🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <9225614.8651@mulga.cs.mu.OZ.AU>, dgh@gerbil.ecr.mu.OZ.AU (David Hook) writes:
> I've a friend who is in the process of purchasing a bunch
> of 486/33 PCs. She has been told  by various sources that
> PCs with OPTI chipsets have problems, particularly with DMA.
> Things like Windows 3.1 32-bit disk access don't work properly.
> 
> The information she has is not very definitive to enable her
> to make a reasonable decision for or against a brand of PC
> with a particular chipset.
> 
> Can anyone give me some information on the pros and cons of
> specific chipsets (problems with OPTI in particular)?
> 
> 
> Thanks,
> 
> Peter Grant
> 
> peterlg@ecr.mu.oz.au

I use an OPTI based 486/33 with an Adaptec AH1542B based bus mastering
controller which makes extensive use of DMA. My system passes all the tests on
the Adaptec, which is supposed to measure system capabilty.  I have no problems
with this adapter.

I have no problems with Floppy access either which uses DMA as well.

Also, I have run Fastback on my machine before and it passes all DMA 
tests as well.

As far as I know no fellow owners of OPTI systems experience any problems. 
From my use/evaluation of various  chipsets on the market when I bough my
motherboard, I find the OPTI chipset to be in wide use as well as give 
better performance than other chipsets.  In fact I recommend it to some 
buyers.

As usual, other people may have horror stories, but I have encountered none
myself.

Regards.

T.S. Loke
Nanyang Technological University
Singapore
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