Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!helios.physics.utoronto.ca!ists!yunexus!geac!maccs!cs4g6ag
From: cs4g6ag@maccs.dcss.mcmaster.ca (Stephen M. Dunn)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc
Subject: Re: 386 and SX shortage
Message-ID: <25E98AD7.9457@maccs.dcss.mcmaster.ca>
Date: 26 Feb 90 20:00:22 GMT
References: <29108@amdcad.AMD.COM> <1640057@hpspcoi.HP.COM>
Reply-To: cs4g6ag@maccs.dcss.mcmaster.ca (Stephen M. Dunn)
Organization: McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario
Lines: 20

In article <1640057@hpspcoi.HP.COM> dlow@hpspcoi.HP.COM (Danny Low) writes:
$A 486 is just a 386 with all the support chips built into the chip.

   It's a lot more than just a 386 with the support chips built in.  The
thing was redesigned using RISC philosophy so that most common
instructions execute very quickly, so that a 33 MHz 486 will run a lot
faster than a 33 MHz 386.

$For example the numeric coprocessor and a memory cache are include in the
$chip. As for upgrading, that depends on whether your 386 was designed
$for upgrading. There is a major difference in the motherboard design
[...]

   Yup ... the whole motherboard has to be replaced unless it was
designed for upgrading, and very few machines are designed for upgrading.
-- 
Stephen M. Dunn                               cs4g6ag@maccs.dcss.mcmaster.ca
          <std_disclaimer.h> = "\nI'm only an undergraduate!!!\n";
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               I Think I'm Going Bald - Caress of Steel, Rush