          Document:  PCI Motherboards for OS/2 list
        Maintainer:  Patrick Duffy, duffy@theory.chem.ubc.ca
Last Revision Date:  May 29, 1995
       Archived at:  ftp.netcom.com, in directory /pub/ab/abe/
         Web pages:  http://warp.eecs.berkeley.edu/os2/workbench/work.htm

This is the PCI motherboards for OS/2 list.  For detailed descriptions
of PCI chipset problems and workarounds, please refer to the PCI
chipsets list.  As usual, '*' indicates the recommended motherboards,
and '**' indicates that I would choose this motherboard myself when
picking a PCI motherboard for my own PCI system.

Also as usual, please feel free to correct any continuing misconceptions
I might have, to insist that I should recommend a motherboard I don't,
or to add a new motherboard/bit of information to what's here already.
Your contributions and/or corrections are always welcome and certainly
appreciated.  Please, when reporting problems or successes, try to be as
detailed as possible in your hardware descriptions.  BIOS rev. numbers
are especially useful.

Useful Numbers:
---------------
AIR:             (408) 428-0800
Asus:            (408) 956-9077 (tech. support)
                 ftp.asustex.asus.com.tw (ftp site)
                 http://asustex.asus.com.tw (WWW site)
                 gopher.asus.com.tw (gopher site)
                 tsd@asus.com.tw (tech. support E-Mail)
                 alt.comp.periphs.mainboard.asus (internet newsgroup)
EliteGroup:      (510) 226-0434 (faxback)
Gigabyte:        (818) 854-9338 (tech. support)
Intel:           (800) 628-8686 (tech. support)
                 (916) 356-3600 (BBS -- N,8,1)
                 +44-793-496340 (U.K. BBS -- N,8,1)
                 (800) 628-2283 (faxback -- order catalogue 7 for a list
                                of PCI-related documents)
J-Bond:          (408) 946-9622
Lexar:           (408) 748-9199 (voice)
                 (408) 748-1040 (FAX)
Washburn (AMI):  (800) 836-9026 / (716) 248-3627 (General inquiries)
                 (800) 836-8027 (Motherboard Hotline)
                 (800) 836-8028 (faxback and information about specials)
                 (716) 383-6086 (tech. support)
                 (716) 381-7549 (FAX)


Manufacturer           Model         Comments
------------------------------------------------------
 AIR                   486VP         This is AIR's PCI/VL/ISA '486
                                     board.  It uses the Contaq chipset
and the Award (4.50g) flash BIOS.  It will take all the different CPUs,
up to the DX4/100s and Pentium Overdrive processors.  It comes with 256
kB of 15 ns cache.  The board has been reported to work properly under
OS/2 2.1/2.11/Warp.  This board has, apparently, recently been
discontinued.

Setup tips:         None so far.
Possible problems:  None so far.

 AIR                   54CEP         This is AIR's PCI/EISA 90/100 MHz
                                     board.  It uses the AMI BIOS (flash
optional), and the Mercury chipset (I'm not sure why it uses the Mercury
and not the Neptune chipset). It will accommodate 5 PCI cards and 4 EISA
cards, all of which support busmastering.  The board will take up to 128
MB of 72-pin SIMMS, and either 256 or 512 kB of L2 cache. The board has
all the green features.  There is a fast or fast/wide PCI SCSI port
(both connections are present, apprently) built in which is based on the
Adaptec 7870 chip.  2.88 MB floppy drives (up to two) are supported, as
are 2 16550 serial ports, one mouse port, and one parallel port.  I've
had one report of success with this board using DOS/Win and Netware 3.12
(not surprising), as well as Warp.

Setup tips:         None so far.
Possible problems:  Quantum 1 GB drives do not communicate at full speed
                    with the Adaptec 7870 SCSI chip.  It is necessary
                    (if you're using this drive with that chip) to set
                    communication to 8 MB/sec.

 ALI                   PCI P5-60/66  This motherboard has 4 PCI and 4
                                     ISA slots, one of each of which is
shared, meaning you can run it as 4 PCI/4 ISA or 3 PCI/5 ISA.  It does
not have built-in support for the NCR 53c810 chip, so you'll need a
53c825-based controller if you want NCR. The motherboard uses the ALI
M1449 chip to support ISA/PCI and Green standards, and the ALI M1451
chip to provide Host/PCI bridge.  The 66 MHz version has been reported
to work without problems with both OS/2 2.1 and OS/2 Warp, though not
with Warp Beta 2 (it did work with Warp Beta 1).  The 60 MHz board has
been reported to work with Linux.

 ALI                   J624          This is ALI's 90 MHz board.  It has
                                     all the green features, and uses
the AMI graphical BIOS.  The board has been reported to not work 100%
reliably with Warp.

 AMI                   Super Voyager This is AMI's 486 board.  It uses
                       PCI II        the SIS chipset and will
                                     accommodate up to a Pentium
Overdrive processor.  It is, apparently, plug-and-play 1.0A-compliant.
The board will accommodate up to 128 MB of 72-pin SIMMs on board, and
comes with 128 kB (upgradable to 256 kB) of cache.  The flash BIOS (by
AMI, of course) uses the WinBIOS interface, and supports IDE,
auto-configuring of PCI slots, and all the green features.  The PCI
slots (there are three) are all busmaster-enabled and 2.0-compliant.
There are four ISA slots.  Presumably there is one shared PCI/ISA slot,
though I've no indication of this.  Floppy/serial/parallel support is
built in.  I've had no reports of success with this board under OS/2 as
yet.

