🚀 go-pugleaf

Lon G. Parisi (lparisi@shearson.com) wrote:
: Hello all,
: I know this question has been perpetuated over and over, but with so many
: responses and opinions, I have to ask. What is the difference between
: the 486sx and 486dx.  I have called Intel directly. The have told be that
: there is no difference in the chip other than the dx has a coprocessor.
: Intel stressed to me that the 486sx WAS a true 486 unlike the 386sx which was
: a glorified 286 chip. 

	386sx a glorified 286?  NOT!  Quite untrue it's a 386 with a
16 bit buss and limited addressing.  Other than that it's a full 32 bit
processor internally.  If they told you that, then gee let's wonder about
whatever else they told  you :)

: Assuming what I have stated is fairly accurate, the next question I have is
: the wait state of a computer.  How do you know what machines have zero
: wait states. I am in the market for a new PC (got to replace the old XT) and
: am considering a Packard Bell 486sx with SVGA monitor and 1meg SVGA card 4meg
: ram and a 25Mhz clock speed. This is just for my home to do small "check-book"
: type spread sheets, some light database work, games, etc. Now of course the
: salespeople tell me that the 486sx is going to fall short of my needs. I can't
: see why anyone would ever release any machine that could not satisfy those 
: light needs, do you?  Unless there is something I am not aware of like
: slow graphics due to the SVGA or something like that.  I would greatly
: appreciate any responses especially if you are familiar with the Packard Bell
: machine itself.

	The problem with speed in SVGA has little if anything to do with
proccessor speed it in fact has to do with bus width and memory speed to
the VGA card.  ISA is limited to 8mhz and 16 bits.  So if you want video
performance get a local bus mother board.   this is 32bits at proccessor
speed.  Translated 32bits @ processor speed.  So a 33 mhz 486 at 32 bits
would have at least 8.25 times the speed of an ISA based board.

This of course requires you to have a local bus video card.

Cyberman
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