[comp.sys.ibm.pc] Byte mag. vagueries

dave@micropen (David F. Carlson) (01/08/87)

In this months Byte (Jan '87) there is a review of ibm/pc
memory boards by Wayne Rash jr. (who I believe I have seen
on this net before.)  Anyway...there are several vagueries
theat I wondering if anyone in this forum can help me under-
stand.  On page 319 in describing the Cheetah-brand memory
expansion cards configured with 70nS ram: "Since the cards
run at full speed *regardless of the speed of the computer*
Cheetah says that applications operate much faster in 70nS
memory."  (** italics mine.)  This makes no sense to this 
engineer.

Further, he mentions "[board failures at high clock rates]
seems to get worse as you add more boards.  If you must have
a great deal of memory, say 12 to 16 meg. [then Cheetah boards],
which have 70nS. RAM."  As a user of a loaded PC/AT, I have never
heard that expansion memory can slow access times.  Is this
phenomenon common?  I have not tested any PC/AT at speeds faster
than 8MHz, but if my product's migration to faster boxes is stopped
due to the cost of expansion boards, there is going to be fur
flying.  Please comment.

-- 
David F. Carlson, Micropen, Inc.
...!{seismo}!rochester!ur-valhalla!micropen!dave

"The faster I go, the behinder I get." --Lewis Carroll