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From: phil@brahms.amd.com (Phil Ngai)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware
Subject: Re: 486SX - Intel now telling lies
Message-ID: <1991May24.171506.4370@amd.com>
Date: 24 May 91 17:15:06 GMT
References: <1991May14.200856.1431@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu> <1991May15.210339.17118@unlv.edu> <1561@aoa.UUCP> <1991May23.205937.25386@rodan.acs.syr.edu>
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amichiel@rodan.acs.syr.edu (Allen J Michielsen) writes:
>   The NEW 486-sx is a full 486 with the coprocessor EXCLUDED.  Several trade

The 486sx is only rated at 20 MHz. If it ran faster, it would overlap
market segment-wise with the 486dx-25, and Intel would never let that
happen.

Of course, we will now see two postings a week in this group about pushing
their 486-sx to 25 MHz and where to buy a 25 MHz crystal and how you could
burn out the chip if you run it for too long at high speed, just like a
car.

Ever thought about whether these chip pushers would have hot-rodded cars
in an earlier time?

>prices or below, and really squeeze down the market.  However, after you have
>a cheap clone 486sx system, you can add a coprocessor at anytime, simply by
>replacing the 486sx with a 486-dx (or whatever they call it,..,.).  On the

No, you can't do that. Intel wants to make sure people pay a premium for
coprocessors, so the 486sx has a different pinout from the 486dx and you
can't just drop it in. Furthermore, the 487sx has yet another different
pinout so you can't drop that in either. This is called intentional
incompatibility.

--
The media is in the business of distorting people's perception of
reality, by emphasising the out of the ordinary.