Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!samsung!uakari.primate.wisc.edu!ames!amdcad!pepsi!phil
From: phil@pepsi.amd.com (Phil Ngai)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc
Subject: Re: 20 Mhz 386 SX (?)
Keywords: Citrus and how do you do it?
Message-ID: <29306@amdcad.AMD.COM>
Date: 27 Feb 90 17:27:02 GMT
References: <1109@watserv1.waterloo.edu> <25E9799E.5768@maccs.dcss.mcmaster.ca>
Sender: news@amdcad.AMD.COM
Reply-To: phil@pepsi.AMD.COM (Phil Ngai)
Distribution: comp
Organization: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. Sunnyvale CA
Lines: 20

In article <25E9799E.5768@maccs.dcss.mcmaster.ca> cs4g6ag@maccs.dcss.mcmaster.ca (Stephen M. Dunn) writes:
|   I've heard that microprocessors are actually supposed to be able to run
|at up to 1.5x the rated clock speed.  This doesn't make much sense to me,
|but that's what I've heard ... it may be wrong.  But pushing a 16 MHz

Let me assure you that this is indeed nonsense. It is true that a
reputable semiconductor manufacturer will include some margin to allow
for the accuracy of the IC testers used, but the amount of the margin
depends on many factors and for a microprocessor is very unlikely to be
1.5.

You have to agree that if there was margin, they would sell as much
of it as they could.

Why can't people accept that if a device is rated at a particular
speed, then they should not exceed that speed?

--
Phil Ngai, phil@amd.com		{uunet,decwrl,ucbvax}!amdcad!phil
A PC without DESQview is like Unix without ^Z.