#DEC PC's
13 messages in this thread
Alan,
I've got a DEC xl 560 with the interchangable daughter card. I've contemplated
upgradeing the D-card for an alpha but I'm waiting to see if 3ds is going to
come in an alpha optimized version anytime soon…any word? Also wonder if the
alpha would have any advantage over a fast Pentium if 3ds-4 is not compiled
specifically for the Alpha.
Dec wants roughly 1.5 times the price of a whole new generic 133 Pentium
motherboard for it's 133 daughtercard upgrade. My daughtercard has the
processor installed in a ZIF socket. Would you happen to know if I can stick a
133 mhz Pentium in the socket, switch a few dip's and be on my way? If not, why
did they bother with the ZIF?
Thanks.
Peter Kroko
Peter, I'll try to answer your questions the best I can, but you'll ultimately
be best off by calling DEC PC division at (800)-722-9332 to get DEC info from
the horses mouth, so-to-speak.
Re the re-compiliation of MAX for Alpha, there is no official word yet from
Autodesk. If you want my personal feelings, I'd bet it'll happen, but not to
the extent of buying an Alpha right now. A wait-and-see attitude is the best
thing at this point.
If you have the DEC PC/XL (as opposed to the Celibrus), you'll need to upgrade
the motherboard as well as the daughterboard because the original chipset on
the XL's MB doesn't support higher-speed P5's. Thus the ridiculous price. I am
currently arguing that this is not fair business, and they should upgrade for
the price of the daughterboard, which should be much less. I was promised
daughterboard upgrade capability to higher P5 systems when I bought this thing,
and they should damn well provide it.
If this doesn't come to be, I'll announce it here (LOUDLY), and buy an entire
new system for MAX, hoping for the Alpha re-compiliation so I don't have to use
the DEC machine for a doorstop.
-Alan
Alan,
Thanks for the reply.
<< I'd bet it'll happen, but not to the extent of buying an Alpha right now>>
Ya I got a feeling It'll be MAX '96 <g>.
<< the original chipset on the XL's MB doesn't support higher-speed P5's.>
Good greif, what's the ZIFF socket for? downward compatibility? R'ound here a
whole 133 chip and motherboard is running around $1,300 or less.
<<. I was promised daughterboard upgrade capability to higher P5 systems…If
this doesn't come to be, I'll announce it here (LOUDLY)>>
If you need back up vocals let me know…2 tenors…<g>
Regards, Peter Kroko
Thanks, Peter.
I'll let you know…
-Alan
>>If you need back up vocals let me know…2 tenors…<g>
Me too! >( I didn't know about this either!! *&%@$#!! I have an xl590 that I
was planning on upgrading. I have heard that the xl motherboard reduces the
performance of the alpha chip if you swap in an alpha daughtercard because of
insufficient bus width. What do you gentlemen know about this?
Now I have *two* reasons to be angry…grumble…grumble…
Tyler
Hi.
I can't retrieve this tread completely, only this last message…
WHat's that of XL motherboard limitations? It's the first time I hear this.
Can you tell me what's going on? I've two DECpc XL560, waiting for Alpha and
3DSMAX.
Oh, oh, I'm afraid you have bad news for me…
Thanks in advance!
Ignacio
I too have fallen into the same XL590 ploy, what's up with this? Anyone done an
upgrade yet. I'm not about to spend big $$$$ on an alpha chip if it won't
scream.
Grumble, grumble,
follow this thread, there should be a response from Alan Iglesias.
Tyler, have Ignacio give me a shout here next week with a specific question,
OK? I missed the first part of the thread, and I should be getting some
interesting information from DEC on Monday…
-Alan
<<I should be getting some interesting information from DEC on Monday…>>
Alan,
I sure hope you'll post anything of interest to someone considering buying one
now, with the thought of upgrading to Alphas when (if) Max for Alpha NT comes
out…
Thanx
SCL
Well, if you are considering buying a DEC machine now, here's what's up:
The DEC Celebris line offers full upgradability to faster, dual P5, as well as
Alpha (233Mhz) solutions now. It is a CPU/Daughterboard upgrade, and I believe
they will take a trade-in. Call DEC PCs at 1/800/722/9332 for the complete
skinny.
The machines themselves have built-in SCSI and EIDE, are very nicely designed
and manufactured, and come with a considerable warranty.
Of course, this puts these machines at a bit of a premium, so you really need
to carefully compare them with other brands (say, Micron or something like
that) to decide if the extra money is worth it for your application. Keep in
mind that the 233Mhz Alpha will probably run native (Alpha-compiled) NT code
faster than a dual P5/150 system (running Intel/NT code).
I'll have more information regarding upgrading the older PC/XL line this week.
Best of luck,
-Alan
Alan,
Were you saying that a single Alpha would probably be faster than two P5/150s?
What I'm primarily wondering about is if there's a performance hit on the
mobo/daughtercard machines as opposed to something that's strictly an Alpha
machine.
Thanx for the info.
SCL
A 60% percent increase in speed (what many developers are saying they are
getting with a second Intel processor running Intel-specific, native NT code)
from 150Mhz would equal about 240Mhz, right?
So, if the 233Mhz Alpha chip handles floating-point math (as has been stated by
DEC) just a little better than the P5, you might suspect the A233 to compare
pretty favorably to a dual P5/150 setup for 3D stuff, eh? Of course, the real
proof will be in the pudding, and as far as we know, there isn't any MAX/Alpha
pudding yet, but we'll see.<g>
As far as I can tell (and I've been using one for a year and a half), there is
absolutely no performance hit because of the MB/DB configuration, Steven. They
"talk" in MB speed and width though a proprietary bus.
Hope this is somewhat informative,
-Alan