Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!snorkelwacker!think!samsung!usc!trwind!venice!ries From: ries@venice.SEDD.TRW.COM (Marc Ries) Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc Subject: Re: ALR PowerFlex 486 upgrade (was Re: Brain-dead 286 - summary) Message-ID: <373@venice.SEDD.TRW.COM> Date: 14 Mar 90 17:43:48 GMT References: <1827@crash.cts.com> Reply-To: ries@venice.sedd.trw.com (Marc Ries) Organization: TRW Systems Engineering & Development Division, Redondo Beach, CA Lines: 39 In article <1827@crash.cts.com> jca@pnet01.cts.com (John C. Archambeau) writes: ->$That is the route I'm taking, I'm dumping my 16 MHz 286 for an ALR PowerFlex ->$and plopping a 386SX board in it. I don't need the full 32-bit capabilities ->$of the 386 (yet), just something to run 386 software. -> -> This brings up a question for anyone out there who has a PowerFlex with ->the 486 board (I know, not a very common configuration): how well does it ->perform as a 486 system? I'm personally a little bit leery of a 16-bit ->machine being given a brain transplant with a 32-bit processor. I can see ->switching from a 286 to a 386SX as being pretty easy to engineer, but I ->have to wonder how good a job they did of designing in the capabilities ->for the 486. Obviously, the 486 board will contain main memory (how much?), ->but how will the rest of the system perform? - -From my understanding, the 486 on a PowerFlex is shoehorned into the 16-bit -data bus of the 286, but I may be wrong. The 286 to 386SX upgrade is logical -since the 386SX has a 16-bit bus. A very logical upgrade, but the 486, I'm -not going to try to rationalize that one. The card may have a chipset that -takes priority over the chip set on the motherboard, who knows? - One of the PC Mags had a review about 1-2 months ago. Basically from what I remember of the review, the PowerFlex 486 was equal in performance to the compared Compaq 386 33Mh machine. The 16-bit bus does take its toll, though, especially in memory access. In fact, I believe the 486 was actually SLOWER in memory access times than the 286 or 386 PF. But, the bottom line was for a very low price, you could have a very nice upgrade path or a decently priced i486 machine. Of course, if you read the ALR stuff, the chip "add-on options" are not limited to the 386SX or the i486 -- at least they say they are working on "other" options. BTW, I have an ALR PF 286. At least out here, if you buy one before March 31st, they will throw in the 386 board "free". -- Marc Ries ries@venice.sedd.trw.com (ARPA) somewhere!trwind!venice!ries (UUCP) #include