jackson@utzoo.UUCP (Don Jackson) (05/13/86)
I would like any help which could be provided on increasing the speed of an
IBM PC/XT compatible. It currently has an 8088 and I would like to obtain any
information on increasing the speed. Is it possible to replace the 8088 with
an 8088-2? Do any other options require changes? Does anyone have any experi-
ence with the 8086 or the V20 (V30?) which they would be willing to email to
me or post? Thanks for the help and sorry for such a simple request.
--don--
--
Name: Don Jackson
Mail: Dept. Zoology, Univ. Toronto
Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5S 1A1
UUCP: {allegra,ihnp4,linus,decvax}!utzoo!jacksoncramer@kontron.UUCP (Clayton Cramer) (05/16/86)
> > I would like any help which could be provided on increasing the speed of an > IBM PC/XT compatible. It currently has an 8088 and I would like to obtain any > information on increasing the speed. Is it possible to replace the 8088 with > an 8088-2? Do any other options require changes? Does anyone have any experi- > ence with the 8086 or the V20 (V30?) which they would be willing to email to > me or post? Thanks for the help and sorry for such a simple request. > > --don-- > -- > Name: Don Jackson > Mail: Dept. Zoology, Univ. Toronto > Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5S 1A1 > UUCP: {allegra,ihnp4,linus,decvax}!utzoo!jackson Get the MicroSpeed kit (they are in Fremont, area code 415). It retails for $129. I installed it in my PC. There are three speeds (jumper selectable): 6.1 Mhz, 6.7 Mhz, and 7.44 Mhz. Because of a problem with my DMA controller chip, I can only run 6.1 Mhz -- I actually get from 24% to 30% improvement, depending on the application I'm running. I posted something about this kit quite recently -- if you can't find a copy on your system, I will send it E-mail. Clayton E. Cramer
rde@ukc.ac.uk (R.D.Eager) (05/21/86)
In article <6685@utzoo.UUCP> jackson@utzoo.UUCP writes: > >I would like any help which could be provided on increasing the speed of an >IBM PC/XT compatible. It currently has an 8088 and I would like to obtain any >information on increasing the speed. Is it possible to replace the 8088 with >an 8088-2? Do any other options require changes? Does anyone have any experi- >ence with the 8086 or the V20 (V30?) which they would be willing to email to >me or post? Thanks for the help and sorry for such a simple request. > The 8088-2 just accepts a faster clock rate, I think. That is not a trivial (and perhaps not a possible) option. The 8086 is a no-no. Different chip, incompatible pinout. It's meant for a 16 bit bus, the 8088 for an 8-bit bus. The V20 is usually a plug in replacement and very cost effective. I have one in a real PC, and a V30 (8086 relative) in a PC compatible. No trouble, perceived improvement of around 25%; cost around $15. A bargain. The occasional system has trouble with disk formatting but at that price it's worth trying. The Norton SYSINFO program indicates a much larger performance increase with a V20 but it's a biased benchmark. For more details on performance of a V20, see a recent issue of BYTE (the BIX listings section). -- Bob Eager rde@ukc.UUCP rde@ukc ...!mcvax!ukc!rde Phone: +44 227 66822 ext 7589
nather@ut-sally.UUCP (Ed Nather) (05/22/86)
In article <1300@eagle.ukc.ac.uk>, rde@ukc.ac.uk (R.D.Eager) writes: > The V20 is usually a plug in replacement and very cost effective. I have > one in a real PC, and a V30 (8086 relative) in a PC compatible. No > trouble, perceived improvement of around 25%; cost around $15. A > bargain. The occasional system has trouble with disk formatting but at > that price it's worth trying. Not all clones can use the V20. I am the proud (?) owner of a "Standard Brand" PC/XT clone from CompuAdd. I tried a V20 in it and got all sorts of weird error messages. The same V20 chip works like a champ in a real PC, but the "Standard Brand" clone works only with the supplied INTEL 8088. The board layout is enough different from a PC that the Microsync d-Clock won't work in it, either. Compatible? Well ... -- Ed Nather Astronomy Dept, U of Texas @ Austin {allegra,ihnp4}!{noao,ut-sally}!utastro!nather nather@astro.AS.UTEXAS.EDU
