
          Document:  PCI Motherboards for OS/2 list
        Maintainer:  Patrick Duffy, duffy@theory.chem.ubc.ca
    Revision Dates:  11/5/95, 11/26/95
       Archived at:  ftp.netcom.com, in directory /pub/ab/abe/
                     CompuServe (GO BENCHMARK)
         Web pages:  http://warp.eecs.berkeley.edu/os2/workbench/work.htm
                     http://www.os2forum.or.at/english/info/os2hardwareinfo/
                     (note that the first URL may not have up-to-date
                     versions of the lists)

This document is intended for use by individuals and corporations in a
non-commercial manner.  It may be distributed freely within those
limitations.  Commercial use of this document in any manner requires
prior written permission of the author.

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.  For detailed descriptions of problems with built-in IDE
controllers on some motherboards, please refer to the PCI IDE
controllers for OS/2 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.  I've added the PCI vendor IDs of the motherboard
manufacturer in brackets after the description of each board and before
the set-up tips.  The first number is in HEX and the second in decimal.
Dates in brackets indicate the last revision date for the related entry.

                             New This Week:
                             --------------

I've added a board by QTC (Quick Technology Corporation) which seems to
work well for one person at least, and has a few fairly unique features.
I've also made note of one person's problems with the SCSI subsystem and
an Intel Altserver.  I have now had a report of success with the AMI 486
board, so I've amended the comments for the board accordingly.  Also on
the interesting motherboard front is a new one from MTI:  It will
apparently use 30-pin SIMMs.  Contact information and a motherboard
description are given below.

Asus recently had a run of bad boards due to defective SMC floppy
controller chips.  I've added that information to the Asus P55TP4XE
board description, so you can tell if you have a bad SMC chip.  The
newest revisions of the board also have support for the 150 - 200 MHz
Pentium chips.

It also seems that the Adaptec 2940UW (Ultrawide) SCSI controller does
_not_ work with the Asus PVI/486SP3.

Useful Numbers: (11/26/95)
---------------
AIR:             (408) 428-0800
Asus:            (408) 956-9077 (tech. support)
                 ftp.asustek.asus.com.tw (ftp site)
                 http://192.72.126.1 (WWW site)
                 gopher.asus.com.tw (gopher site)
                 tsd@asus.com.tw (tech. support E-Mail)
                 alt.comp.periphs.mainboard.asus (internet newsgroup)
Award:           (415) 968-4433 (Voice)
                 (415) 968-0274 (FAX)
                 (415) 968-0249 (BBS - 8,N,1)
                 1:143/210@fidonet.org
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)
Micronics        (510) 651-2300 (Office -- Faxback after hours)
                 (510) 651-6985 (BBS)
                 www.micron.com (WWW site)
MTI:             (408) 441-8818 (tech. support)
                 (408) 441-8631 (BBS)
                 www.mtiusa.com (WWW site)
                 ftp.mtiusa.com (FTP site)
                 tech@mtiusa.com (tech. support E-Mail address)
QTC:             (714) 258-4500 (voice)
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)
                 (404) 246-8600 (tech. support)
                 (716) 381-7549 (FAX)
                 (404) 246-8780 (BBS - V.34)
                 (404) 246-8781 (BBS - V.34)
                 (404) 246-8782 (BBS - V.32 or HST)
                 (404) 246-8783 (BBS - V.32)
                 american.megatrends.com (FTP site) (may not be working)

                  PART ONE:  80486-based motherboards
                  -----------------------------------

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.

(Advanced Integration Research:  1075/4213) (8/27/95)

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

 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 a report of success with this board and Warp, and
since an AMI technician with whom I've spoken says that their boards
are not released to manufacturing _until_ they've passed compatibility
tests with all major PC operating systems, including OS/2, I believe
this board would be a very good choice.

(American Megatrends:  101E/4126) (9/21/95)

Setup tips:         None so far.
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.  This board has,
apparently, been discontinued by Asus, and will only be manufactured in
special-order quantities of 1,000 or more, which is why I'm no longer
recommending it.

(Asustek Computer Inc.:  1043/4163) (11/12/95)

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.  To get the AMD DX4 to run in 4x mode, pin
                    B13 must be tied high.  Tying the pin to ground
                    will cause the chip to run in DX2-66 mode.

