carter@cat23.cs.wisc.edu (Gregory Carter) (05/04/91)
I don't know if anyone caught the latest Z-NET article, but FAST TECH has whats called a new upgrade board with a 68000 operating at 20Mhz. I thought that strange, as I intially thought it was a 020, but no, it is a 68000 at 20Mhz. Problem is, they don't make em that fast. My immediate suspicions brought back horror articles in the 1989-90's PC mags of manufacturers selecting mass quantities of 286's that were rated at 16Mhz, and operating the few that could run at 20Mhz. People recieved machines that after a few months of operation died, with fried cpu's. QUITE a few were sold of course. FAST TECH appears to have done the same with this board, and if they have, I will refuse to buy it. I won't recommend it either, I don't care if they test select them for weeks on end. I hope most people know they don't get something for nothing, as most people do like to believe that and that this is not good hardware design practice to exceed the manufacturers quality specs on the parts you design with from step one. Most computers have it rough enough just with heat, especially all you FANLESS 1040ST/STE owners out there with 4 meg memory upgrades! I'd avoid this thing like the plague, and would much rather trust Mr. Small's design for 200 bucks more. --Gregory