Path: utzoo!censor!geac!torsqnt!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!ucbvax!agate!darkstar!helios!ted
From: ted@helios.ucsc.edu (Ted Cantrall)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware
Subject: Re: Wanted: Info on tried and true roll your own 386sx system.
Message-ID: <10523@darkstar.ucsc.edu>
Date: 2 Jan 91 15:44:43 GMT
References: <35204@netnews.upenn.edu>
Sender: usenet@darkstar.ucsc.edu
Reply-To: ted@helios.ucsc.edu (Ted Cantrall)
Organization: UCO/Lick Observatory, Santa Cruz
Lines: 29

In article <35204@netnews.upenn.edu> sal@grip.cis.upenn.edu (Marcos Salganicoff) writes:
>Goal State: 386sx box with monochrome vga, mouse, >= 40mbyte hard disk
>and 4mb of memory to run windos 3.0 _decently_
>and Unix workalike like coherent by mark williams).
>
>So the basic two questions are prepackaged vs. roll your own, and if
>so, roll with what? Any takers?
------------------------------------
I just went through a similar process. I found that if you buy a "no-name"
clone already assembled, you get a better price than if you bought the 
same parts seperately. I guess they can give a better discount the more
they sell. I found my dealer (Sunwell Int.) to be very willing to work
with me to get what I wanted. I had a problem with the Turbo mode switch
after I got it home and they offered to come get the machine (~35mi) for 
repair. They ever exchanged the kind of ram they had installed at no cost.
Caveat: if you want 1 Meg chips - not 256k - you must buy memory in 2meg
increments.
Get a board with 8 meg of sockets on board.
I recomend AMI BIOS and a NEAT chipset (C&T or a clone).
I've heard some bad things about DTK boards and stuff.

The big advantage of buying a system (vs parts) is that you have somewhere
to take your problems.
				-ted-

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ted@helios.ucsc.edu |"He has showed you, O man, what is good; and what does the
W (408)459-2110     |Lord require of you but to do justice and to love kindness
H (408)423-2444     |and to walk humbly with your God?" Micah 6:8 (RSV)