This is not going to be pretty folks, so I'll take this moment to recommend that anyone easily disgusted by low performance, or has a weak stomach to leave this article
immediately. 83% Rating:
First let's start off with the Tyan Trinity 400. From the getgo it looks to be a sweet offering. Nice board layout
and design, the ability to use either socketed or Slot 1 type CPU's, decent
number of expansion slots and so on. With the ability to purchase options such
as onboard sound and video, OEM's and VAR's would do well in taking this to the
bank.
Does it offer as much desire and design for the
hobbyist? At first glance yes, except for the lack of space between socket and
slot, and same for slot to memory distance. Going with a huge ass heatsink on
the socketed side will prove difficult if the board is already in a case, I had
extreme difficulty getting the kick ass Global Win FEP32 on this board as it was
already mounted, DOH! Not to mention I had to actually pull the Slot 1 retention
mount off the board to get it to seat correctly on the Celeron. As for dropping
it on a Slot 1 adapter, you are bound to the use of only the last two, or in
some cases, only one memory slot! Oh well right?
We are used to such things in this game so I won't
harp on that subject any longer. Next interesting thing on the board is the
jumper selections for clock multiplier. What the hell is up with this? Tyan
surely knows that the Celeron and PII/PIII chips are locked in that area unless
by chance you happen across one that isn't. In my opinion a useless addition,
but one that doesn't detract from performance or other options that could have
been used. Thank god it didn't make it slower! Aside from all that, assembling
all of your gear shouldn't present to many obstacles for the average Joe.
All performance numbers will
appear at the end of the article, and for good reason. I would hate to scare you
all off so early so as to not give you the opportunity to read the rest before
slumping into a coma. My best comment on this board would be that for OEM's, or
consumers that are interested in running everything at spec's for long life and
stability, this is one board to seriously take a look at.
It banged away as a Web, FTP, DNS, DHCP, and Proxy server for my home network running nothing else but the latest retail version of Windows 2000 Advanced Server. While it was not fast, now that I think about it fast is not a word associated with this board at all, it was stable and provided my network with solid connectivity for the entire time it was installed. I cannot, and will not recommend it for anything but a stable performer in an out of the box specifications environment.
We are used to such things in this game so I won't
harp on that subject any longer. Next interesting thing on the board is the
jumper selections for clock multiplier. What the hell is up with this? Tyan
surely knows that the Celeron and PII/PIII chips are locked in that area unless
by chance you happen across one that isn't. In my opinion a useless addition,
but one that doesn't detract from performance or other options that could have
been used. Thank god it didn't make it slower! Aside from all that, assembling
all of your gear shouldn't present to many obstacles for the average Joe.
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