dkchen@uicsrd.csrd.uiuc.edu (10/13/89)
I have two naive questions.. 1. If I install a 386 accelerate board in my XT/turbo, can I use the XT with Super VGA? (Most Super VGA board require AT LEAST a 286 AT). 2. If I change the mother board, does that mean all the boards I am using are useless (I assume they ARE). Thanks. Dean
cs4g6ag@maccs.dcss.mcmaster.ca (Stephen M. Dunn) (10/17/89)
In article <42900054@uicsrd.csrd.uiuc.edu> dkchen@uicsrd.csrd.uiuc.edu writes:
$ 2. If I change the mother board, does that mean all the boards I am
$ using are useless (I assume they ARE).
Not necessarily. You can still use them if you want, but you'll find that
their performance may not match the rest of the system, depending on what
kind of board they are.
For example, some kinds of boards (such as mouse bus boards, I/O cards,
many graphics cards) only come in 8-bit varieties ... if you have some of
these in your XT, you can put them into the new machine. On the other hand,
such performance-critical boards as disk controllers come in 8-bit, 16-bit
and 32-bit (I think they do 32s, don't they?) sizes, and there is an
incredible performance difference between them because of the improved
data transfer rate that's possible with the wider bus. As far as I know, you
_can_ use a smaller one than your system is capable of handling, but then you'd
have a 386 with the disk performance of an XT ... not satisfying at all.
For example, in my AT I have the following 8-bit boards: monographics
card (i.e. Hercules clone), multi-I/O board (par/2 ser/game), modem;
I have a 16-bit hard/floppy disk controller board. Similar conbinations are
quite possible on a 386.
--
Stephen M. Dunn cs4g6ag@maccs.dcss.mcmaster.ca
<std_disclaimer.h> = "\nI'm only an undergraduate!!!\n";
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Maybe if we're lucky they will show it again, such a terrible thing to see