Another 486SX Soon to be Released

[CMonster]

You can bet that since AMD now appears to have the upper hand Intel will soon rush their next product to market.

How many of you remember what happened when AMD won their 7-year court battle to produce 386 chips? Suddenly Intel announced the 486SX, in such a hurry to market they didn't even have support for the math coprocessor!

[This message has been edited by CMonster (edited 08-15-99).]

[dkozloski]

The 486SX'S were 486DX's that the math section didn't work or at least didn't pass inspection. They all had the circuits on the chip but the SX's had about half the chip disabled. The only other option for Intel was to throw them in the dump. Remember what a ripoff the math chip (487SX) was and how long it took to get it on the market.

[jokostel]

yep cmonster youre totally right on that one...
did ya hear that intle is dropping some of their top of line line cpu's like the p3 450mhz??

(i think they are gonna unveil the P3-2(socket version)

its all just speculation but the question is why are they dropping the cpus w/o just cause.....

for all i know they are either gonna unveil a p3-2 650 (socket370 or somethin) at 133mhz fsb..hehe
or even the IA-64bit processor....
(not suppose to be affordable/obtainable
till 2003 for us little ol consumers...)
hehe

http://www.sysopt.com/forum/smile.gif http://www.sysopt.com/forum/smile.gif

[Gordon]

I remember there being a way to activate the math coprocessor.

[Gordon]

Sorry, that modification was only on the early release of the 486SX, which was a regular 486DX, but with the coprocessor disabled. I guess Intel heard about the modification, and thus totally removed the math coprocessor all together on later releases. As soon as word got out about the modification, the early released ones sold out fast.

[800XL]

The old school 486SX was an interesting device. I suspect that Intel had a batch of dies with a flaw in the coprocessor, and it gave them the idea to market a "low end" 486. In a way, the 486SX was the first Celeron. It also was the beginnings of the Intel marketing department that we know today. People who are geniuses in the field of marketing, able to sell radioactive ice cubes to Eskimos. There was no easy way to reverse the "modification" of the 486SX so even though most of them were built with a mathco as part of the die, it would never again function. (Like Gordon, I've heard of those early 'modable' chips, any have any links to a howto on that?) Curiously enough, the 487SX mathco upgrade chip was simply a 486DX with one pin giving a different value. Just enough to tell the motherboard something else was in the "mathco upgrade" socket and to ignore the original CPU.

On an interesting note, anyone else hear tell that the PIII-600 is running at slightly higher voltage than previous parts? I heard it as 2.1v opposed to the 2.0v on 550s and so forth. This amounts to exactly the same thing all of us overclockers have been doing for some time now. Only Intel gets to do it in the factory. I guess yields are not quite high enough to put out a 600 without 'goosing' it a little bit. That shows AMD has Intel at least a little concerned.

[Gordon]

In Tom's Hardware review of the AMD Athlon, he mentions the PIII 600, and the problems it appears to be giving people, including himself. His has failed several times. He mentioned the standard voltage being 2.05 volts. He also mentions that it may of been PUSHED out in a desperate move to compete against the AMD Athlon 600 Mhz. He plans on writing more about it.

Check out the article below:

http://www6.tomshardware.com/cpu/99q3/990809/athlon-18.html

[Gordon]

As for the 486SX modification, I believe you had to remove one of the pins, in order to activate the math coprocesser. If I remember right, the SX had more pins than the DX, which could explain the coprocessor deactivation. It has been a few years. I had one while in college, but physically w/o the math coprocessor. As soon as I heard of the modification, I tried to buy one, but w/o any success. They were sold out. I ended up using a math coprocesser emulator that not only fooled the software into thinking that one existed, but it also actually operated as one, though not as fast as the real thing. It was certainly faster than not having one.

[KillerBug]

If I can find my video-in software CD, I will put up a picture of the bottom of the DX. Is there a way to change the multiplier on one with a pin removal? From what it sounds like, the P3 core just does not like speeds of or above 600mhz. Anyway, I am saving my money, are you? Yup, about this time next year, I might have enough money to but the 600 (marked down a lot by then) and the abit of slot b.

[KillerBug]

Found it! I found the manual for my 387! Cool, and not a stain!

[Nathan]

So that's what that was all about. Thanks CMonster. I often wondered about that.

[rl]

p3 will always have the upperhand in the genrall public, stores can markwet them better due to there name, amd might take the smaller market of perfomace freaks, but whay would i spend money on a amd or a p3 when my celry 433 can keep up with them (or almost) for more less then half the price

[bringspeed]

yes, but how fast will the athlon go, once someone figures out how to OC it? =) oooooooo, 800mhz is nice.

[KillerBug]

Lets see, you overclock your celeron to 558mhz, 100% no problems, 600 at 6.05v? What about the Athalons, the 500 is like the same price as a P3 450, but no multiplier lock on these mothas, if you can modify it(I will do this once I get mine, but by then someone else will have already)

[MrEd]

Jokostel: I heard about them dropping the PII 400 and 450 and also the Xeon versions of the same speeds. I think it's because of the PIII's version of the 400 and 450. No need for two of each, know what I mean. But, from what I remember, they will still be sold simply because they produced so many of them. They'll still be availiable for a year or two from discontinue date.

-MrEd
http://www.sysopt.com/forum/smile.gif

[KillerBug]

Ya, Intel stops making them, and then goes, "oh ya, what about those 2 boats filled with chips on their way here?"

[Andre]

Ýou can´t reactivate the mathco cuz it was short-circuted. Byt you are all right, it was 486DX chips.