Wow--that's quite a setup (Zeuspaul's plans).
A few questions and remarks, feel free to ignore if you don't know or care <grin>:
-how much is the LS120 SCSI drive compared to IDE?
-if I read you right, you'll start have 6 SCSI HDDs, with a myriad of other slots and peripherals in use. Good cooling will be key, as will a very stable and powerful power supply.
-I assume you'll not want the RAID 0 drives in removable trays, but rather the other drives?
-I'm planning on the Ensoniq PCI card too. Seems easily the best choice for the time being.
-I think the 333 PII will be much cheaper by the time you act, since Intel will want to move ASAP to a completely .25 micron fab process. Given that, and all the heat you'll have in the case already, I think you'll be smart to do this if you want a PII solution.
-There are no current plans for a PCI version of the Matrox g200. This is the only reason I'm thinking about getting a PCI MII before upgrading my own system. I e-mailed matrox about whether a MII PCI would do multi-monitor with a G200 AGP. Unfortunately, the reply was generic and completely unresponsive. It did include the following item: "At this time, the MGA-G200 AGP-based products are slated for release in the 3rd quarter of 1998." Last I heard it 2d quarter (sigh.) I'd love to get my hands on that card.
-If you want SCSI HDDs, you might look at the P2B-LS. The on board SCSI is an excellent Adaptec controller chip, it's shipping now (and hence should be more mature), it should streamline your booting and configuration options (since one of the SCSI controller settings would be in your main bios), it should cut down on expense and (lesser extent) heat, and as I recall you'll get another free PCI slot out of the deal.
-I agree on ditching ISA altogether. I'd like to find an internal PCI modem that isn't a winmodem. |
