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From: dyer@spdcc.COM (Steve Dyer)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc
Subject: Re: 386 in IBM AT?
Message-ID: <214@spdcc.COM>
Date: Mon, 3-Aug-87 11:53:25 EDT
Article-I.D.: spdcc.214
Posted: Mon Aug  3 11:53:25 1987
Date-Received: Tue, 4-Aug-87 03:19:40 EDT
References: <1272@killer.UUCP>
Reply-To: dyer@spdcc.COM (Steve Dyer)
Organization: S.P. Dyer Computer Consulting, Cambridge MA
Lines: 20

The best way to turn your AT or AT clone into a 386 box is to buy the Intel
Inboard 386/AT card.  You can go cheap and buy it without any memory
for about $1400 through mail order
  This gives you about a 2X speedup
over an 8mhz AT.  You can add 32-bit memory in 1mb increments, up to 3mb.
32-bit memory in place of 16-bit memory gives you a 3X speedup over an
8 mhz AT.  Finally, using a true 32-bit C compiler generating native 386
instructions (such as MSC 5.0) combined with 32-memory yields about a 5X
speed increase over an 8mhz AT running 16-bit instructions.  The board
has a provision for a 387 math processor if you want that.

Eventually you'll be able to get a generic 386 motherboard cheap, but they
don't seem to have crossed that price threshold yet and they aren't widely
available.

Intel provides very competent phone support, and they'll be around at least
as long as the 386 chip.
-- 
Steve Dyer
dyer@harvard.harvard.edu
dyer@spdcc.COM aka {ihnp4,harvard,linus,ima,bbn,m2c}!spdcc!dyer