From: jcburt@gatsibm.larc.nasa.gov () Subject: Re: Coherent vs. Linux - a comparo Date: 22 Jun 1993 11:52:18 GMT
In article <gahC8zMLG.7z2@netcom.com> gah@netcom.com (Gregg Hungerford) writes:
>jcburt@gatsibm.larc.nasa.gov () writes:
>>>don't find the 486 sx to be a sound investment. Isn't that just
>>>a 16 bit bus and no co-processor?
>
>>Perhaps before "bashing" a system, you should get your facts straight...
>>The 486SX has a 32-bit internal AND external bus (you must be thinking of
>>the 386SX), but you *are* correct, there is no coprocessor...
>
> Where's the bashing? I asked a question... Geesh! I still think that
>until the Pentium and the Mips r4000 come into the pc market-place,
>the 386 is a better buy. I'm sure 486 prices will be falling dramatically
>once this happens (and I'll be buying one!), but last time I checked, I
>could buy a 386 DX40 motherboard (with processor and 128k cache) for
>about the price of a 486 motherboard (without processor).
> As for systems under $5000, you can get some great buys on used Sun
>workstations well within that price range. I've got one...
You see...there's the rub...I have a 486/33 system, which *new* a year ago
cost under $3000. I also use a Sun SparcStation 1+. I've benchmarked both
of these "Unix" systems using BYTE's UNIX Benchmark Suite of tests. Both
in multi-user mode with 1 user. The amazing thing was, the 486 came out
on top in most of the tests. In benchmarking X performance, the 486 again
came out on top. My basic conclusion was that the 486 system was *at least*
as powerful as an SS1+ computationally. An *additional* plus is that if something
goes wrong with the 486 I just pop down to my local computer store and
buy the parts...haven't seen too many Sun parts around this area...
Now the question...*why* should I buy a *used* Sun, when I can buy a *new*
486 for *less* money *and* be assured that I have access to spare parts...
Somehow it just doesn't make sense...
John