🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <Bxz7Jo.Ip6@undergrad.math.waterloo.edu> rbhardin@undergrad.math.waterloo.edu (Ron Harding) writes:
>A co-worker has informed me that there was some discussion here a while ago
>about the OverDrive chip.  As I understand it, an OverDrive is really a
>fully functional CPU which just shuts off the original CPU, but requires
>that the original be left in place.

No, it does not REQUIRE that the original be left in place. In many
cases, the OverDrive(tm) CPU will be upgrading a system with a 486SX CPU
which is normally soldered to the motherboard. If your motherboard is
like that, it is much easier to leave the 'SX in place and plug the
OverDrive CPU into a socket.

Some motherboards put the original processor in a socket instead of
soldering it directly to the board.  In this case, you can easily remove
the old CPU when you install the OverDrive CPU.

>
>I'm particularly interested in a description of how an OverDrive chip knows
>that the original is in place.  Is it just a matter of a couple pins shorted,
>or is there some complex handshake between the two chips?

The OverDrive CPU does not care if the original is in place or not.

Mark
--not speaking for Intel