Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!husc6!bloom-beacon!mit-eddie!killer!dcs!wnp From: wnp@dcs.UUCP (Wolf N. Paul) Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc Subject: Re: Intel 386SX chip & its applications Message-ID: <121@dcs.UUCP> Date: 21 Jun 88 11:25:48 GMT References: <206900116@prism> Reply-To: wnp@dcs.UUCP (Wolf N. Paul) Organization: DCS, Dallas, Texas Lines: 23 In article <206900116@prism> john@prism.TMC.COM writes: >I've just been reading about the new 386SX chip, or "P9", as it has >been referred to. An article in InfoWorld, 6/20/88 talks about >the price break this chip can bring to new systems designed around it, >and how Compaq, and others are busy designing and working on such systems. > >Maybe I'm totally wrong on this, but isn't this the version of the 386 chip >that you can just pop into a 286 socket and blast off at near-386 speed >and performance? And if so, wouldn't the obvious thing that everyone >would like to do be to buy one for their AT? Why build NEW systems >around the thing? If all the chips being produced are going into new >systems, it will be hard or impossible to buy one for the purpose it was >intended for originally -- upgrading from 286. Well, that was my original understanding too, but the InfoWorld article you refere to quotes an Intel executive as saying that the chip allows system manufacturers to use all of their components designed for the 286 -- WITH THE EXCEPTION OF THE MOTHERBOARD. So apparently the chip is not simply a drop- in replacement for the 286. -- Wolf N. Paul * 3387 Sam Rayburn Run * Carrollton TX 75007 * (214) 306-9101 UUCP: killer!dcs!wnp ESL: 62832882 DOMAIN: wnp@dcs.UUCP TLX: 910-380-0585 EES PLANO UD