On 14 Aug 99, at 2:40, JAMES WILKINSON wrote:

> I recently purchased a AMD DX4 120MHZ processor. My old "project system"
> has a 486 SX chip in a ZIF socket. The socket says it is overdrive ready.
> Will this AMD chip work in this system. Just wondering. No big deal if it
> doesn't I will just build a low end system with this processor for the
> experience. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

  Intel made DX4 chips in both "regular" and "overdrive" versions.  The
difference -- besides the hefty price! -- was that the overdrive came with an
attached voltage regulator to allow its use in older boards that could not be
configured to supply the lower voltage used by the DX4s.

  Your AMD CPU requires a motherboard which can provide lowered CPU voltage,
and may also require other special settings.  Your motherboard almost
certainly was designed to regard these as the CPU;s responsibility and not
its own....
  For a while, there was a bit of a market for products like PowerLeap's
PowerStacker, an adpter that fit between the motherboard socket and the
upgrade CPU, to provide voltage regulation and other tweaks.  But this option
was not very cost-effective when compared against replacing the motherboard
to step up to a Pentium-class CPU....


David G

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