Setup tips:         None so far.
Possible problems:  None so far.

 AMI                   ATLAS PCI     This is AMI's 90/100 MHz Pentium
                                     motherboard.  It uses the SIS
chipset and will take up to 128 MB of RAM in 72-pin SIMMS and 512 kB of
cache (256 kB is standard).  The BIOS (AMI) supports all the green
features and advanced IDE modes.  There are four PCI 2.0-compliant
slots, all of which allow busmastering, and four ISA slots (one of each
of these slots is shared).  (E)IDE/serial/parallel/mouse support are all
built-in as well.  The BIOS will automatically configure the PCI bus
and is plug-n-play 1.0A-compliant.  The board is reported to work well
with OS/2.

Setup tips:         AMI has apparently released a BIOS for this
                    motherboard which is specific to S3-based cards.
                    Apparently the motherboard will not recognize cards
                    like the Stealth 64 Video VRAM unless this BIOS is
                    in place.
Possible problems:  None so far.

 Asus                  PCI/I-486**   This board uses the Saturn rev. 4
                       SP3G          chipset, and will accommodate both
                                     the Intel and Cyrix CPUs, up to the
DX4s.  In addition, the socket will also accommodate a P24T/P24D. It
also has all the 'green' features.  It co-exists with the SP3, but since
it has the newer Saturn chipset I'm recommending it instead.  (Make sure
to be very clear when specifying your motherboard that you want the SP3G
and not the SP3.) The board (currently at rev. 1.8) will accommodate up
to 128 MB of RAM (four sockets which must be filled in pairs) and 512 kB
of write-through L2 cache (256 kB is standard). This board has the NCR
53c810 SCSI controller on-board (with a standard internal 50-pin socket
for internal SCSI devices), as well as super multi-I/O
(IDE/serial/parallel) and BIOS support for 2.88 MB drives.  There is
BIOS support for up to four IDE drives, though the board will only
accommodate two (on the ISA bus).  (Internal IDE must be disabled and an
EIDE controller obtained if support for four EIDE drives is desired.)
The board has 4 ISA/3 PCI slots (one slot is shared between the PCI and
ISA bus and so effectively you have 5/2 or 4/3 slots) and a built-in
floppy controller. There is also a socket for a mouse (either a
header-style socket or a PS2 style) which takes up IRQ 12 if enabled.
I've had reports of success with OS/2 2.1, 2.11, Warp Beta II, and Warp
GA and this board.  The AWARD Flash-BIOS on board is at revision 4.50G,
and the NCR .ADD file is dated 28/4/94.  It should also be noted that
the jumpers in these motherboards must be set up carefully, and by
consulting with the manual which comes with the board.  Apparently, Asus
has just released an update to the flash BIOS for this board. Everything
is reported to work, with the exception that OS/2 apparently does not
start from the boot manager. OS/2 still boots from floppy, and
downgrading to the 301 bios fixes the problem.

Setup tips:         All 3 PCI slots on this board are fixed at
                    PCI INT A for level triggering assignment.  IRQ to
                    PCI INT for each PCI slot is done in the BIOS. For
                    edge trigging, assignment of the IRQ is done with
                    the on-board jumper settings for the actual slot.
                    If you're running the board with an AMD DX4 (3x33)
                    CPU, it is necessary to set your jumpers as for a
                    non-SL enhanced DX4, except set J36 to 1&2 rather
                    than 2&3.  The AMD DX4 will run in 2x mode (2x33) if
                    pin B13 is not grounded.

Possible problems:  apparently the on-board SCSI-controller has problems
                    co-existing with OS/2 2.1 and a Quantum Prodrive 540S,
                    as synchronous communication must be disabled in order
                    for the system to boot.  Other drives seem to work
                    well with the NCR chip (I have a Quantum Empire
                    1080S).

 Asus                  PVI/486AP4*   Asus may finally have it right with
                                     their line of 486 PCI boards.  This
particular board has the Aries (rev. 2) chipset and was reviewed very
favourably by C't.  This board will take all the different 486 chips,
including the new DX4 (at 75 or 100 MHz), and has a spot for a Pentium
Overdrive P24T via a ZIF socket.  It comes with 256 kB of cache
(write-back, L2), and will accommodate 128 MB (4x32 MB 72 pin SIMMs). It
has the latest Green features (Award BIOS, etc.), and has the NCR SCSI
BIOS built in (though there is no 53c810 chip itself).  EIDE (PCI) is
built in as well.  The board has 1 combination ISA/VL/PCI slot (only one
of the three slots may be used), 3 ISA and 3 PCI slots. I have had a
couple of reports of success with this board and OS/2 (2.1/2.11/Warp)
and NT.  Revision 1.6 of the board still requires you to use the reset
button to reboot your machine if you have a SCSI controller installed.

Setup tips:         One person has suggested that it would be better to
                    not use the VL slot in the board (to just disable
                    it).  Upon doing this, the board is said to be very
                    stable.  If you get an NCR SCSI card, put it in slot
                    1 to get the system to boot.
Possible problems:  One person has reported that the chipset ID
                    procedure given in the chipset list does not work
                    for this board.

