You might think that buying a 90-MHz Pentium for everyday business tasks such as spreadsheet calculations or word processing is overkill. But the prices of 90-MHz P54C Pentiums are dropping so fast that you might consider getting one to scream through your Windows and DOS applications.
Most vendors chose a tower chassis design for their 90-MHz Pentiums, an intelligent approach that provides room for expansion and better ventilation and heat dissipation. In all, we tested 11 tower systems, three mini-towers, and five desktop systems. Some of the tower systems, such as the Zeos International Pantera 90 and the Austin Power System 90, have exceptionally good internal design: The power supply, drive bays, and CD-ROM drive are in the top half of
the tower, and the CPU and expansion slots occupy the bottom half. These systems make it easy to install and remove expansion cards. Other designs (e.g., the Xi Computer XiP90 MTower SP and Gateway 2000 P5-90 XL) have congestion problems, because drive bays and SIMM banks block the expansion slots. These blocked slots cannot be used for full-length adapters. Several systems are dual-processor-ready, with an empty socket available for a second Pentium chip.
The vast majority of systems include PCI video cards; the most widely used video card was the PCI Diamond Stealth 64, and it performed extremely well in accelerating Windows performance. Two systems (the AT&T Globalyst 600 and the Zenith Data Systems Z-Station EX) have on-board video. The High Definition Systems Victoria PCI 90MHZ was the only system to ship with an ISA-based video card. Predictably, this system finished last in our graphics-dominated Windows tests.
The PCI bus runs at 33 MHz, significantly faster than the 8-MHz speed of the
EISA or ISA bus. The PCI local bus not only provides a speed advantage over EISA and ISA, but it has the flexibility to permit enabling or disabling components from the CMOS setup. It also supports 32- and 64-bit data paths, as well as bus mastering. The Dyna Micro Dyna System 590, the Hertz P90, and the Mitsuba VIP System-90MHz supported both VL-Bus and PCI local bus. Only two systems utilize the EISA bus architecture (the AST Computer Premmia GX P/90 and the dual-processor Xi Computer XiP90 NTower DP). The others are ISA-based.
Our 1-GB storage requirement prompted 11 of the vendors to supply a fast SCSI hard drive. The remaining were equipped with IDE drives. The enhanced IDE standard expands capacities beyond its traditional 528-MB limit and when combined with a local-bus interface, boosts the data throughput rate to 11.1 MBps.
Although the AST Computer Premmia GX P/90 took top honors in our Best Overall ranking, other Pentiums made strong showings. Priced at $3995, the Zeos International Pa
ntera 90 deserves to be mentioned (it costs about $2300 less than the Premmia) because it is relatively affordable and comes with a Diamond Stealth video card and five 16-bit slots, supporting 384 MB of system RAM. The lower price, however, reflects the lack of a SCSI hard drive and a one-year warranty. The overall performance of the Austin Power System 90 came closest to the Best Overall winner, because of its excellent Windows score.
To arrive at features and expandability scores, we considered the maximum amount of RAM the system will hold, flash ROM, system and video ROM BIOS, the number of available expansion slots, the presence of available drive bays and SCSI ports, diagnostics, security locks, the warranty, and support and service. These features were weighted equally for all the systems. Other features, including software and the UART (universal asynchronous receiver/transmitter) type, were weighted slightly higher. For ease-of-use rankings, we evaluated the documentation, technical support, a
nd descriptions of the hardware specifications.
Rankings for This Category
WINDOWS AND DOS PERFORMANCE 60%
FEATURES 30%
EASE OF USE 10%
The best Pentium for business applications...
BEST OVERALL
AST Computer Premmia GX P/90
At $6288, AST's Premmia GX P/90 is the second most costly Pentium system, and it performs near the top in both the DOS and Windows benchmarks. It also displays an interesting spin on expansion-slot design; this desktop system (along with Zenith Data Systems' Z-Station EX) provides expansion slots on a card positioned perpendicular to the motherboard; when installed, the expansion cards are parallel to the motherboard. The desktop Pentium has a SCSI hard drive and six available expansion slots, and it comes with a three-year warranty. On the downside, it performed poorly in the Unix tests but we did not consider Unix scores in judging this category. It also has an
integrated Ethernet port.
