Path: utzoo!mnetor!tmsoft!torsqnt!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!bonnie.concordia.ca!uunet!littlei!intelisc!karinc
From: karinc@isc.intel.com (Karin Coffee)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.novell
Subject: Re: i486 with Netware 386
Message-ID: <1154@intelisc.isc.intel.com>
Date: 15 Feb 91 20:03:35 GMT
References: <91042.192216ALG106@psuvm.psu.edu>
Organization: Supercomputer Systems Division, Intel Corp.
Lines: 37

In article <91042.192216ALG106@psuvm.psu.edu> ALG106@psuvm.psu.edu writes:
>The company I work for was thinking of getting a new fileserver -
>we currently have a 33MHz 386.  We were thinking of a 33MHz 486 EISA
>bus machine.  However, someone told us that the i486 has a bug in it
>that shows up only when running Netware.
>
>First of all, is this true?  If so, are there plans to fix it?
>
>Any suggestions you may have on a new fileserver would be helpful -
>we were thinking of getting 2 1Gig drives (fault tolerance).
>

I have been running NetWare 386 version 3.0 and now 3.1 on a 486 machine
since last August.  I am currently beta testing a 486 33 MHz EISA bus
machine.  The only problems we have had are with the EISA/SCSI adapter card
(they die easily), but have had no problems with the 486.  

What type of bug have you heard about?

I benchmarked 3 486 boxes.  I looked at the HP Vectra, the Compaq SystemPro,
and the generic Intel box.  All three functioned with basically the same
speed and functionality.  We (of course) ended up with the Intel box since
we didn't have to pay retail cost for it.  My biggest gripe with the
SystemPro is the proprietary hardware for the disk array.  It's pretty
spiffy how that works, but we like to fix our own hardware, and proprietary
stuff doesn't go over too well.  I really liked the Vectra, it was just
too expensive.

Good Luck!


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   Karin Coffee				Intel Supercomputer Systems Division 
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