Re: Alpha AT motherboards?

Robert Harley (Robert.Harley@inria.fr)
Thu, 29 May 1997 11:18:34 +0200 (MET DST)


>So I guess my questions are:
>1. Is this the cheapest I'm likely to find?
>2. Is this too cheap? In other words, is it likely that these guys
>(ITS) will actually deliver me a working board and CPU for $545?

I think you should be able to find old Alpha systems for pretty cheap,
as long as you avoid ones that come with an OSF/1 license... and avoid
the crooks who try to make out that a prehistoric 166-MHz Alpha (or
whatever) is "fast".

For instance here is (part of) an advertisement for Multia/UDBs I just saw:

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
* Also in stock are the following systems:

* VX51A-F2- 100MHz Intel Pentium, 2.5" 810MB disk, 16MB memory, floppy, PCI
$750.

* VX42A-F2- 233 MHz Alpha, 24MB memory, 2.5" 528MB disk, PCI, floppy
$850.

* VX40A-F3- 166 MHz Alpha, 24MB memory, 3.5" 340MB disk, floppy
$550.

* VX40A-F2- 166 MHz Alpha, 24MB memory, 2.5" 340MB disk, PCI, floppy
$650.

CARLSON COMPUTER INTERNATIONAL
12708 Monte Vista Rd.
San Diego, CA 92064
(619)675-3377
sales@carlsoncomputer.com
------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I don't know if the M/B is an EB66 variant or not... If so perhaps
you could rip it out and put the other bits in your spare parts heap.
A good place to read some info on low-end hardware is:

http://www.azstarnet.com/~axplinux/alpha-sys.html

-- Rob.