🚀 go-pugleaf

    This is all fine and dandy in theory. Yes a 486 performes operations in 1
    clock cycle and a 386 performs operations in 2 clock cycles. It would
    seem that a 486/25 would be like a 386/50 (if there was such a thing) but 
    this is not the case. there is much more going on than just how fast the
    processes does the operation like memory speed, etc. It actual
    use, as documented in many magazines, the 386/40 is faster than the 486SX.
    Test were done with Norton SI, powermeter, etc. which really mean nothing.
    Also, calculations were performed using Lotus 1-2-3, documents formatted
    using word processors, etc. The 386/40 was faster than the 486SX in all
    cases.

1. The magazine tests I have seen (PC magazine and a few others):
  a) were done with a 486sx at 20 mhz, not 25.
  b) showed the 386/40 to be comparable---faster in some tests, slower
     in others---it was hard to pick a clear winner.  I could easily
     believe a 486sx/25 would beat the 386/40 consistently.
  c) used 16 bit software only.  The 486's advantage is greater with
     32 bit software.

All the 32 bit testing I've done indicates the 486dx/33 I use really
is around 2x faster than a 386/33 would be running the same programs.
I hate Intel as much as anyone, but the 486 is simply a faster chip
than the 386.  The Cyrix 486DLC may start to fix this situation, but I
haven't seen any benchmarks yet.