] 32MB: 2 of 4Mx36b (16MB) 60ns FPM, true parity > [$700] 64MB: 2 of 8Mx36b (32MB) 60ns FPM, true parity I would get two 8x32s. It should cost around $500 for 64MB. > Case and Power Supply: > * [$200] Shin-G GT-300(?) 300W tower, toolless, 4+3 5" bays, 2nd fan I would get a generic mini-tower case with power supply for about $50. I have bought lots of these cases and have not have any problems related to them except that after a couple of years the fan may die. > Floppy Drive: > [$30] Teac 3.5" 1.44M > [$40] Teac 5.25" 1.2M > ? [$80] Teac Dual 3.5"/5.25" I can hardly imagine needing a 5.25" drive. I can't think of any good reason to buy anything but the usual $30 3.5" floppy, unless it is going to be used for the space shuttle or something. > SCSI Controller: > [$200] Adaptec 2940 PCI > ? [$260] Adaptec 2940 PCI Kit > [$310] Adaptec 2940UW PCI Kit ASUS PCI-SC200. $75. > Hard Disk: > * [$500] 2GB 3.5" 5400 rpm Fast SCSI-2 Seagate Hawk ST32430N > [$700] 2GB 3.5" 7200 rpm Fast SCSI-2 Seagate Barracuda ST32550N For Unix I try to have at least three drives. What I like to do is get four 540MB 5400rpm at about $200 each. That gives me 2GB for about $800, and in a reasonably configured FreeBSD system, this gives way better performance than a single 7200rpm drive. Also, I never keep hard disk drives in the case with the motherboard. I use SCSI cases with four half-height bays. > CDROM Drive: > ? [$280] NEC Multispin 6Xi SCSI I guess it depends on the use, but I prefer to get IDE CD-ROM drives, because they are way cheaper, I remember "multimedia" kits used to have SCSI CD-ROM drives and were pretty inexpensive. A Toshiba 6x IDE drive is about $85, and the controller is on the T2P4. > Video Card: > * [$300] #9 Motion 771 2MB VRAM PCI w/ 220 MHz IBM RAMDAC > [$450] #9 Motion 771 4MB VRAM PCI w/ 220 MHz IBM RAMDAC I personally like the ATI mach64 cards, but I don't know anything about the XFree86 support for them since I run my X servers on Windows NT/95. > I kind of like the the computer-macho > thrill of completely stripping down the system and reinstalling and > customizing it all from scratch. Then why not build the system that way in the first place? > I believe that you're supposed to > be able to (easily?) repartition the disk and reinstall Win95 from > scratch with just a boot floppy (with the required DOS-mode SCSI, > disk, and CD drivers) and the Win95 CD. (Confirm/deny anyone?) Yes. > Modem: > [$200] US Robotics Sportster Vi, external > [$350] US Robotics Courier V.34, external > ? [$225] Motorola Power, external > [$325] Motorola Premier, external I hate US Robotics as a company, but I like Motorola. I have a couple of the Power modems and they are nice. Larry