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).  It may be necessary to also turn off tagged
                    command queueing to avoid data corruption (with a
                    Micropolis 4110 1 GB drive).

 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.
This board is apparently now discontinued, which is why I'm no longer
recommending it.

(Asustek Computer Inc.:  1043/4163) (9/21/95)

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.  In addition, apparently the Aries
                    chipset has problems with zero wait-state caches and
                    protected-mode code.  Set your cache timing to
                    "normal" (instead of fast) for stable operation.

 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 3 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).  The board is reported to work very well under DOS, Windows
(3.1), and Warp.

(Asustek Computer Inc.:  1043/4163) (11/26/95)

Setup tips:         None so far.
Possible problems:  The B2 revision of the SIS chipset apparently does
                    not support mode 3 IDE well.  Running a DX4 CPU at
                    50 MHz instead of 33 is reported to improve
                    performance substantially.  The Adaptec 2940UW SCSI
                    controller does not appear to work with this board,
                    though the 2940W does.
Useful information:

This board comes in five slightly different varieties, corresponding to
different revisions of the SIS chipset used:  A4, B2, B3, B4, and B5.
The A4 chipset supports IDE up to PIO mode 2.  All later chipsets
support PIO mode 3 and (in later revisions) above, though not always
very well.  The various chipset revisions can be identified by their
labels:

              A4 Version chipset:  SIS 496 MU, SIS 497 MW
              B2 Version chipset:  SIS 496 NU, SIS 497 NS
              B3 Version chipset:  SIS 496 NV, SIS 497 NS
              B4 Version chipset:  SIS 496 NV, SIS 497 NU
              B5 Version chipset:  SIS 496 OR, SIS 497 OT


 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.

(Elitegroup Computer Systems:  1019/4121) (8/27/95)

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.  The latest revision of the board will take up to 128
MB of RAM (older versions took up to 64 MB of RAM in either 4x16
single-sided or 2x32 double-sided SIMMs) and takes up to 512 kB of L2
cache. There are 3 PCI slots (none shared on newer boards, one shared on
older boards), all of which permit busmastering, and 4 ISA slots (five
on older boards with one shared).  It should also be noted that newer
versions of the board have had J41 removed to allow the use of the P24T
PODP5V CPU. 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 (The latest is version 2.1) 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.
In addition to this, this board has passed all (except multimedia)
certification tests in combination with an S3 Trio64-based card and BIOS
version 1.4-01.  An EIDE HD (WD AC2540F) was also used in the
certification tests.

(Elitegroup Computer Systems:  1019/4121) (9/14/95)

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.  Enabling the APM
                    (green) features of the board may cause it to not
                    reboot properly.  Disable them for trouble-free
                    operation.

 Gigabyte              GA-486AM      This board takes all Intel and
                                     Cyrix CPUs (including the P24)
and uses the UMC 888X chipset.  It uses (up to) 1 MB of L2 cache and the
Award flash BIOS (version 4.50B, dated 5 Dec. '94).  The board can take
up to 128 MB of RAM in four 72-pin sockets.  All configuration for RAM
and CPU type is done via jumpers.  All the usual I/O is on-board, and
the IDE supports up to mode 3.  Driver support is included to facilitate
this. The board has 4 ISA and 3 PCI slots (I don't know if any are
shared, but I presume they are), and is 2/3 baby AT size (22x25 cm).
Apparently the SIMMs on this motherboard sit directly over the power
supply, and the motherboard power supply connector is right near them.
I've had a report of success with this board and OS/2.

(Vendor ID unknown) (11/26/95)

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

 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.

(Vendor ID unknown) (8/27/95)

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.

(Vendor ID unknown) (8/27/95)

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.

 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.

(Intel:  8086/32902) (8/27/95)

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

 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.

