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Politics : Formerly About Advanced Micro Devices -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: TGPTNDR who wrote (34258)	7/10/1998 8:17:00 PM
From: Ed Sammons	Respond to of 1571690

Try the FIC VA-503+. It has 1MB L2 cache and bus speeds from 75-124MHz w/ asynch PCI and AGP. Also has option to make the main memory interface asynchronus (eg can use EDO or non PC100 SDRAM if you want). Get any K6-2 and play with it. If you like, get the 300MHz version and overclock it to 333 (3.5x95MHz), 336 (3x112MHz - better) or 350 (3.5x100). You can search for the best prices at: pricewatch.com Since I will be buying this weekend, the best price for a k6-2 and VA-503+ I have seen is at JC SUN (listed at pricewatch).

To: TGPTNDR who wrote (34258)	7/13/1998 2:38:00 PM
From: Petz	Respond to of 1571690

TGPTNDR, I agree with FIC VA503+ but make sure you get the newest version which has 95 MHz bus for more flexibility. It only has 3 PCI slots and only one is full length. The FIC got a bad rep at first because the documentation was awful. Another reason for getting the latest version is to guarantee that you have the latest VIA chipset revision. The earlier revision is not compatible with the Intel i740 graphics accelerator. The best rated board is the California Micro Photon 100 HC -- see review at anandtech.com. Its power supplies are more stable allowing the K6-2-300 to be overclocked to 350 where other boards only reach 333. Its an ATX form factor board, so you might require a new case. It has only 2 ISA slots, but 5 PCI slots and of course, one AGP slot. They are $129 direcly from the company, californiagraphicsusa.com For the K6-2-300, I recommend thechipmerchant.com, you can be assured you're not getting a remarked chip from them. Also they don't gouge you for the fan. The best deal might be to get the mobo with the K6-2-300 already installed: mpipc.com $229/$289 for K6-2-266/300 and VA-503+ expressupgrades.com $235/$293 ditto Grump micro sells the CPU's and several varieties of Super7 mobo's at reasonable prices as well as PC-100 memory. grumpmicro.com The Calfifornia Micro is definitely the best Super7 board, the FIC VA503+ is definitely the most flexible as far as bus and clock speeds, but if thats not important to you TMC and Soyo make slightly better boards than FIC which are available in both AT and ATX format. If you have more than 2 ISA cards, or more than one long PCI card, make sure your board supports it. Petz

To: TGPTNDR who wrote (34258)	7/13/1998 4:54:00 PM
From: Investor A	Respond to of 1571690

TGPINDR, Go for FIC VA-503+ with K6-2. K6 needs higher bus speed to reveal its processor power. To patch K6 weakness in L1 cache, you need the highest bus speed and the biggest L2 cache. VA-503+ has 1MB L2 cache and the most useable 112Mhz FSB. To say the least, this board is so optimized for K6 that M2 does not perform as well as it should do. :(( Thus, forget the PCI numbers or whatever and get yourself VA-503+ if you only concern performance and stablity.