Modem : PCI or ISA?

[nk4]

I want to buy a modem. Its been a while since I looked at modems since I've been on the university ethernet for the last years.
But I've heard that the PCI modems are inferior to the ISA ones. Is that true?

I looked around a bit and its mostly PCI modems that are available. I did find some ISA ones but they were like 50% more expensive.
What type would you suggest? Is the ISA worth the money and what are PCI's disadvantages?

Also, I overclock my pc and the bus speed is currently 83Mhz. Which type is less likely to have a problem with that?

[Nathan G.]

I believe PCI is the way to go, and no darn Winmodem!! My main reson for saying PCI is the faster buss (more bits)speed. OK, someone else tell me why i am wrong on this :-)


[This message has been edited by Nathan G. (edited 06-12-99).]

[AuraEdge]

almost all PCI modems ARE winmodems
thast the problem
if you find the rare PCI that isnt winmodem...more power to ya....but since all ISA modems are nonwinmodems i usually just make the equation sumthin like this
PCI=winmodem=BAD
ISA=hardmodem=GOOD

[steves]

Just to muddy the waters a bit, there are actually three types of modem.

1) Hard
2) Controller less
3) Softmodem

Visit www.gvc.ca (http://www.gvc.ca) for a brief explaination.

Hard modems use the least processing power and softmodems use the most. So if you are desperate for as much processor bandwidth as possible when on-line 'hard' is the way to go. Otherwise cost and reliability may be more of an issue.

As others have already said ISA modems are (always?) hard, but PCI modems can come in any form and it is getting increaing difficult to tell which is which.

I avoid the type 3 (soft) modems are these are generally cheap products and therefore can have their problems.

Personally I'm had no great problem setting up PCI modems (type 1 and 2 anyway). About 5 minutes ago I installed a Diamond Supra-Express Pro PCI (OEM) which I'm using to type this (I believe it's a contoller-less modem, it certainly ain't soft and was priced right for a controller-less model, but diamond's web site isn't much good for OEM products). Anyway I'm not into on-line gaming and it's good enough for what I want - so I'm happy.




[This message has been edited by steves (edited 06-12-99).]

[LJE2]

I would just like to add 2 more points, to cloud your decision, since the Max download speed you can hope for is 53k (the limit on a phone line set by the FCC) it doesn't matter as far as speed is concerned if you go with an ISA or a PCI, even the lowly ISA bus can handle this speed with no problem, so if you had the exact same modem on ISA and on PCI, if nothing else was different they would download at the same speed, but if you are planning on Overclocking I would go with the ISA, because some PCI modems do not like the higher bus speed generated when overclocking, where the ISA bus speed is not effected by overclocking, so the ISA modem is generally more stable, in overclocking situations.

[This message has been edited by LJE2 (edited 06-12-99).]

[CMonster]

That is right, your 56K (53K) moden will never exceed the capabilities of the ISA bus, but why not make use of that extra com port on your motherboard by getting an external modem. Sure they are a few dollars more but they are easy to move from machine to machine and free up an IRQ - unless you are disabling com2 in BIOS anyway. All you have to do is configure your com port and install the modem drivers.

My next modem will be external.

[socalgal]

Both of my computers (and myself) just don't like PCI modems. They just seem to be harder to configure. Although I have actually installed a PCI modem that was recognized right away on someone else's machine.

It can be difficult to identify a PCI "hard" modem now. Many vendors don't like to advertise "winmodem" on the box, since it has a bad rep. If you are set on a PCI though, I would do some research.

There are minimum requirements for a winmodem, and I am not sure what they are except they need a Windows minimum to run, and I believe hardware modems don't (they can run on a 486/DOS). (Anyone feel free to correct me if this is incorrect).

Since winmodems don't have their own controller, they use the CPU and other system resources.

Here's one site with FAQs to help you sort out. (should I use an apostrophe lol)

www.aimnet.com/~jnavas/modem/faq_c.htm#Contents (http://www.aimnet.com/~jnavas/modem/faq_c.htm#Contents)

I personally prefer ISA to feel secure it's really a hard modem and for easy installation /configurability.


[This message has been edited by socalgal (edited 06-12-99).]

[nk4]

Thanks for the replies people.

If cpu power is the most important difference between ISA PCI, then I dont think thats a problem, at least at 400Mhz.

Due to the price I was tending towards the PCI, but with a bus speed of 83 its kind of risky.

External modems should not be affected from the bus speed if I am not mistaken, but then again, they are more expensive.

Oh well, I've still got another month to decide. Hopefully I'll be able to test drive some modems and make my decision.