 Asus                  PVI/486SP3*   This motherboard uses the SIS
                                     chipset and takes all the different
486 CPUs.  Like the SIS Pentium chipset, the chipset used here will
allow many different external clock settings, so that DX2-80s and DX-40s
are well-supported.  The board has 2 PCI slots, 3 16-bit ISA slots, and
a (shared) PCI/VL slot, and all the on-board integrated I/O (2 VL IDE
ports, 1 floppy port, 2 serial poarts, a mouse port, and one ECP/EPP
parallel port). The board uses the Award BIOS (which has the NCR SCSI
BIOS built in), though a Flash EPROM is apparently only optional. The
board will take up to 128 MB of RAM (in two sockets, if you can find a
64 MB SIMM), and will allow only one socket to be filled.  The board is
reported to work very well under DOS, Windows (3.1), and Warp.

Setup tips:         None so far.
Possible problems:  The B2 revision of the SIS chipset apparently does
                    not support mode 3 IDE well.
Useful information:

This board comes in three slightly different varieties, corresponding to
different revisions of the SIS chipset used:  B2, B3, and A4 The A4 does
not have onboard ide support.  The B2 and B3 do; the B3 is the latter
revision of the two.  The presence of the B2 chipset can be verified by
looking at the large chipset chip with "SIS" marked on it; It should
have a small "nu" (greek letter) on the third line of text (counting the
SIS in big letters as a line).  B2 apparently does not support mode 3
IDE well, and B3 is supposed to fix this.


 Asus                  PCI/E-P5MP3*  This particular motherboard has
                       PCI/EISA      been reported to work well, with
                                     the one caution that older
motherboards had a bug in the serial I/O hardware.  This board has
identical specifications to the motherboard below, with the exception
that this board uses EISA slots instead of ISA.

Setup tips:         None so far.
Possible problems:  None so far.

 Asus                  MB-586A-      This is Asus' bare-bones 60/66 MHz
                       PCI60C        PCI board.  It does not have any
                                     I/O on board, but does have a ZIF
socket for a future upgrade. 256 kB of L2 write-through cache is
standard, with 512 kB an option. The board uses the Mercury chipset
(Intel) and the Award Flash-BIOS.  It has 4 ISA and 3 PCI slots, and
will accommodate up to 6x32 MB 72-pin SIMMs.

Setup tips:         None so far.
Possible problems:  None so far.

 Asus                  PCI/I-P54NP4  This is an ISA-based board which
                                     takes up to two 100 MHz CPUs.  It
has all the standard I/O built in (serial/parallel/IDE).  It has 256 kB
of on-board cache, upgradable to 512 kB.  It will take four 72-pin SIMMs
(with parity), and has a flash BIOS.  The board uses the Neptune
chipset.  I have had a few reports of success with various revisions of
this board and OS/2 2.11/Warp.  The board apparently will _not_ work
with two CPUs and OS/2 SMP.

Setup tips:         The board has many jumpers and, apparently, nearly no
                    documentation to tell you how to set them.  (Two pages
                    of photocopied jumper settings, I'm told, are all that
                    you get.)  One other person has written to say that
                    you get a very good manual with the board, so it
                    could be that the documentation you get depends
                    largely on where you buy the board.
Possible problems:  The board will not work with two CPUs and OS/2 SMP.

 Asus                  PCI/E-P54NP4  I'm almost dreading putting this
                       Dual Pentium  one in, given the incredible amount
                                     of traffic it seems to generate
every time someone mentions it.  It has, however, been tested with OS/2
2.1, Win/NT Win/NTAS (dual CPU), NeXT Step, and, of course DOS 6.2
(someone please explain why you'd buy a dual-pentium system to run
DOS...).  It's supposed to work under all these different systems.  No
tech. details on it yet, though.

Setup tips:         None so far.
Possible problems:  None so far.

 Asus                  PCI/I-P54SP4* This board can take a 75/90/100 MHz
                                     Intel Pentium CPU, accommodates
256/512/1 MB of L2 cache and uses the SIS PCI chipset. The AWARD BIOS
(4.50g -- flash upgradable) is used, which has the NCR SCSI BIOS built
into it. There are four 72-pin SIMM sockets for RAM, so the board can
take up to 128 MB. The board has two 32-bit PCI IDE ports (via the CMD
640B chipset -- up to four drives may be attached), 1 floppy port (2.88
MB support built-in), two 16550 serial ports, and one ECP/EPP parallel
port.  It can be run with 3 PCI/4 ISA or 4 PCI/3 ISA slots.  A beta
release of this board has apparently run OS/2 2.1 and Win/NT with no
problems, and revision 1.4 (the current version) apparently runs Warp
(and Warp full-pack) without problems.  All PCI slots in this board
allow busmastering.  People have reported problems with this board not
booting OS/2 with various PCI SCSI controllers; these problems were
solved by disabling the green functions in the BIOS.  The same problems
are not reported by another person with a 2940W, however.  I have also
had reports of success using an IDE drive in combination with the new
ATAPI IDE CD-ROM, on which Warp full-pack was reported to install
without problems (after modification of the install disks to point to
the new ATAPI driver, of course).