(J. Bond Computer Systems:  1086/4230) (8/27/95)

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                PCI400C-C    This is a later revision of the
                                     earlier 400-A board, and appears to
have more promise.  It uses the SIS chipset (make sure you have the
latest for most reliable operation) and takes all the different 486-type
CPUs as well as a spot for the Pentium overdrive processors.  A 3.3 volt
regulator is included for 3.3 volt CPUs.  It has 4 ISA and 3 PCI slots
(all the PCI slots allow busmastering), as well as all the on-board I/O.
It will use up to 128 MB of RAM. As far as I can tell, the NCR chip in
the earlier board has been removed from this one.  I've had no reports
of success with this board and OS/2 yet, though it does sound like it
_should_ work.

(J. Bond Computer Systems:  1086/4230) (9/12/95)

Setup tips:          None so far.
Potential problems:  Make sure (if you're using IDE) that you have the
                     latest revision of the SIS chipset for the best
                     chance at full IDE support.  See the chipsets list
                     for information about how to determine which
                     version of the chipset you have.

 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.

(Vendor ID unknown) (8/27/95)

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).

(Vendor ID unknown) (8/27/95)

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.

(Micronics Computers Inc.:  1012/4114) (8/27/95)

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

 MTI                    PCI-486*     This board uses the SIS chipset and
                                     the Award flash BIOS. It will take
all the different CPUs, comes with 256 kB of cache (in 64 kB chips, so
you can just get more chips if you need more cache), and has all the
usual built-in I/O.  The board has 3 PCI and 4 ISA slots (I don't know
if any are shared).  Interestingly enough, this baord has room for eight
30-pin SIMMs and two 72-pin SIMMS, making it unique among the boards on
this list.  I've had a couple of reports of success from people running
this board with OS/2.

(Vendor ID unknown) (11/12/95)

Setup tips:          Some boards will autodetect the required CPU
                     voltage and others will not.  Be sure to check
                     carefully for the presence of JP48 and set it
                     accordingly for your CPU.
Potential problems:  OS/2 may not like LBA mode for EIDE hard drive access
                     with this board.  This can be disabled via the BIOS
                     (then OS/2 won't boot drives in partitions greater
                     than 540 MB, of course).  Make sure that if you do
                     this you also select "ignore HDD mode detect
                     errors" in the CMOS setup.

 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.

(Vendor ID unknown) (8/27/95)

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).

(TMC Research:  1030/4144) (8/27/95)

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.

 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).

(United Microelectronics:  1060/4192) (8/27/95)

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

                 PART TWO:  Pentium-based motherboards
                 -------------------------------------

 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.

(Advanced Integration Research:  1075/4213) (8/27/95)

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.

(Acer Labs:  10B9/4281) (8/27/95)

 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.

(Acer Labs:  10B9/4281) (8/27/95)

 AMI                   Apollo**      This is AMI's Triton-based board.
                                     It will take the 75 to 133 MHz
chips and up to 512 kB of write-back cache (I do not know if the board
takes synchronous burst cache).  Up to 128 MB of RAM is supported, and
the board has all the usual integrated I/O.  The board has 4 PCI and 4
ISA slots, one of each of which is shared.  There is one floppy
interface which will support a 2.88 MB drive.  I've had no reports of
success with this board and OS/2, but given that AMI does not release a
board to manufacturing until it's passed OS/2 compatibility tests, I'm
very optimistic.

(American Megatrends:  101E/4126) (9/23/95)

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.

(American Megatrends:  101E/4126) (8/27/95)

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.

 AMI                   Excalibur     This is AMI's 60 MHz Pentium
                       PCI EISA**    board.  It uses the SIS chipset (as
                                     do many of the AMI boards), and
will take up to 512 kB (256 is standard) of write-back cache.  The board
supports up to 192 MB of RAM and has three PCI and six EISA slots, none
of which are shared.  All of the usual integrated I/O is present, as is
BIOS support for green functions.  I've had no reports of success with
this board, but as AMI will not release a board to manufacturing until
it has passed compatibility tests with OS/2, I'm very optimistic.

(American Megatrends:  101E/4126) (9/23/95)

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

 AMI                   Excalibur     This is AMI's 60/66 MHz Pentium
                       PCI II**      board.  It uses the SIS chipset (as
                                     do many of the AMI boards), and
will take up to 512 kB (256 is standard) of write-back cache.  The board
supports up to 128 MB of RAM and has four PCI and four ISA slots, one of
each of which is shared.  All of the usual integrated I/O is present, as
is BIOS support for green functions.  I've had no reports of success
with this board, but as AMI will not release a board to manufacturing
until it has passed compatibility tests with OS/2, I'm very optimistic.

