Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!mips!apple!altos!altos86!rcollins From: rcollins@altos86.Altos.COM (Robert Collins) Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware Subject: Re: How much for a 487SX?!! Message-ID: <275@altos86.Altos.COM> Date: 29 Apr 91 15:11:18 GMT References: <13342.28130474@ecs.umass.edu> Reply-To: rcollins@altos86.UUCP (Robert Collins) Organization: Altos Computer Systems, San Jose, CA Lines: 32 In article mju@mudos.ann-arbor.mi.us (Marc Unangst) writes: >daly@ecs.umass.edu (Bryon Daly, ECE dept, UMass, Amherst) writes: >itself.) A 486SX will be MUCH faster than a 386DX running at the same >clock speed, since the 486SX has an instruction prefetch cache, and a > But the '486SX is only available at 20Mhz at the moment, while AMD is getting ready to ship 40Mhz '386's. >Hmm...Since the WSJ article says that the 487SX will supposedly be >just a slightly-modified 486DX and will "take over all the >functionality" of the existing 486SX, and since the 486SX will be a DX >with the FPU circuits disabled, what's to prevent you from pulling >your 486SX and just replacing it with a 486DX? Since the 487SX is >more expensive than the 486DX, there seems to be no reason why ANYBODY >would buy a 487SX. The marketing buys at Intel saw to it that the '486SX and '487SX have a slightly different pin out than the '486DX. Therefore dropping in a DX is impossible. It is true that the '486SX is totally disabled by the installation of the '487SX. In fact, you can remove it all together when the '487 is installed. This means you can actually buy the motherboard with nothing but the '487 in it. Through the use of some logic, it is possible have a single socket that can be used for the '486, '486SX, and '487SX. -- "Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only." Mat. 4:10 Robert Collins UUCP: ...!sun!altos86!rcollins HOME: (408) 225-8002 WORK: (408) 432-6200 x4356