Setup tips:         The PCI bus speed on the board apparently may be set
                    in the BIOS setup as either CPU CLK/2 or CPU CLK/1.5
                    (to support the 75 MHz chips or, alternatively, to
                    overclock the PCI bus).  I don't know what effect
                    running the PCI bus at higher-than-spec rates would
                    have, though. The BIOS apparently also has many
                    settings for PCI bursts and wait-states.  Setting
                    all of these to the fastest allowable values seems
                    to work.  The parallel port is assigned to LPT2: by
                    default in the BIOS. The pin-out for the on-board
                    mouse connector is:

                           ------------------------------
                           | Gnd    Data    N/C     +5  |
                           |                            |
                           | Clk     --     --      N/C |
                           ------------------------------

                    On a PS/2 mouse, these correspond to the following
                    signals:

                                  Pin #      Signal
                                  -----      ------
                                   1          Data
                                   2          N/C
                                   3          Gnd
                                   4          +5
                                   5          Clk
                                   6          N/C

                    The "Computer Stop" (206) 644-5400 apparently sells
                    pre-made mouse cables.

Possible problems:  The green functions in the BIOS are apparently
                    incompatible with many SCSI controllers; it may be
                    necessary to disable them in order to get Warp to
                    boot at any resolution beyond VGA. See the PCI IDE
                    list for a description of problems with the CMD PCI
                    IDE chipset.  Some people have been having problems
                    with compressed files being corrupted as they are
                    uncompressed from floppy (a Diamond Stealth VRAM was
                    in use on both systems, though this may just be
                    coincidence).

 Asus                  PCI-I/P54TP4     These are the boards by Asus
                       PCI-I/P55TP4     which use the new Intel Triton
                       PCI-I/P55TP4XE   chipset, with all that that
                                        entails.  The boards themselves
take a 75/90/100 MHz Pentium, and can be run with either 4 PCI/3 ISA or
3 PCI/4 ISA slots (all of the PCI slots allow busmastering). Apparently
one of the four PCI slots is a proprietary Asus Mediabus, whatever that
is. The board will take from 8 to 128 MB of DRAM or EDO RAM, and has 256
kB of SRAM cache (upgradable to 512 kB if run in asynchronous mode, but
not if run in synchronous mode). It has the SMC super I/O controller on
board, and the CMD EIDE chipset (PCI), which apparently supports mode 4
data transfers and DMA mode 2. The board uses the Award BIOS (which has
the NCR BIOS built in).  There is also a mouse port, but no turbo switch
connector on the board. The board was reviewed in the 4/95 issue of the
German computer magazine C't.  The review was very favourable towards
the new Triton chipset and the ASUS board they tested. A board equipped
with 256k Burst-SRAM and EDO-RAM achieved transfer rates of 65 MB/sec to
2nd level cache, 39 MByte/s on a direct memory access, 53 MByte/s on a
write operation (STOSD), and 54 MByte/s on a memory to PCI transfer.
Application benchmarks were run under Windows, OS/2 Warp, and Windows NT
3.5. They didn't mention any incompatiblities with PCI-components. The
board failed when running the PCI BIOS check, which was attributed to
the BIOS. (The PCI/I54NP4 board which they used as a comparison failed
that test as well).  I have now had a report of success from one person
running this board (version 1.2) with an Adaptec 2940 PCI SCSI
controller and an STB PCI 64 Powergraph. The board is reported to be
very stable.  Apparently also there is a new BIOS coming out soon for
it.

Setup Tips:         The BIOS settings for the board are apparently
                    complex and the documentation minimal.  Some time
                    may be required to get it set up just right.
Possible Problems:  One person has reported problems with this board and
                    a RAM chip labelled Ti -60 TMS417400DJ VBP 440230,
                    wherein NT/3.5 would neither install or run on the
                    system.  Another person has reported that the driver
                    for the CMD640 IDE chipset causes Warp to trap and
                    that it was necessary to revert to the fixpack
                    IBM1S506.ADD to have a stable system.

 DEC                    ???          DEC apparently makes a modular
                                     board into which you plug the CPU
(on a card), which has a 64-bit data path to the rest of the board.
Success has been reported with the 486/66 daughterboard.  This board is
very likely available only in DEC computers.

Setup tips:         None so far.
Possible problems:  None so far.

 EliteGroup            SA486P AIO-U  Uses the Saturn chipset and has both
                       (STD)         IDE and NCR SCSI onboard. Current crop
                                     now has revision 4 of the Saturn
chipset.  OS/2 2.1 has apparently been installed with all caches on and
runs (using the NCR controller) with no problems according to reports.
Apparently too rev. 0.4 of the board hangs if the cache is set to
"write-back".  This board uses the SMC 37C665 I/O controller, so make
sure yours has 'GT' at the end of the model number, to fix problems with
system crashes when using comm. programs.

Setup tips:         The board has many jumpers and, apparently, nearly no
                    documentation to tell you how to set them.  (Two pages
                    of photocopied jumper settings, I'm told, are all that
                    you get.)  It may be necessary to set the on-board
                    NCR SCSI controller to IRQ 15 to get it to work.
Possible problems:  Apparently the BIOS that ships with the board (burned
                    in, not flash) will not allow the user to change the
                    settings for 'Host-to-PCI'-Posting,
                    'Host-to-Memory'-Posting, or 'PCI-to-memory'-posting,
                    altthough this is possible via CTPCI.EXE, a small
                    program which is avaiblable from the German magazine
                    C't.  (Flash BiOSes are available as an option.)

