🚀 go-pugleaf

th...@aloha.cc.columbia.edu (Tom  Hong) writes:

>In article <3arcil$e...@scapa.cs.ualberta.ca>,
>Michael Lewchuk <lew...@cs.ualberta.ca> wrote:

>P6 developed right now is indeed Intel's in-house, and will be a hybrid CISC-
>RISC chip.  Expect the P7 to be released sometime in 1998.

How can you combine CISC and RISC efficiently?  Eliminate all medium-level
instructions and have just the basics and some very complex instructions?

>>Oh, btw, regarding Falcon's comments about the PowerPC coming out: although
>>the PowerPC is competitive with the 586 line, it has its own instruction set
>>and is not (to my knowlege) 586 compatible.  It may be 486 compatible with
>>translation software.  I'm not sure, though.  Any PowerPC people out there?

> [ .... PowerPC emulates 386DX software, 486DX hardware ...]
>	Origin can conceivably write games for PowerPC.

Yes, but I still don't believe that it will induce Origin to drop the 486
market.  On the contrary, it will induce Origin to stick with 486s.  While
they could develop PowerPC-specific code, the question is "will the market
support PowerPC versions of WC3?".

>>Pentiums, and I don't think Origin will go Pentium-only any time soon
>>because of the vast number of powerful 486 class processors which can
>>sometimes outperform the low-grade pentiums, at a significantly lower price.

>	That's gonna change pretty soon...  Pentiums are gonna start getting
>dirt-cheap.  Scarcely a month ago a Pentium-90 chip cost $800.  Now it's
>$580.  By January a P54C-90 shouldn't cost more than $450.

Well, here in Canada, the Pentiums are still $3000+, and the 486DX4s are still
under $3000 for a reasonably efficient system, I believe.  Most of the stores
I deal with are still selling only DX2s and DX4s and the occasional SX2.

>>I'll have to check; I think mine's attached to the motherboard itself.  Anyone
>>got wire cutters? :)

>	Good news here...  Most 486s don't have their 486 chips soldered on-
>board.  They are usually thumb-pressed into a high-insertion-force socket or
>locked into place with a zero-insertion-force socket.  I think yours is
>probably the former.  It just takes a little judicious prying with a 
>jeweler's screwdriver.  =)  I did several of those (losing a pint of blood
>in the process because of cuts from jagged soldering everywhere inside a
>computer) for my clients...  It's not hard, but can be a bit painful at times.
>(grin)  And if you buy the OverDrive package, it comes with a chip puller!

Cute.  I'll have to take a look at my motherboard, but on the other hand I'll
probably just replace the entire motherboard.  I don't have local-bus graphics
and without it the extra CPU power would probably be meaningless unless
advanced versions of Windows (should I want to buy them) become REAL CPU HOGS.

>	The reason why they are not usually soldered in place is because your
>reseller don't pop in the chip until they know which flavor you want when you
>bought your computer; these motherboards are usually designed to take 
>processors running at various speeds.

Ah.  And this is what makes the corner-store computer dealer possible, eh?

>TRH Sends

					Michael Lewchuk
					lew...@cs.UAlberta.CA