On 10 Jan 99, at 20:53, Tim Greer wrote:

> Two lessons:
>
> 1- Some software is written better than others... obviously this
> particular program took the easy route and asks the chip to prove it
> is a Pentium. They overlooked the "alternative chips".

  Typically, it's not the application itself, but the *installer* that
"takes the easy route".  The one example that I've seen was equally
unhappy with my 6x86L-PR166 and my dual Intel PII-266 -- both failed to
be recognized as "Pentium class".

> 2- You sometimes will have problems with non-Intel chips (especially
> Cyrix). If you don't believe me, check out their web site.  A
> prominent link on their home page takes you to the "compatibility
> list".  If there weren't problems, this wouldn't be necessary.

  There are two primary issues of motherboard compatibility with Cyrix
CPUs.  One is that original 6x86 chips used a bit more power than Intel
CPUs of the same generation, and that could lead to problems on boards
that cut too many corners on voltage regulation components and their
cooling.
  The other is that Cyrix implements a fast "Linear Burst" mode for
talking to memory, usually enabled by a jumper on the motherboard.
Motherboards that don't have such a jumper may not support this
feature.

  A bug in some early 6x86 models led Microsoft to turn off caching in
NT if such a CPU was detected.  This was corrected in additional
iterations of the 6x86, and has never appeared in the 6x86L or 6x86MX
chips -- the poster could have an old chip, but you'd be hard pressed
to go out and buy one.


David G

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