IRQ Usage

  • Allows user to individually set IRQs for each Legacy ISA card

 


BIOS Settings

Tyan Trinity ATX Chipset Features Setup

Item Recommended Settings
  FPM EDO/SDRAM 60/66MHz Bus EDO/SDRAM 75/83MHz Bus Safe
Bank 0/1 DRAM Timing: 60 ns Turbo Turbo Normal
Bank 2/3 DRAM Timing: 60 ns Turbo Turbo Normal
Bank 4/5 DRAM Timing: 60 ns Turbo Turbo Normal
SDRAM Cycle Length: 3 2 2 3
SDRAM Bank Interleave: Disabled 4 Bank 4 Bank Disabled
DRAM Read Pipeline: Enabled Enabled Enabled Disabled
Sustained 3T Write: Enabled Enabled Enabled Disabled
Cache Rd+CPU Wt Pipeline: Enabled Enabled Enabled Enabled
Read Around write: Enabled Enabled Enabled Enabled
Cache Timing: Fast Fast Fast Fast
Video BIOS Cacheable: Enabled Enabled Enabled Disabled
System BIOS Cacheable: Enabled Enabled Enabled Disabled
Aperture Size: 64M 64M 64M 8M
Memory Hole At 15Mb Addr.: Disabled Disabled Disabled Disabled
Aperture Size: 64M 64M 64M 8M
OnChip USB: Disabled Disabled Disabled Disabled

 


Recommended SDRAM

Recommended SDRAM: Corsair PC100 SDRAM
SDRAM Tested: 1 x 64MB Corsair PC100 SDRAM

Manufacturer: Corsair Microsystems
Purchase Web-Site: http://www.nf-ny.com

 


The Test

In recent times, choosing a motherboard cannot be completely determined by a Winstone score. Now, many boards come within one Winstone point of each other and therefore the need to benchmark boards against each other falls. Therefore you shouldn't base your decision entirely on the benchmarks you see here, but also on the technical features and advantages of this particular board, seeing as that will probably make the greatest difference in your overall experience.

How I Tested

  • Each benchmark was run a minimum of 2 times and a maximum of 5 times, if the motherboard failed to complete a single test within the 5 allocated test runs the OS/Software was re-installed on a freshly formatted Hard Drive and the BIOS settings were adjusted to prevent the test from failing again.  All such encounters were noted at the exact time of their occurrence.

  • Business Winstone 98 was run at each individually tested clock speed, if reliable scores were achieved with the first two test runs of the suite an average of the two was taken and recorded as the final score at that clock speed.  If the test system displayed erratic behavior while the tests were running or the results were incredibly low/high the tests were re-run up to 5 times and an average of all the test runs was taken and recorded at the final score at that clock speed

  • After each motherboard was tested a complete format of the test hard drive was initiated and the OS/benchmarking software was re-installed afterwards a defragment was initiated using Windows 95's Disk Defragmentation Utility

  • Tests using AGP Video cards were only run under Winstone 97, as the AGP Millennium II does not affect the Business Winstone 98 score when compared to the PCI Millennium II used in the tests.

  • No foreign drivers were present in the test system other than those required for the system to function to the best of its ability

  • All foreign installation files were moved to a separate partition during the test as to prevent them from effecting the test results

  • All tests were conducted at 800 x 600 x 256 colors

Test Configuration

Processor(s): AMD K6/266 AFR
Intel Pentium MMX 233
Cyrix 6x86MX-PR2/200
RAM: 1 - 64MB Corsair PC100 SDRAM DIMM
Hard Drive(s): Western Digital Caviar AC21600H
Video Card(s): Matrox Millennium II (4MB WRAM - AGP)
Bus Master Drivers: VIA v2.3.8
Video Drivers: MGA Millennium 4.03.00.3410
Operation System(s): Windows 95 Service Release 2

 

Ziff Davis Winstone - Windows 95 Performance

Business Winstone 98 Business Winstone 97
AMD K6/266 18.8 58.2
AMD K6/300 (75 x 4.0) 20.1 60.8
AMD K6/250 Not Supported Not Supported
Intel Pentium MMX 233 14.7 47.0
Intel Pentium MMX 250 Not Supported Not Supported
Intel Pentium MMX 291.5 Not Supported Not Supported
Cyrix 6x86MX 200+ (166/66) 16.1 52.3

 


The Final Decision

As long as you don't have a Pentium MMX, the Tyan Trinity does seem to be one of the best VP3 boards out there today, if it weren't for the lack of a working 83MHz bus speed setting this board would be an excellent contender for the best Socket-7 Motherboard out now.

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