 EliteGroup            UM8810P AIO   This board takes all the Intel and
                                     Cyrix CPUs, including the Pentium
Overdrive series.  It takes up to 64 MB of RAM (in either 4x16
single-sided or 2x32 double-sided) and takes up to 512 kB of L2 cache.
There are 3 PCI slots (all of which permit busmastering, one of which is
shared) and 4 ISA slots (one of which must also be shared, presumably).
It uses the CMD chipset for PCI IDE, and the SMC chip for built-in
serial/parallel I/O.  Support is built-in for up to 2.88 MB drives.  The
board uses the Phoenix BIOS and supports all the green features.  The
board uses the UMC 888X chipset for PCI support.  I've had a report of
success with Warp and this board.

Setup tips:         None so far.
Possible problems:  The BIOS allows you to run the PCI bus at either
                    half or all of the external CPU clock.  This might
                    cause problems for DX40s, where you'll either be
                    able to run it at 20 or 40 MHz.  The ISA bridge
                    (using these CPUs) will also not allow you to set
                    the bus speed to close to 8 MHz.

 Gigabyte              GA-486IM      This board takes all Intel and
                                     Cyrix CPUs and uses the UMC 888X
chipset.  It uses 256 kB of L2 cache and the Award flash BIOS (version
4.50B, dated 5 Dec. '94).  Presumably the board can take up to 128 MB of
RAM.  This particular board does not work with an NCR SCSI controller
made by Intel or Asus, although it does work with an external EIDE
controller.

Setup tips:         None so far.
Possible problems:  Many.  The board will not boot OS/2 at all with an
                    NCR controller made by Intel or Asus with a Cardex
                    Challenger in a PCI slot.  A switch to an S3/864
                    card will allow the system to boot, but the serial
                    ports go undetected, or at best work poorly.

 Gigabyte              GA-486IS      This board uses the Saturn I rev. 2
                                     chipset and has the NCR on-board
SCSI chip.  It will accept up to four 72 pin SIMMs (parity or no
parity), and has 4 PCI and 4 ISA slots.  The clock speed is switchable
between 25 and 33 MHz, and the board supports only 5 V CPUs.  There is a
ZIF socket on board which will accept a 486 SX, DX, DX2, or P24T chip.
The board has 256 kB of L2 cache.  OS/2 reportedly runs well (with no
problems) after upgrading the original BIOS, which had compatibility
problems.

Setup tips:          Disable the external cache on this board for
                     reliable operation under OS/2, especially if you use
                     a PCI-based SCSI controller.
Potential problems:  See the PCI chipset list for a description of the
                     problems with the Saturn I rev. 2 chipset.

 Gigabyte              GA-586AL/S    This is Gigabyte's 60/66 MHz
                                     motherboard.  It uses the Award
BIOS and ALI chipset.  I don't have any other specifics on the board or
chipset, but apparently the board does _not_ work well with OS/2.  The
system will apparently install well, but on reboot cannot locate the
desktop.  To be avoided.

 Gigabyte              GA-586IP      This is Gigabyte's 90/100 MHz
                                     motherboard, and takes one P54CT
running at 60/90 or 66/100 MHz.  It has four PCI slots, all of which
allow busmastering, and four ISA slots.  It takes either 256 or 512 kB
of L2 cache and up to 768 (!) MB of SIMMs in six 72-pin slots (if you
can get 128 MB strips).  The board has the Award flash BIOS (4.50g).
The board has been reported to work reliably under OS/2 (2.1 and Warp),
as well as NT, etc.

Setup Tips:          If you are using the Adaptec 2940 SCSI controller
                     with this board, it is necessary to add the
                     switches '/A:0 /I' to the basedev line of the
                     driver.  Failure to do so resulted in a consistent
                     TRAP 3 for one netter. In addition, it is necessary
                     to set the Int A jumper on the board itself _and_
                     set the BIOS.  Warp full-pack requires the switch
                     /PCIHW to be added to the device driver line in
                     config.sys.

Potential problems:  In a test in C't they had problems with the ATI
                     Xpression and the 586IP.  Apparently, Gigabyte has
                     modified PCI slots 0 and 1 (in an unspecified
                     manner) so that the machine locks up when an ATI
                     card is installed in one of these slots.
                     Installing the Xpression in slot 2 is one
                     workaround.
                    
 Intel                 B486ED        This is Intel's 486 PCI board, and
                                     can be outfitted with all the
different Intel CPUs, from the 33 MHz 486 SX to the 100 MHz DX4 (each
CPU gives the boards their own model number; for instance, the 486-DX2
processor-equipped board would be the B486ED8D266).  The board may be
upgraded to the Intel P24T processor.  It will accommodate up to 256 kB
of cache (128 kB is standard), and 64 MB of 72-pin SIMMs (with or
without parity).  The board has IDE and serial/parallel on-board. These
boards use the Saturn II (rev. 4) chipset (I think), and have all the
energy-saving features.

Setup tips:          None so far.
Potential problems:  None reported so far.

