[plug] SiSsy chipsets

[John Summerfield]

> > Matt Kemner wrote:
> 
> > Alternatively it could be an incompatibility between the ST and the SiS
> > chipset "00:01.1 IDE interface: Silicon Integrated Systems 5513 (rev d0)"
> > (do people still use SiS chipsets)
> 
> Sigh. They come out on new motherboards. "Built in 8MB video card," the
> box says, failing to mention that those eight megabytes come from system
> RAM _and_ the video card competes with the CPU for the right to access
> said system RAM. The SiS chip in question has built into it (of all
> things), a video controller, an AGP bridge, and dual IDE interfaces.
> Sounds like a car with an integrated radiator, clutch and sump to me.

Well, we've not laid my problem to the chipset yet, and it's not occurred 
for over 24 hours. I did a little tuning with hdparm, and the seagate 
drive's the fastest I have (by a small margen of ther other 8.4 Gbyte 
drive).

My daughter has a system with the same M/b. It'w working very nicely 
thankyou. Yes, we know that the vide RAM comes from system RAM. We don't 
think the odd 4 Mbytes is particularly significant out of the 32 Mbytes 
she has (or the 96 I have).

She can choose the amount of RAM she uses for the video and hence the 
screen resolution and number of colours she gets. OTHO I, with my one and 
two Mbyte video cards are severely constrained; to fix it requires I spend 
money.

I bought my Mb when the previous board died. The cost ($90) and the fact I 
could use my existing CPU (P133) were points much in its favour.


It's true I have a problem now; it's not at all clear whether it's the 
drive, the combination of drives, or the chipset at fault.

Of course, if you're in the market for a TNT of VOODOO, this M/b and 
others like it are not for you. For text display, the concept is 
excellent; I saw an ad mentioning a cheapish card that has onboard sound, 
video, LAN (100base) and modem. For Windows, no doubt an excellent choice, 
especially for SOHO use. For Linux, probably still a good choice, but the 
chances of everything working are not so good.


-- 
Cheers
John Summerfield
http://os2.ami.com.au/os2/ for OS/2 support.
Configuration, networking, combined IBM ftpsites index.