CompuServe Messages

Okay, as I currently have a SCSI-based EISA system with not one but two, count 'em TWO, SCSI-2 EISA controllers installed, I think I can answer your questions here. 16 bit is always better than 8 bit because it doubles the data path. It won't make your CD ROM work any faster but it WILL give better throughput because more data can be transferred at one time. While EISA SCSI-2 is the fastest by far, it so far exceeds the mechanical abilities of not only the fastest CD ROM player today but probably for a few years to come that you will not notice nearly the speed increase that you would just going from 8 to 16 bit. The bus is slightly faster than the standard bus but the CD can't feed information through much faster because it's already feeding at the speed at which it can read. The real joy of an SCSI-2 EISA card, well done, is when you stick a SCSI-2 hard disk on it. Faster than local bus. Faster than a speeding bullet…well, okay. But it's as close to instantaneous as your CPU and your own personal real time clock can come. Other peripherals benefit in various ways depending on mechanical speeds as well. My Panasonic magneto-optical rewritable disk drive is only slightly faster when writing (the head speed again) but 2.5 times as fast on a read, and my scanner went from 380Kb/s transfer speed to 1200Kb/s transfer speed, which is as fast as the arm can make a pass over the original, digitize the info, and send it. Faster, actually. Certainly sped up scanning of even 24 bit true color originals, though. Best EISA SCSI-2 board on performance/price: BusLogic 742A. It works as advertised, is long-term supported (MicroSoft has BusLogic doing its built-in ASPI drivers for NT), and is fully ASPI compliant so it'll support and work with just about all the other peripherals now coming out. Best 16 bit: not nearly as easy. Adaptec's 154X series, Ultrastor, Future Domain, you name it, all have solid performers. Just make sure BEFORE YOU BUY that the board in question supports the ASPI standard. Some don't (IBM's for one!). Best driver pack: CorelSCSI–$79, run-once, update when you add stuff, and it drives most stuff out there. Fastest CD ROM of the moment: Pioneer's 600XA 6 disk mini-changer with 600 speed, available ONLY as a changer, though, at like $1300. It, Toshibas, and others are all fast. Get a 300 speed (multispin) unit that is XA compliant (spend the little extra–it is worth it). NEC is solid but doesn't upgrade its stuff. Toshiba offers firmware upgrades when new stuff comes out and I like my Toshiba a lot. Enough?