Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!usc!rpi!batcomputer!cornell!vax5.cit.cornell.edu!n65j
From: n65j@vax5.cit.cornell.edu
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware
Subject: Re: INFO ON NEW GATEWAY 2000 COMPUTERS??
Message-ID: <1991May7.200729.4570@vax5.cit.cornell.edu>
Date: 8 May 91 00:07:29 GMT
References: <11889@uwm.edu>
Followup-To: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware
Distribution: na,comp
Organization: CIT, Cornell University
Lines: 41

In article <11889@uwm.edu>,
bnk@csd4.csd.uwm.edu (Bob N Keenan) writes: 
> 
> Hello-
> 
>   I install computer systems on the university campus here and I usually
>   install GATEWAY 2000's.  I also own a 386-20MHz from Gateway.  Today
>   I installed a couple of NEW gateway 386sx's and learned that they have 
>   dramatically changed their machines.  The footprint is much smaller,
>   the color is different, and the shape is contoured - like.  (I dont like
>   any of these changes - it all looks TOO PLASTIC), but one thing I noticed
>   that these 386sx's 16MHZ just blow my 386/20 away when it comes to WINDOWS!!
>   It is noticably MUCH FASTER, and my question is how is this done??? and
>   why are these SX's faster than my 20mhz dx????  any info would be appreciated.  thanks....
> 
> 	   -bob keenan
> 

(Not speaking from Gateway experience)

Are you sure that these are 16MHz SX's, or might they not be delivering 
20MHz models with caches nowadays?  Gateway's recent ads don't quote a
clock rate for the SX, even though they do for everything else.  A cached
20 MHz SX might well outperform an uncached 20 MHz DX.  The memory
architecture and speed rating (which determine memory wait states) might 
also differ.

Also, Windows performance would depend on memory capacity and hard drive
performance.  The 17ms IDE hard drives and 4Mb of memory in Gateway's
current SX configuration sound like good approaches for Windows.  What
does your 20 MHz DX machine have?

Yet another variable is the video display card.  Not all VGAs are created
equal and Windows 3 on a 16-bit Tseng ET4000 VGA card will be much faster
at screen redraws than an older 8-bit VGA with an earlier generation of VGA 
chip.  (Don't know what Gateway is using for VGAs now.)

Probably a few more variables to boot.  Disk cache software the same?
Much hard drive fragmentation on your older machine?  ...

-- regards, Steve Pacenka, Cornell U.