(American Megatrends:  101E/4126) (9/23/95)

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

 AMI                   TItan II**    This is AMI's dual-processor board.
                                     It will take either one or two 90
or 120 MHz Pentia (of course dual-processor systems must have both
processors running at the same speed) and uses the Neptune chipset.  The
board will take up to 512 MB (!) of main memory (it has eight rows for
this), and up to 512 kB of write-back cache (256 kB is standard).  The
board has four PCI slots and six EISA slots, all of which allow
busmastering and none of which are shared.  All slots will accommodate
full-length cards in most twelve-slot cases.  All the usual integrated
I/O is present.  I've had no reports of success with this board, but as
AMI will not release a board to manufacturing until it has passed
compatibility tests with OS/2, I'm very optimistic.

(American Megatrends:  101E/4126) (9/23/95)

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

 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.  It is no longer
produced to my knowledge.

(Asustek Computer Inc.:  1043/4163) (9/21/95)

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.  This board is no longer
being produced, to the best of my knowledge.

(Asustek Computer Inc.:  1043/4163) (9/21/95)

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 133 MHz CPUs with
the latest BIOS update from Asus' web site.  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 may now work with OS/2 SMP with the latest BIOS.

(Asustek Computer Inc.:  1043/4163) (8/27/95)

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.  Get the latest
                    BIOS to ensure correct operation and support for 133
                    MHz CPUs and OS/2 SMP.
Possible problems:  The board will not work with two CPUs and OS/2 SMP.

 Asus                  PCI/E-P54NP4  This is Asus' dual-processor board
                                     which uses the Neptune chipset.  It
has been tested under a variety of operating systems and, until
recently, the only one under which it did not work was OS/2 SMP.  A BIOS
update (from Asus' web site) will apparently now make it work with OS/2
SMP and (up to two) 133 MHz CPUs.  I've no technical specifications for
the board, other than that it is a combination PCI/EISA board, and uses
the Neptune chipset.

(Asustek Computer Inc.:  1043/4163) (8/27/95)

Setup tips:         Get the latest BIOS for the board for trouble-free
                    operation under OS/2 SMP and support for 133 MHz
                    Pentium CPUs.
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 (older boards used
the 5501/2/3; newer boards use the 5511/12/13). 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).

(Asustek Computer Inc.:  1043/4163) (9/1/95)

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 Intel Triton
                       PCI-I/P55TP4XE** chipset, with all that that
                                        entails.  The boards themselves
(note that the P55TP4 has been discontinued) take everything from a 75
up to a 200 MHz Pentium (in the newer revisions of the board -- older
ones could take only up to 133 MHz chips), 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, which means that any cards designed to be run in it may
have multiple functions (the combination sound/video card detailed in
the video cards list would be one of these).  You can still use the
proprietary slot as a normal PCI slot, however.  The boards will take
from 8 to 128 MB of DRAM or EDO RAM, and has 256 kB of SRAM cache
(upgradable to 512 kB), which may be either synchronous or asynchronous.
The boards come with asynchronous cache, which is disabled automatically
upon the insertion of synchronous cache. The boards have the SMC super
I/O controller on board, and PCI EIDE via the Triton chipset, 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/I-54NP4 board
which they used as a comparison failed that test as well).  I have had
several reports of success from people running these boards.

(Asustek Computer Inc.:  1043/4163) (11/26/95)

Setup Tips:         The BIOS settings for the board are apparently
                    complex and the documentation minimal; new (as of
                    August 10/95) versions of the manual apparently do a
                    better job of documenting/explaining them than do
                    older ones.  Some time may be required to get it set
                    up just right (though the board is reported to work
                    well with the BIOS defaults).  To that end, make
                    sure you have the latest BIOS to ensure trouble-free
                    operation.  In addition, the latest revisions of the
                    board seem to lack JP6, one half of the flash ROM
                    read/write selector.  This apparently is normal, as
                    that jumper was never moved it was just bridged
                    closed.  If you look at the board with the keyboard
                    connector in the top right corner, then, you'll see
                    JP4 and (right below it) JP5, but no JP6.  The file
                    triton.exe, available on the major FTP sites,
                    contains drivers which take advantage of the
                    busmastering capabilities of the Triton chipset's
                    built-in IDE controller.  One person has reported
                    problems with this driver and fixpack 9.