 Intel                  Advanced     There are four boards in this
                                     series from Intel, all of which
employ the Triton chipset and AMI BIOS, and will accommodate up to 128 MB
of conventional or EDO RAM.  All boards will support the 75 or 90 MHz
chips; some will support the 100 and 120 MHz chips as well.  All boards
have on-board busmastering PCI IDE via the Triton chipset, as well as
integrated serial/parallel/game ports.  All boards also have 3 dedicated
ISA, 2 dedicated PCI, and 1 shared ISA/PCI slot, so that they can be run
in either 4 ISA/2 PCI or 3 ISA/3 PCI configurations.  Specific boards
offer the following features:

Advanced/MN:  This board features on-board video (S3/Trio32, up to 2 MB
of DRAM).  The board will take up to 256 kB of asynchronous cache.  The
low-profile version of this board (MN/LPX) will take up to 512 kB of
cache (still asynchronous).  I've had no reports of success with this
board and OS/2.

Setup Tips:          None so far.
Potential Problems:  None so far.

Advanced/ZP:  This board will accommodate up to 256 kB of cache
(asynchronous).  It does not have on-board video.  I've had no reports
of success with this board and OS/2.

Setup Tips:          None so far.
Potential Problems:  None so far.

Advanced/ZE:  This board is very similar to the ZP above, except that it
has one extra dedicated ISA slot and one extra dedicated PCI slot.  I
have had no reports of success with this board and OS/2.

Setup Tips:          None so far.
Potential Problems:  None so far.

Advanced/EV:  This board will take all the Pentium processors (up to 120
MHz), and up to 512 kB of synchronous cache.  It has built-in audio
(SoundBlaster 16 chipset) and, in the UK and Europe, the S3 Trio64 video
chip.  It has four dedicated ISA slots, three dedicated PCI slots, and
one shared ISA/PCI slot.  I've had no reports of success with this board
and OS/2.

Setup Tips:          None so far.
Potential Problems:  None so far.

 Intel                  AltServer    This board is intended for use
                                     primarily in server applications.
It supports either one or two 75 or 90 MHz Pentia, and uses the Neptune
chipset and AMI flash BIOS.  Up to 256 kB of (asynchronous) cache may be
used in combination with up to 256 MB of RAM in eight 72-pin strips (EDO
RAM is not supported).  The board has an on-board Cirrus Logic 5430
video controller (with 512 kB DRAM expandable to 1 MB) and an Adaptec
AIC7870 fast/wide SCSI controller.  There are two dedicated PCI slots,
five dedicated EISA slots, and one shared EISA/PCI slot, and all slots
allow busmastering adapters.  I've had no reports of success with this
board and OS/2.

Setup Tips:          None so far.
Potential Problems:  None so far.

 Intel                 Premiere**    The 60/66 (Premiere) and 75/90/100
                                     MHz (Premiere II) Pentium boards
have passed OS/2 certification (with the 66 and 90 MHz CPUs in place,
respectively).  These boards are, therefore, highly recommended. The
60 MHz board has been reported to be problematic with SCSI, though
Adaptec now seems to think their AHA-2940 SCSI controller should work
with it, as do BusLogic and QLogic (I have had reports of success with
the QLogic controller but not with the Adaptec or BusLogic).  The 60/66
MHz board uses the Mercury chipset, while the 90/100 MHz board uses the
Neptune chipset.  All the boards come with 256 kB of L2 cache, can
accommodate up to 128 MB (4x32 MB 72-pin SIMMs) of RAM, and use the AMI
flash BIOS (currently at revision 1.00.12.AX1 for the 90 MHz boards --
other boards have different BIOSes specific to them).  All boards have
the NCR SCSI BIOS built in, and have IDE (for ISA and PCI) and I/O ports
on the board.  The 60/66 MHz board uses the CMD 10640 chipset for IDE
while the 90/100 MHz board uses the PC Tech RZ1000.  The boards can be
run with 4 ISA/3 PCI or 5 ISA/2 PCI slots.

Setup tips:          Get (at least) rev. 1.00.10.AX1 of the AMI flash
                     BIOS (for the 90 MHz boards) to fix problems with
                     Guaranteed Acess Timing (GAT) and BackMaster 1.1.
                     If you have an ATI card and an intermal modem, make
                     sure you turn off intelligent remapping of the COM
                     ports to avoid conflicts with the ATI card and
                     COM4.  If you are using an NCR SCSI controller,
                     you'll have to set IRQ9 to 'used by ISA card'
                     during the install to get the install to work
                     (under 2.1/2.11).  If you're running a SCSI drive
                     as your boot drive, turn off the drive C: timeout
                     for a faster boot.

WARNING *** WARNING *** WARNING *** WARNING *** WARNING *** WARNING
The following setup information is provided with ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY
of ANY KIND.  In no manner whatsoever shall I (Patrick Duffy, the author
of the PCI motherboards list) be held responsible for damage of any sort
caused by application of said information.

That said, here's how to make your 90 MHz Premiere II board run at 100 MHz:

Move the "reserved" jumper on the board to pins 1 & 2 (from pins 2 & 3,
I think).  This causes the Pentium to run at 100 MHz instead of 90.
WARNING *** WARNING *** WARNING *** WARNING *** WARNING *** WARNING

Potential problems:  See the PCI chipset list and the PCI IDE list for
                     descriptions of the Neptune chipset and IDE drive
                     problem, The SMC chip used to control the serial
                     ports should have the letters "GT" after it for
                     trouble-free communications.

