[comp.sys.ibm.pc.misc] 32-bit slot

dave@csis.dit.csiro.au (David Campbell) (06/28/91)

I am thinking of buying a 386DX33 and with my shopping around I have found
different makes, some with a 32-bit slot and some without.  Is there
any purpose for a 32-bit slot apart from memory expansion?
Most of the machines I've seen are expandable to 16Mb on the motherboard
and thats enough for me, so is a 32-bit slot useless for me?

-- Dave Campbell
-- dave@csis.dit.csiro.au

-- 
dave campbell

afdenis@lims05.lerc.nasa.gov (Stephen Dennison) (06/29/91)

In article <1991Jun27.211414.5322@csis.dit.csiro.au>, dave@csis.dit.csiro.au (David Campbell) writes...
>I am thinking of buying a 386DX33 and with my shopping around I have found
>different makes, some with a 32-bit slot and some without.  Is there
>any purpose for a 32-bit slot apart from memory expansion?
>Most of the machines I've seen are expandable to 16Mb on the motherboard
>and thats enough for me, so is a 32-bit slot useless for me?

If it's a MICROCHANNEL or EISA 32-bit compatible bus, there are some hard 
drive controllers that will use a 32 bit parallel transfer path, but these 
are very esoteric and the speed gain/dollar ratio is very low IMHO. You do, 
however, want 1 32-bit memory slot because, remember a few years back when 
we all thought that 1 meg was more than we would ever need ??

Stephen Dennison
       "My life is a sine wave. Now, if I could just get the damned 
        amplitude down..."                         Stephen Dennison