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 nor run on the
                    system.  In addition, certain revisions of the
                    boards do a PCI bus reset after the SCSI BIOS scans
                    its bus, which causes problems for the QLogic SCSI
                    controllers.  It will be obvious if you have this
                    problem; your system will not boot at all. Make sure
                    that if you are using this combination of hardware
                    and you have this problem that you get the fix for
                    the problem from QLogic (the ISP1020 firmware level
                    should be 1.27 or greater).  Note also that if you
                    have problems booting OS/2 from floppy that you
                    should have your board replaced; the following
                    revisions of the floppy controller chip (identified
                    as the SMC 37C665IR multi-I/O chip) are defective:

                    B9519/5-AIC, 6J75692-1
                    B9519/5-AIC, 6J75693-8
                    B9519/5-AIC, 6J75690-5
                    B9519/5-AIC, 6J75697-0
                    B9521/5-AIC, 6J75735-7
                    B9521/5-AIC, 6J75730-0
                    B9521/5-AIC, 6J75732-5

Useful information:

These Web sites contain some technical information on the Asus boards:

http://www.infinet.com/~venkat/ (finger venkat@infinet.com)
http://www.tdl.com/~netex/ (finger netex@tdl.com)

 DTK                   QUIN-35       This board uses the Award BIOS
                                     (flash optional) and the SIS
85C501, 85C502, and 85C503 chipset. In addition, motherboard
specifications list the WinBond W83769F, W83787F, and W83768F chips,
though I'm not sure what they do.  The board is PCI 2.0-compliant.  The
board will accept up to 1 MB of standard cache, and 128 MB of
conventional DRAM in four 72-pin sockets.  The board has 3 PCI, 3 ISA,
and one shared PCI/ISA slot, as well as the (nearly standard) 2 serial
(16550), 1 EPP/ECP parallel, and one game port.  Support is provided for
up to a 1.44 MB floppy drive, and 2 EIDE drives.  I've had no reports of
success or failure with this board and OS/2.

(Vendor ID unknown) (8/27/95)

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

 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.

(Vendor ID unknown) (8/27/95)

 Gigabyte              GA-586AP      This board will take either a 75,
                                     90, or 100 MHz Pentium.  It uses
the ALI chipset and the Award Flash BIOS.  The board has 2 dedicated PCI
slots, 3 dedicated ISA slots, and one shared ISA/PCI slot, so it can be
run as 3 ISA/3 PCI or 4 ISA/2 PCI.  The board will accept up to 1 MB of
(asynchronous, I believe, and write-back) L2 cache.  The board has six
slots for SIMMs, and can use 1/2/4/8/16/32 MB modules.  The FDD
controller supports up to a 2.88 MB floppy, and the IDE controller is
the CMD 640 (so use the latest CMD drivers (included) to see all the
second-channel drives).  The board also has 2 16550 serial ports and 1
EPP parallel port, and provides support for all the green functions.
The board does not have on-board SCSI, but does have support for the NCR
53c810-based GA-410 NCR 810 PCI SCSI card in the BIOS.  The board claims
compatibility with all major operating systems, and I've had a report of
success with it and Warp and Linux.

(Vendor ID unknown) (8/27/95)

Setup tips:          Use the CMD 640 driver instead of IBM1S506.ADD to
                     ensure that all IDE drives can been seen and
                     accessed properly.
Potential problems:  None reported so far.


 Gigabyte              GA-586AT*     This board will take everything
                                     from a 75 to a 133 MHz Pentium, and
has 4 ISA and 3 PCI slots (none of which are shared).  The board
supports 1 floppy (up to 1.44 MB) and 2 IDE ports, and has all the
standard I/O ports as well, all in what are reported to be fairly
convenient locations.  The board (currently at revision 3) uses the
Award 4.50G BIOS, the latest revision of which (for this board) is 2.08,
and will accommodate up to six 72-pin SIMMs (double- or single-sided).
The BIOS supports green functions, but apparently its flexibility is
limited because of the BIOS.  The manual for this baord is reportedly
only fair, with many bad translations and many jumpers to set which are
not all covered by the manual.  I've had a report of success with this
board and OS/2.

