386 and 486 computer parts
The 80386 microprocessor architecture was developed and introduced by Intel in 1985. It may have appeared to be groundbreaking new technology at the time, but little did they know then that it will be true for the next 25 years. We’re in 2010 and most personal computers are still using operating systems based on i386 (aka x86 or 32bit) technology, although all computer processors support the next big thing: 64bit architecture (aka x64 or 64bit).
It seems that it will take a lot of time to make the transition to 64bit, mostly because users are not yet forced to adopt this relatively new technology. 64Bit operating systems have one huge advantage over 32bit, they could address a huge quantity of system memory up to 256TB (instead of the 4GB limit for 32bit operating systems). Microsoft for example decided to limit maximum addressable system memory to 192GB for Windows 7 (PRO, Enterprise and Ultimate) and to 2TB for Windows Server 2008 (R2 too).
Personally I didn’t upgrade my computer when 80386 processors became available in my price range, missing a huge step in computer hardware development. From a 12MHz 80286 processor with 2MB of RAM I upgraded directly to a 33MHz i486SX, which had a lot of extra features (compared to the 80286).
The biggest advantage of this upgrade was the 8 memory slots that could support 32MB of system memory (8 x 4MB modules). This 486SX computer stayed in the family for a long time, we even ran Windows 98 on it when we upgraded the hard drive to 1GB (for about 100$).
At the time 386 and 486 computer parts were basically the same, removable processors used the same socket main boards, so users could easily upgrade even if the performance difference (between 386SX and 486SX or 386DX and 486DX) was insignificant.
Hard drives in that era came in sizes from 40MB to 2GB, and they were all supported by both processors (by their motherboards and hard disc controllers), although there was some kind of barrier around 500MB before both chips were simultaneously available, but it wasn’t common knowledge, mostly because no one that still used first generation 80386 processors could afford a hard disc close to 500MB. When CD-ROMs were introduced they didn’t have this problem if you had an operating system that could support the 650/700MB file system.
Floppy drives are not worth mentioning because they were amongst the worst technologies ever developed. Right from the start they were so primitive that new 3.5” 1.44MB drives could be used with 8088XT (or older) systems too (although only in 720K mode) so data could be transferred with these downgraded floppy disks from a brand new 80486DX (or later) machine to a 8088XT and vice versa.
Video cards were still very primitive and they were connected through 8bit (shorter) or 16bit (longer) ISA slots.
Other 386 and 486 computer parts included special hard disk controllers that also supported some kind of early RAID features, network cards, dial-up modems and so on.
The dial-up modems had a life exactly like the floppy disc drive, with the least improvements over the years. On the picture you can see a very old ISA slot modem next to a model made for PCI slots that’s still used today. Who knows what the future will bring, but what we can say for sure is that some technologies are never improved significantly (they never become practical), while others double their speed, capacity and/or quality in every cycle (6-12months).
Written by Karpat Zoltan, date Aug 06, 2010 in computer parts
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