Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!cs.utexas.edu!natinst!dell!raid!james From: james@raid.dell.com (James Van Artsdalen) Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc Subject: Re: 286 BIOS question Message-ID: <2519@dell.dell.com> Date: 4 Aug 89 18:59:31 GMT References: <8009@spool.cs.wisc.edu> Sender: news@dell.dell.com Reply-To: james@raid.dell.com (James Van Artsdalen) Organization: Institute for Applied Cosmology Lines: 28 In <8009@spool.cs.wisc.edu>, g-tookey@rocky.CS.WISC.EDU (Richard Schaut) wrote: > BTW are you aware that Intel does NOT warrant the 80286 for anything > beyond 12.5 MHz? This is correct. Intel does not warrant their 286s past 12.5MHz, and does not warrant other manufacturer's 286s at all. > Those who sell 20 MHz 286's field test them at that speed for a > period of time, and if nothing goes wrong they call it a 20 MHz CPU. Interesting claim. No basis in fact. Other manufacturers of the 286 have had little trouble fabricating 20MHz 286s. It is more a matter of will than skill: Intel has powerful reasons for not wanting to see fast 286s: they compete with the proprietary 386. It is entirely possible to test for the speed of a particular part if the critical timing paths of the part are known. A manufacturer can test for speeds with confidence if desired. > I would want to know EVERYTHING about how a particular machine was > tested before plunking down any bucks on it. Then ask. Presumably most manufacturers can answer. We burn in and test each machine for several hours. -- James R. Van Artsdalen james@raid.dell.com "Live Free or Die" DCC Corporation 9505 Arboretum Blvd Austin TX 78759 512-338-8789