WTB Tyan Tiger 100 rev. F ? or other dual P3

[jose]

I'm interested in this board to run dual P3-850
w/ 512mb pc100 sdram. Not overclocked, it's for
a server.

As I understand this board can handle the newer
coppermine p3's ?

Also should I get a slot version p3-850 or FC-850 with an adapter ? (iwill2, which one)

So where can I purchase this board ? I don't want to buy any rambus based dual p3 board.

Are there any other dual p3 mobo's to consider ?

Thanks for the info
Jose

 

[Ulysses]

I'm too tired - going to bed.

Search the forums for threads on this common topic - try 'tyan' or 'dual' or similar. You'll find lots of info.

No offense.

P.S.
Check Intel for cautions on dual CPU's under P3 'home' page.

 

[mechBgon]

Russ has them at http://www.compucheap.com, that's where I'd get it (top-notch support). Revision F does indeed support Coppermines, and according to Tyan's site it maxes at 800MHz: http://www.tyan.com/support/html/pentiumii_iii_ppga.html Russ also has the Asus dual-P3 board.

Personally, I'd go with Slot1 CPUs because there isn't room for tall socket heatsinks with fans on top, which limits your choices. The Slot1 heatsinks make up for not being tall, by being wide. On my Tyan rev. E, there's room for the Vantec 5030: http://2cooltek.safeshopper.com/2/16.htm?478. If the Alphas fit, they'd be awesome, but there isn't room. Perhaps you're going to use Retail CPUs for the warranty, though?

On my system, the rear CPU ran rather hot until I put in a 120mm blowhole directly over the CPUs. After putting that blowhole in, I ran a pair of 450's at 504MHz 24/7 with no crashes/problems related to heat.

I have had no luck with Tyan regarding my motherboard, so keep this much in mind: your only support is going to come through your dealer, so pick a good one! Mine has two blown fan headers and Tyan will NOT handle it directly, while my dealer (local one, yet) thinks that they've fixed it by, uh, plugging the fans into the power supply's wiring harness using adapters (and charging me $35!:|). There goes my failure-monitoring capability... I'm not going to buy another Tyan.

 

[z]

Please note that the Tiger 100 does not support all Coppermines. Specifically, it does not support the EB's - the ones that run native with a 133 MHz FSB. However, a PIII-850 should work fine. It's true that Tyan's site lists speeds only up to 800, but they do that for a lot of boards that are known to run faster speeds than that. Nevertheless, it would be good to verify this with Tyan before buying. If by some chance the 850's won't work, I'd go with a pair of 800E's on this board. The 50 MHz difference would be barely noticeable, if at all, and the 800E's are a lot cheaper.

Since you'll be using the 100 MHz FSB, you won't run into any of the compatibility problems that people have when they push the BX chipset on this board to 133 MHz. In fact, I think that for your configuration, this board would definitely be the best choice, both for stability and performance.

If you're not going to overclock, just go with the Slot 1 chip.

Last time I checked, Egghead had rev F of this board in stock for $161.

Some of the more recent dual P3 boards include the Tyan Tiger 133, and the MSI 694D Pro. However, as both of these boards are based on the VIA chipset, they won't match the performance of the Tiger 100.

Also, I've dealt with Tyan tech support on a number of occasions, and I've had much better experiences than mechbgon. I believe that Tyan is still the only major motherboard manufacturer to offer free telephone tech support.

 

[jose]

Thanks for the info.
Jose