Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!samsung!uakari.primate.wisc.edu!sdd.hp.com!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!thyme!kaleb
From: kaleb@thyme.jpl.nasa.gov (Kaleb Keithley	)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.misc
Subject: Re: 486 Upgrades
Message-ID: <1990Oct16.160729.1363@thyme.jpl.nasa.gov>
Date: 16 Oct 90 16:07:29 GMT
References: <4665@bwdls58.UUCP>
Organization: Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA
Lines: 34

In article <4665@bwdls58.UUCP> mlord@bwdls58.bnr.ca (Mark Lord) writes:
>In article ... kaleb@thyme.jpl.nasa.gov (Kaleb Keithley) writes:
>>
>>...I just upgraded my 386SX to a 486 (Can you say $1100?) 
>                                  ^^^
>Please elaborate.. $1100 is about what the 486 chip costs, is it not?
>I have yet to see motherboards for less than $2500 using this chip.
>
>Inquiring minds want to know!

$1100 for a 486 cpu strikes me as *extremely* high, considering I just bought
my rev B5 for $450, cash American.  Add another $675 for a 25mhz 128k cache
486 motherboard, OPTI chipset, AMI BIOS, 16Meg on board, two 8 bit slots,
5 16 bit slots, I calculate $1125, plus tax.

The system scores 41 on Norton SI.  Runs 25000 dhrystones on my benchmark
using MSC 5.1.  Same benchmark on a Sun 4/330 (16 mip SPARC) gets 23000.
The 486 is probably faster because the who dhrystone benchmark fits in
the cache.

Where do you get prices like this?  At the Los Angeles Area Computer Swap
meets.  All parts are new and warranteed.  You do have to be brave to
lay down $700 to one guy, and $450 to another, and take two pieces home
to plug them together.  Bring cash or check, cause they don't take American
Express, and they don't take VISA either for these kinds of prices.
It does pay to shop around.

Disclaimer:  I have no affiliation with the promoters of these swap meets.

-- 
Kaleb Keithley                      Jet Propulsion Labs
kaleb@thyme.jpl.nasa.gov

causing trouble again.