486 vs 386 (was Development, round II)

From: Allison J Parent <allisonp_at_world.std.com>
Date: Fri Jan 30 22:37:28 1998

<>And you'll have to pardon my ignorance of the Intel parts after the 8085
<>but why wouldn't a 386 work if the 486 works? (Other than the speed
<>difference.) It has always been my impression that few OS's/application
<>need whatever extra software features that differentiate the 486 from th
<386.

The 486 was a series in incremental improvents over the 386, caching on
chip, more piplining and other changes to execute the same 386
instructions in fewer clocks plus the math processor as part of the same
silicon. With the scaling of transistors and other logic changes it was
effectively lower power and faster for the same clock as the 386 while
functionally identical.

Allison
Received on Fri Jan 30 1998 - 22:37:28 GMT