Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!bonnie.concordia.ca!uunet!dev8n.mdcbbs.com!campbell
From: campbell@dev8n.mdcbbs.com (Tim Campbell)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware
Subject: Re: 287 in a 386-33 system?
Message-ID: <1991Feb25.133016.1@dev8n.mdcbbs.com>
Date: 25 Feb 91 13:30:16 GMT
References: <1991Feb19.080902.21887@amd.com>
Organization: McDonnell Douglas M&E, Cypress CA
Lines: 27
Nntp-Posting-Host: dev8n
Nntp-Posting-User: campbell

In article <1991Feb19.080902.21887@amd.com>, indra@brahms.amd.com (Indra Singhal) writes:
> Do 386 machines have a socket that allow using a 287?
> 
> For a 33 Mhz 386 machine, what speed 287 should be used?
> 
> Thanks!
> 
-- 
Some 386 machines have this.  I had some AST 386 machines that had them.
These machines actually came with 2 sockets for math processors.  One
socket could take the 287 and the other could take the 387.  (I think it
also took a weitek (sp?).  Math processors (ANY math processor) GREATLY
increasing floating point speed (I easily observe a 10x speed increase).
And 387-20's are expensive compared to 287-10's.  (the machine I had was
a 20Mhz 386, but it took a 287-10Mhz math chip - this still gave it a heck
of a performance boost.

Read the manual for the specific machine you wish to use to see if it has 
the capability to do this.  It's not available on all 386 boxes.

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