"Richard Ross-Langley (by way of [log in to unmask] Len Warner)"
<[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> I'm looking for a new PCI server, price around GBP 700+VAT, to replace an
> old ISA 386 that runs terminals under BSD Unix.  I can get an EIDE
> system fairly easily at that price and add SCSI later, but..
>
> The question is: is it worth getting a motherboard with SCSI built in from
> the start?  I don't think Tom's hardware page covers that sort of value
> judgement.  Any quick opinions would be welcome.  Purchase imminent.

I have always liked SCSI myself. On the Sun workstations at work, all they use
are SCSI. My home system (P166MMX) has SCSI which is onboard an IWILL P55TV
motherboard. This is equivalent to the Adaptec 2940U Ultra SCSI. They also make
a Ultra Wide and new Ultra2 SCSI motherboards.

There is a slight price advantage to having it built-on, and it uses one less
PCI slot.

SCSI has advantages with respect to the number of IRQ's used (only one for up to
15 devices on a WIDE controller), and the performance in a server is better than
EIDE. Some things just work better as well. We have a P-II 266 system running NT
and an IDE based CD-R drive at work. I can't burn CD's at 4X without getting a
buffer underrun. This would likely not be a problem if it were a SCSI drive.

The downside is that it is more expensive. The controller carries a premium
(especially Adaptec, but I have never had a problem with Adaptec), and the
drives typically carry a price premium as well.

You can see what IWILL has to offer, www.iwill.com.tw


--
Russ Poffenberger               Engineering Specialist
Schlumberger Technologies ATE   DOMAIN: [log in to unmask]
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