kim@mips.UUCP (05/24/86)
> The V20 is usually a plug in replacement and very cost effective. > [...] > The Norton SYSINFO program indicates a much larger performance increase > with a V20 but it's a biased benchmark. For more details on performance > of a V20, see a recent issue of BYTE (the BIX listings section). There is also an excellent 2-part article in Computer/Systems Journal from two issues earlier this year (includes info on running in the 8080/8085 mode also). My V30 upgrade on a Fujitsu u-16s machine (8086, 8 MHz replacement) has been working flawlessly for about 9 mos. Only problem was a PD program that was highly dependent on s/w timing loops ... had to zap the binary to give the loop counts bigger values. /kim -- UUCP: {decvax,ucbvax,ihnp4}!decwrl!mips!kim DDD: 408-720-1700 x231 USPS: MIPS Computer Systems Inc, 930 E. Arques Av, Sunnyvale, CA 94086 CIS: 76535,25
wdm@ecn-pc.UUCP (William D Michael) (05/29/86)
In article <1300@eagle.ukc.ac.uk> rde@ukc.ukc.ac.uk (R.D.Eager) writes: >In article <6685@utzoo.UUCP> jackson@utzoo.UUCP writes: > >The V20 is usually a plug in replacement and very cost effective. I have >one in a real PC, and a V30 (8086 relative) in a PC compatible. No >trouble, perceived improvement of around 25%; cost around $15. A >bargain. The occasional system has trouble with disk formatting but at >that price it's worth trying. Your perceptions may be faulty - I have measured the difference at 5 to 10% on what are for me fairly representative programs. Still, that is not too bad for $15 and five minutes work.
jeffd@ittvax.ATC.ITT.UUCP (Jeff Denenberg) (05/30/86)
> In article <1300@eagle.ukc.ac.uk> rde@ukc.ukc.ac.uk (R.D.Eager) writes: > >In article <6685@utzoo.UUCP> jackson@utzoo.UUCP writes: > > > >The V20 is usually a plug in replacement and very cost effective. I have > >one in a real PC, and a V30 (8086 relative) in a PC compatible. No > >trouble, perceived improvement of around 25%; cost around $15. A > >bargain. The occasional system has trouble with disk formatting but at > >that price it's worth trying. > > Your perceptions may be faulty - I have measured the difference at > 5 to 10% on what are for me fairly representative programs. > Still, that is not too bad for $15 and five minutes work. My experience with the V20 has also been good. Its improvement is better than a benchmark of 5 to 10% would indicate. Many critical (but usually unmeasured) operations are sped up by a factor of two. These include: a memory test done at system cold boot time, my THESYS FASTCARD IV (2Mbit expanded ram, ramdisk, disk cache, printer buffer) and interactive screen operations (an important human factors issue). The only problem I saw was a hardware test done at boot time on my clone (an ITT Xtra). It is speed sensitive, fails intermittently, and requires a patch. All things considered, I suggest all 8088 or 8086 based pc clones would benefit from this upgrade.
ix742@sdcc6.UUCP (James Hayes) (05/31/86)
jeffd@ittvax.ATC.ITT.UUCP (Jeff Denenberg) writes: > My experience with the V20 has also been good. Its improvement is better >than a benchmark of 5 to 10% would indicate. Many critical (but usually >unmeasured) operations are sped up by a factor of two. These include: > > a memory test done at system cold boot time, > > my THESYS FASTCARD IV (2Mbit expanded ram, ramdisk, disk cache, > printer buffer) >and > interactive screen operations (an important human factors issue). > > The only problem I saw was a hardware test done at boot time on my clone >(an ITT Xtra). It is speed sensitive, fails intermittently, and requires >a patch. All things considered, I suggest all 8088 or 8086 based pc clones >would benefit from this upgrade. When we upgraded our PC to a V20 at work, the Norton Utility "si" command gave the system a 1.8 rating. (=Speed of Compaq Deskpro.) The performance improvement in Microsoft Flight Sim and Microsoft Word was great. (~2 times faster) We tried the V30 in a system we are developing and the performance improvement was significant. It is also interesting to note, that the V30 also contains an 8080 emulation mode. -Jim Hayes, UCSD -- UUCP: {ihnp4, ucbvax, celerty, etc...}!sdcsvax!hayes ARPA: hayes@UCSD.EDU