DEALS OF THE WEEK:  Intel P90 CPU:  Computime $599 (619) 268-8856
                                    Pixel $618      (408) 929-7218
                                    Computer Integration Tech $639
                                                    (800) 730-2983
                                    Roland Baker $645
                                                    baker@ocf.berkeley.edu

                    Intel Premiere II P90 Motherboards:
                                    Roland Baker $335
                                                    baker@ocf.berkeley.edu
                                    Spire Tech $407 spire@teleport.com
                                    Tony $360 (818) 281-8628

 J-Bond                 PCI400C-A    This board will use up to a DX2-66
                                     CPU, and has a spot for a Pentium
Overdrive chip (whatever those really are).  It has rev. 2 of the Saturn
Chipset (the latest boards do), and the Phoenix BIOS rev. 1.03 (the
board reported has a BIOS dated April 2, 1994).  The board has a
built-in NCR SCSI controller (presumably based on the 53c810, though
this was not indicated).  It boots OS/2 successufully, though there
seems to be long delays before bootup when a Quantum LPS540S hard drive
is used (but not a Seagate).  (This seems to be a problem with that
particular Quantum drive.)  The board takes up to 4 72-pin 36-bit SIMMs,
installed in identical pairs.  The board will take either three PCI and
four ISA or two PCI and five ISA cards (one slot is shared). The board
has no on-board I/O at all (except for the SCSI controller).  Warp beta
II has apparently installed fairly painlessly on this board, though
there are random lockups which seem to be due to a design shortcoming of
the motherboard.  I wouldn't recommend this board.

Setup tips:          Disable the external cache for reliable SCSI
                     operation.
Potential problems:  See the PCI chipset list for a description of the
                     problems with the Saturn I (rev. 2) chipset.

 J-Bond                 PCI500C-A    This board is, from a report I've
                                     received, no better than the 486
board above.  Apparently the only way to make _this_ board stable (the
test configuration had a 66 MHz Pentium, 512 kB cache, Phoenix BIOS
1.03, shadow RAM enabled, Mercury chipset, and the NCR 53c810 controller
(built in) attached to a Quantum SCSI HD) is to disable the on-chip 16
kB cache. This, of course, makes the Pentium _really_ slow.  New boards
may have this problem fixed (whatever's causing it), but I have no way
of knowing.  If you're still curious, the board has 4 PCI and 4 ISA
slots, and can accommodate up to four 72-pin SIMMs.

Setup tips:          Disable the CPU cache for reliable operation.
Potential problems:  Motherboard problems could be caused by:
                     - Early BIOS (Feb. 02/94, rev. 1.03)
                     - Early Mercury chipset (not sure)
                     - Bad CPU or poor cooling

 Lexar                  LXM-510      This motherboard will take all the
                                     Intel 486 CPUs and has a spot for a
Pentium Overdrive socket (though to use the 3.3 V processors the "Model
99 Regulator" must be purchased).  Early revisions of the board had a
separate connector for 3.3 V power to the PCI sockets; this has been
replaced with a separate voltage regulator in later versions.  It will
take up to 128 MB of RAM in 8 30-pin SIMM sockets, and up to 512 kB of
cache.  It uses either the Award or AMI flash BIOSes, and has 2 VL, 2
ISA, and 2 PCI slots.  It uses the IMS (Integrated Micro Solutions)
chipset.  The board also has all the standard on-board super I/O and a
mouse port.  It has been tested and found to be compatible with DOS/Win
and Win/NT (no mention of OS/2).  I have had a report of success with
this board and DOS/Win and Linux.

Setup tips:          The manual, while apparently nicely printed, is
                     poorly written.  This may cause problems when
                     configuring the many jumpers on the board.
Potential problems:  None so far.

 Microgram              ???          This motherboard will run at 25 or
                                     33 MHz, has 5 ISA and 3 PCI slots,
and a Phoenix BIOS.  The board will also accommodate up to 128 MB of
RAM, in 4 72-pin SIMM slots.  Everything up to a DX2-66 can be put in,
as can a P24T into the available ZIF socket.  The new DX4s will not work
because the board does not support 3.3V.  (Though I suppose you could
get a 5->3.3V adapter if you _really_ wanted to.)  This board apparently
runs OS/2 reasonably well, though there seem to be random lockups at
times.  There were no SCSI devices on the board, and apparently with an
old WD90C11 video card things were quite erratic.  I don't know what
chipset this board uses, but from the range of processors I'm guessing
Saturn, so make sure it's rev. 4 if you want SCSI (the board tested had
rev. 1 of the Saturn chipset).

Setup tips:          None so far.
Potential problems:  See the PCI chipset list for a description of the
                     problems with the Saturn I (rev. 2) chipset.

 Micronics              M4Pi         This is Micronics' 486 PCI
                                     motherboard.  It will take
everything up to a DX4 (with a ZIF socket for a Pentium overdrive), and
supports 3.3V.  It is (feature-wise) identical to the M5Pi board
below, except that it uses the Intel 82420 PCIset PCI chipset (the
Saturn chipset), and has an extra dedicated ISA slot.

