SUMMARY: Experience with 386/486 Accelerator Cards

From: bob gibbons (rcg@delphi.dseg.ti.com)
Date: Sat Dec 05 1992 - 15:12:08 CST


In reply to my question on experience with the SunPC 386SX or 486DX
Accelerator boards, I have received four responses. All responses were
quite positive with regard to their experiences with this type of
accelerator board.

===> From eboltz@jhunix.hcf.jhu.edu Thu Nov 19 15:07:09 1992
===> From: Eric Scott Boltz <eboltz@jhunix.hcf.jhu.edu>
>
> A guy here has the 25MHz, 486DX in his IPC - it's nice.
> VERY fast, but only supports VGA - no SVGA.
>
> He uses it mainly to run Microsoft Word and Excel.
> It also doesn't slow down drastically when the SPARC gets busy.
>

===> From rjmeye1@afterlife.ncsc.mil Fri Nov 20 09:32:12 1992
===> Date: Fri, 20 Nov 92 10:30:32 EST
> From: rjmeye1@afterlife.ncsc.mil (Randy Meyers)
>
> Yes we have about 20 SPARC2s w/ SYNERGY 486-33
> Sbus cards in them running PC apps. We love them and have
> encountered no problems. They were easy to install
> and the users seem to be able to utilize them with
> mimimal assistance. We got our boards from a guy named
> Rick Parshall he is with:
> R Group, Inc.
> 316 Songwood Court
> Millersville, MD 21108
> (410)987-1532
> Cost was $2,199 each
>
> P.S. We also purchased from the same guy Insignia SOFT PC
> for the suns it was cheaper I think around 600 for a server
> version and 350 per node. However, the Sbus cards are better
> as far as speed/performance.
 
===> From perkins@sob.arc.ab.ca Fri Nov 20 11:39:25 1992
===> Date: Fri, 20 Nov 92 10:39:28 MST
> From: perkins@sob.arc.ab.ca (Ernie Perkins)
>
> I have the 486DX Accelerator installed ona Sparc 1+ (unfortunately, it
> is a monochrome system), 4.1.2, Openwin 3.0, 28 meg, lots of disc. I'm
> reasonably happy with it. The only Windows 3.1 application that I run is
> EXCEL 4, It works find and I've never had a problem.
>
> Computational speed is much faster than my compaq 386/20, but is slower
> than one of our 486/33 clones. When running something heavy on it, it
> sucks about 1/2 (or more) of the Sparc cpu (based upon visual
> examination of the preformance meter). Screen updates are much faster
> on the 386/486 pc, but my old 286 at home is much much slower. So video
> is ok. Disk i/o is much slower than the pc, but more me, it's to be
> expected as I'm got the pc directories mapped onto an exterminal 670
> meg drive hung on the SCII. Thus things like Norton's ncd take a bit of
> time.
>
> If you are just worried about preformance, buy a clone. If you need to work
> on both platforms, it's a lifesaver. At least it is for me.

===> From @ohmg.hydro.on.ca:rallan@ohgpu.hydro.on.ca Fri Nov 20 13:31:38 1992
===> Date: Fri, 20 Nov 1992 14:48:25 -0500
> From: rallan@ohgpu.hydro.on.ca (Rob E. Allan)
>
> One of our sites has been using it for a while now and they
> are quite happy with it. It really gives you high-end PC
> speed.
>
> There are a few probs, the serial port and the floppy drive
> can be held by SunPC even if it doesn't really need them.
>
> They are trying windows but I don't know how far they have
> gotten yet.

Thanks to all the respondents, we have our order in for the 486DX board.

--
Bob Gibbons				Texas Instruments
Internet: rcg@delphi.dseg.ti.com	Dallas, TX



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