6 Nov
1998
6 Nov
'98
1:23 p.m.
Speaking of which, I read in a PC repair book that the
486SX is a
486DX with certain lines cut to disable the math coprocessor. The
thing that went into the coprocessor socket was a rebranded 486DX
that took over all functions of the SX when installed. Anyone know
about this?
PC Magazine back in the early 90's had something that mentioned this. If I
remember correctly it was one of the Dvorak columns. He mentioned that the
486SX was basically a marketing ploy by Intel to allow them to get rid of
486DX chips with defective Math CoPro units.
As for a Math CoPro for the 486, I'm not sure I ever saw a 487 chip, but I
always figured that they took the chips that didn't cut it as a normal
processor but had a good Math CoPro, and sold them as 487's.
I've no idea if this is true, but it made sense to me, since why through
out a chip with a good processor, with you can just package it as a 486SX,
and sell it at reduced cost. Sounds to me like everyone won. After all,
how many people really felt the need for a Math CoProcessor in the early
90's? I added one to a 386sx laptop in January of '94 when I was forced to
go from my 486DX/33 to a 386SX/16 laptop since I was mainly using it for
Linux, and didn't want to have to emulate the math functions, still I don't
know that I needed it.
Zane
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