PRICE CASE
(AS TESTED) TYPE
BEST AST Premmia GX P/90 $6288 ###
RUNNER-UP Austin Power System 90 $4777 #
RUNNER-UP Digital DECpc XL590 $5672 ##
RUNNER-UP AT&T Globalyst 600 $6214 ###
RUNNER-UP Data Storage DataStor P590 $5845 #
RUNNER-UP Zeos Pantera 90 $3995 #
PERFORMANCE EASE
WINDOWS DOS OF USE FEATURES
BEST AST Premmia GX P/90 9.28 9.85 *** ****
RUNNER-UP Austin Power System 90 10.00 9.87 *** ***
RUNNER-UP Digital DECpc XL590 9.47 9.92 **** ****
RUNNER-UP AT&T Globalyst 600 9.70 9.71 *** ****
RUNNER-UP Data Storage DataStor P590 9.71 9.88 *** ***
RUNNER-UP Zeos Panter
a 90 9.72 9.93 *** ***
RAM (STD./ DRIVE WARRANTY
BUSES MAX.) CONTROLLER (YEARS)
BEST AST Premmia GX P/90 EISA, PCI 8/192 SCSI 3
RUNNER-UP Austin Power System 90 ISA, PCI 16/128 IDE 3
RUNNER-UP Digital DECpc XL590 ISA, PCI 0/192 SCSI 3
RUNNER-UP AT&T Globalyst 600 ISA, PCI 8/128 SCSI 3
RUNNER-UP Data Storage DataStor P590 ISA, PCI 16/128 PCI-SCSI 3
RUNNER-UP Zeos Pantera 90 ISA, PCI 1/384 IDE 1
KEY
Excellent **** Tower #
Good *** Mini-tower ##
Fair ** Desktop ###
Poor *
When expandability is your primary concern...
MOST EXPANDABLE
Austin Direct Austin Power System 90
The Austin Power System 90 offers some of the best expandability features we have
seen. The ISA system has a SCSI port, three 16-bit expansion slots, three PCI local-bus slots, and eight drive bays. The system we tested came with a Diamond Stealth 64 video card with 2 MB of VRAM and a 1-GB Micropolis IDE hard drive. It is also the best Windows performer of all the Pentiums that we put through their paces and finished near the top in both the Unix and DOS benchmarks. An additional bonus is free on-site service and a three-year warranty.
PRICE CASE
(AS TESTED) TYPE
BEST Austin Power System 90 $4777 #
RUNNER-UP Zeos Pantera 90 $3995 #
RUNNER-UP XiP90 NTower DP $4549 #
RUNNER-UP Insight PCI P90 CD $4299 #
RUNNER-UP Data Storage DataStor P590 $5845 #
PERFORMANCE EASE
WINDOWS DOS OF USE FEATURES
BEST A
ustin Power System 90 10.00 9.87 *** ***
RUNNER-UP Zeos Pantera 90 9.72 9.93 *** ***
RUNNER-UP XiP90 NTower DP 9.32 10.00 **** ***
RUNNER-UP Insight PCI P90 CD 8.55 9.74 **** ***
RUNNER-UP Data Storage DataStor P590 9.71 9.88 *** ***
TOTAL BAYS RAM
(3 1/2''/ ETHERNET/ (STD./
BUSES 5 1/4'') SCSI PORT MAX.)
BEST Austin Power System 90 ISA, PCI 4/4 No/Yes 16/128
RUNNER-UP Zeos Pantera 90 ISA, PCI 4/6 No/No 1/384
RUNNER-UP XiP90 NTower DP EISA, PCI 4/5 No/Yes 8/512
RUNNER-UP Insight PCI P90 CD ISA, PCI 9/4 No/No 16/128
RUNNER-UP Data Storage DataStor P590 ISA, PCI 3/4 No/No 16/128
KEY
Excellent **** Tower #
Good *** Mini-tower ##
Fair ** Desktop ###
Poor *
Need a 90-MHz Pentium at a reasonable price?
LOW COST
Hertz Computer Hertz P90
As testament that prices are dropping drastically, last August's winner, the 66-MHz Cornell Pentium Power Pak, won this category with a price of $4295. This month's winner is the $2830 Hertz P90. This was certainly not the fastest system we tested, but the price is remarkable. If faster Windows and DOS speed is essential, try the Zeos International Pantera 90 or the Gateway 2000 P5-90 XL.
PRICE CASE
(AS TESTED) TYPE
BEST Hertz P90 $2830 ###
RUNNER-UP Gateway P5-90 XL $3699 #
RUNNER-UP Zeos Pantera 90 $3995 #
RUNNER-UP Insight PCI P90 CD $4299 #
RUNNER-UP Cornell PCI Power Workstation $4075 #
PERFORMANCE EASE
WINDOWS DOS OF USE FEATURES
BEST Hertz P90 8.01 8.54 ** ***
RUNNER-UP Gateway P5-90 XL 9.38 9.72 **** ***
RUNNER-UP Zeos Pantera 90 9.72 9.93 *** ***
RUNNER-UP Insight PCI P90 CD 8.55 9.74 **** ***
RUNNER-UP Cornell PCI Power Workstation 9.24 9.71 ** ****
RAM
(STD./ DRIVE WARRANTY
BUSES MAX.) CONTROLLER (YEARS)
BEST Hertz P90 ISA, PCI 8/128 PCI-SCSI 1
RUNNER-UP Gateway P5-90 XL ISA, PCI 16/128 IDE 3
RUNNER-UP Zeos Pantera 90 ISA, PCI 1/384 IDE 1
RUNNER-UP Insight PCI P90 CD ISA, PCI 16/128 IDE 1
RUNNER-UP Cornel
l PCI Power Workstation ISA, PCI 32/128 PCI-SCSI 3
KEY
Excellent **** Tower #
Good *** Mini-tower ##
Fair ** Desktop ###
Poor *
High-Performance Pentiums For General Business