(Vendor ID unknown) (9/21/95)

Setup tips:          None so far.
Potential problems:  None reported so far, save for the lack of clarity
                     in some places.

 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.

(Vendor ID unknown) (8/27/95)

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                  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 all the various
Pentium chips from 75 to 133 MHz.  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.  The file triton.exe,
available on the major FTP sites, contains drivers which take advantage
of the busmastering capabilities of the Triton chipset's built-in IDE
controller.  One person has reported problems with this driver and
fixpack 9.  Note that none of these boards supports the NCR 53c810 SCSI
controller in the BIOS.

(Intel:  8086/32902) (11/2/95)

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. (8/27/95)

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 seen one report
on the net which indicates that, although this board works well with
DOS/Win (what doesn't?), video cards seem to not work well at all with
this board and OS/2.  One other report says that a board sounding very
much like this one and using a Diamond Stealth 64 DRAM video card has
worked very well.  The built-in S3 Trio64 chipset apparently works well
with Warp as well.  (This was on a European model; the S3 chipset may
not be available on the North American model.)  (11/2/95)

Setup Tips:          None so far.
Potential Problems:  There may be (as yet unspecified) problems with
                     this board and certain video cards in OS/2.

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. (8/27/95)

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 a few reports of success with this
board and Warp. (9/4/95)

Setup Tips:          Here's how to overclock your 120 MHz Pentium to 133
                     MHz with the EV board.  Set the switches as
                     follows:

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.

         CPU      Switch 2   Switch 6   Switch 7   Switch 8
         ---      --------   --------   --------   --------
          75         OFF        OFF        ON         OFF
          90         OFF        OFF        OFF        OFF
         100         OFF        OFF        ON         ON
         120         ON         ON         OFF        OFF
         133         ON         ON         ON         ON

WARNING *** WARNING *** WARNING *** WARNING *** WARNING *** WARNING

Potential Problems:  None so far.

Advanced/AL:  This board is used in computers sold by Gateway.  They
support 75 - 133 MHz Pentium chips and has 256 kB of pipeline burst
cache soldered into the motherboard.  It also has PS/2-style mouse and
keyboard connectors.

 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.  When a second (expensive!) 90 MHz CPU is
added to the board with an SMP operating system installed, system
performance is claimed to only increase by 30% according to Intel.  I've
had one report of partial success with the board; apparently the SCSI
interface (an AIC7870 chip) or something associated with it is causing
problems with data/desktop corruption.

(Intel:  8086/32902) (11/4/95)

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 1.00.13.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.  All boards use the PC Tech RZ1000 for IDE support.  The
boards can be run with 4 ISA/3 PCI or 5 ISA/2 PCI slots.

(Intel:  8086/32902) (8/27/95)

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 (J13) on the board to pins 1 & 2 (the 75 MHz
side) from pins 2 & 3 (the 75/90 side).  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                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.

(J. Bond Computer Systems:  1086/4230) (8/27/95)

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

 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.

(Micronics Computers Inc.:  1012/4114) (8/27/95)

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).

(Micronics Computers Inc.:  1012/4114) (8/27/95)

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.

 MTI                    R526         This board, like the 486 board on
                                     this list from MTI, has among its
unique properties that it will use 30-pin SIMMs.  It uses the SIS 551X
chipset, and has support for up to 128 MB of RAM, either in 30-pin SIMMs
or 72-pin.  The board also supports all the different Pentium CPUs (it
has a socket 7 for up to 200 MHz), and supports all the different types
of cache as well (up to 1 MB for standard SRAM and 256 kB for pipelined
burst).  The board has four ISA and three PCI slots, and has all the
usual built-in I/O; the IDE controller supports up to mode 4.  The board
will take either the Award or AMI BIOSes, though I do not know if these
are flash-upgradable.  I've had no reports of success (yet) with this
board and OS/2.