Setup tips:          None so far.
Potential problems:  None reported.

 Micronics              M5Pi         This particular board takes
                                     either a 60 or 66 MHz Pentium chip,
and has a ZIF socket for future upgrades.  Like many of the other
Pentium motherboards here, this has 256/512 kB of (write-back) cache,
and will accommodate up to 128 MB (4x32 MB SIMMs) of RAM.  The PCI
chipset used is the Intel 82430 PCIset (don't know it's common name,
though I suspect that this is the Mercury chipset), and it uses a
Phoenix Flash-BIOS.  Like the Intel boards, this board can be run with 4
ISA and 3 PCI slots or 5 ISA and 2 PCI slots.

Setup tips:          None so far.
Potential problems:  None reported.

 Micronics              M54pi*       This is the 90 MHz Micronics
                                     motherboard for OS/2.  Presumably
it has the Neptune chipset.  The board reported has Phoenix BIOS V4.04-N
08.  With this BIOS, the board is reported to work very well with the
Adaptec 2940, though earlier versions of the BIOS had problems with
disk-intensive programs crashing.  Make sure, therefore, that you get at
least this revision of the Phoenix flash BIOS when buying your
motherboard, or at least that you can upgrade to it.  I have now had
several reports of success with this board and various flavours of OS/2
(all using the 2940 controller).

Setup tips:          Make sure you have the latest revision of the BIOS
                     for your best chance at trouble-free operation.
Potential problems:  None, with the latest BIOS.

 SOYO                   80486        As its name might suggest, this is
                                     a 486 board which accommodates all
the different 80486 chips and the overdrive series as well.  It has all
the green features, though the BIOS type is unspecified.  The board has
four ISA (two of which are VL) and four PCI slots (all of which allow
busmastering).  The board will take up to 128 MB of RAM, and will
accommodate cache RAM in increments of 32 kB.  It is reported to work
well with Warp.

Setup Tips:          None so far.
Potential Problems:  None so far.

 TMC                    PCI48PG4     This is a combination VL/ISA/PCI
                                     board which uese the Opti chipset.
It uses the Opti PCI IDE controller (82C621), and the SMC chip for
serial/parallel/floppy I/O.  It takes all the different 486 processors
and the P24D overdrive chip.  The board has 2 PCI slots, one shared
PCI/ISA, 2 ISA, and 2 VL slots.  The board will accommodate up to 128 MB
RAM (in four slots), though apparently if the first two slots are filled
the second two must be filled as well or the board will not work.  The
board takes up to 256 kB cache and uses the Award or AMI BIOSes, though
it is reported to work only with the AMI (WinBIOS) BIOS.  Apparently
also the 7/25/94 WinBIOS would not allow the computer to boot with a
Stealth 64 VRAM or a Stealth 64 Video VRAM installed.  Also, the board
ran very slowly with all four SIMM sockets filled and this BIOS.
Downgrading to the 12/15/93 version of the BIOS fixed these problems,
but limited control over the peripheral I/O (there were few options
present in the BIOS setup to allow it).

Setup tips:          Until AMI comes out with a later version (than
                     7/25/94) of the WinBIOS, use 12/15/93 for best
                     results.
Potential problems:  None, with the 12/15/93 BIOS.

 TMC                    PCI54IT      This board is based around the
                                     Intel Triton chipset and the Award
BIOS (revision 4.50GP, 95/04/20).  It is plug and play 1.0a-compliant.
It will take at least up to a 90 MHz Pentium and has four 72-pin SIMM
slots.  Support for IDE (type unspecified), floppy, and
serial/parallel/game I/O is built in to the motherboard.  The board is
reported to work well with Warp.

Setup Tips:          None so far.
Potential Problems:  None so far.

 TMC                    PCI54PV3     This motherboard uses up to a 90 MHz
                                     Pentium chip and has the Opti "Viper"
chipset in combination with the Award BIOS.  It has 3 PCI slots, 4 ISA
slots, and all the usual serial/parallel/game ports. The board will take
up to four 72-pin SIMMs.  Support for IDE and floppy drives is built in,
though what type of IDE is unspecified.  The board is reported to work
well, though somewhat slower than the PCI54IT above, with Warp.

Setup Tips:          None so far.
Potential Problems:  None so far.

 UMC                    UMC88        This board takes a 486 CPU (type
                                     unspecified, but presumably all of
them), and has all the latest green features.  The board is reported to
work well with OS/2 (version unspecified), with the single exception
that it will not allow OS/2 to boot from a floppy drive for one user.
Another person reports that OS/2 will boot from floppy, but that the
board is unstable, and that OS/2 experiences random lockups.  Replacing
the two 8 MB SIMMs with one 16 MB SIMM fixed the problem, which suggests
that the reported problems could be due to a bad SIMM.  Replacing the
SCSI disk also helped (two bad hardware components at one go?)
Apparently too the board/video card combination does not seem to work
well with FeelX, causing random video corruption when FeelX is installed
(the card is a Cirrus Logic 543X).

Setup Tips:          None so far.
Potential Problems:  OS/2 might not boot from the floppy drive with this
                     board.

There's what I know.  Please E-Mail suggestions/corrections and I'll
post again.