(Vendor ID unknown) (11/26/95)

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

 QTC                    P54TS*       This board uses the Triton chipset
                                     and has 3 PCI and 4 ISA slots.
Apparently the board has jumpers for everything from a 75 to a 200 MHz
Pentium, and a built-in AIC7870 SCSI chip (from the Adaptec 2940) with
the associated support in the BIOS.  The board will take four 72-pin
SIMMs (EDO or page mode), and will take normal or pipelined burst cache.
All the standard I/O is built in.  I've had a report of success with
this board and Warp Connect and Win/95.

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

(Vendor ID unknown) (11/4/95)

 SuperMicro             P55*         This motherboard is based around
                                     the Intel Triton chipset, and as
such will support the 75, 90, 100, 120, and 133 MHz CPUs.  Apparently
when (if) 150 and 180 MHz P5s are released it will support these as
well.  The board itself comes in two types:  CWA, which has an
asynchronous cache, and CWS, which has a pipelined burst synchronous
cache.  Either board can have 256 or 512 kB of cache.  The board has 3
ISA slots, 3 PCI slots, and one shared ISA/PCI slot, all of which allow
busmastering.  The board has 4 SIMM sockets, for up to 128 MB of RAM, in
either 60/70 ns fast page-mode or EDO.  The board has EIDE support
through mode 4, but that's about it for I/O, as it has no built-in
serial/parallel/game or floppy.  In return for this the board is
relatively inexpensive, costing less than $US 1000 with the 100 MHz
pentium.  I've had two reports of success with this board and OS/2 Warp
(full-pack, CWS configuration, EDO RAM, 100 MHz), as well as DOS/Win,
NT, and SCO Unix (75 MHz), though apparently with SCO Unix the SCSI
controller fails after a warm boot and must be reset.

(Vendor ID unknown) (8/27/95)

Setup Tips:          The file triton.exe, available on the major FTP
                     sites, contains drivers which take advantage of the
                     busmastering capabilities of the Triton chipset's
                     built-in IDE controller.
Potential Problems:  One person has reported problems with system
                     lock-ups with the triton driver and fixpack 9.

 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 (via the Triton chipset), floppy, and
serial/parallel/game I/O is built in to the motherboard.  The board is
reported to work well with Warp.

(TMC Research:  1030/4144) (8/27/95)

Setup Tips:          The file triton.exe, available on the major FTP
                     sites, contains drivers which take advantage of the
                     busmastering capabilities of the Triton chipset's
                     built-in IDE controller.
Potential Problems:  One person has reported problems with the triton
                     driver and fixpack 9.

 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.

(TMC Research:  1030/4144) (8/27/95)

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

 TMC                    PCI58PL      This board will take either a 60 or
                                     66 MHz Pentium, and up to 128 MB of
(parity only) RAM.  The memory configuration is unique, though, in that
the board has four sockets for 30-pin SIMMs and three for 72-pin SIMMs.
The 30-pin sockets (all four) comprise bank 0, while the 72-pin sockets
are banks 0, 1, and 2, so that if you use 30-pin SIMMs you'll only have
two sockets left over for 72-pin SIMMs.  The board will take 1Mx9, 4Mx9,
16Mx9, 256kx36 (total 1 MB), 512kx36, 1Mx36, 2Mx36, 4Mx36, 8Mx36, and
16Mx36 SIMMs for a maximum of 192 MB.  It will take up to 512 kB of
cache, and comes with 256 kB.  The board has 2 ISA, 1 VL, and 3 PCI
slots, all dedicated, and one shared PCI/VL slot.  All PCI slots allow
busmastering, and one of the VL slots does.  It has no built-in I/O
support for floppy drives or serial/parallel ports.  The board uses the
OPTI 82C822, 82C571, and 82C572 chipset and the Award (4.50G) BIOS.  The
board is reported to work well with OS/2 Warp and DOS/Win.

(TMC Research:  1030/4144) (8/27/95)

Setup Tips:          None so far.
Potential Problems:  The version of the Award BIOS which comes with this
                     board has a bug.  Apparently pressing [F1] for help
                     when in the PCI configuration screen does not
                     produce any help.

There's what I know.  Please E-Mail suggestions/corrections and I'll
post again.
-- 
Patrick Duffy, duffy@theory.chem.ubc.ca

"Never send a monster to do the work of an Evil Scientist."


