
  Upgrading the Box?

                 Should We Upgrade That Old 386DX?

 When  considering the options to upgrade or to take a pass on
 Windows95, users must weigh the choice between system hardware
 constraints resulting in performance limitations balanced against the
 cost to upgrade components. Several of our readers told us that a
 spanking new computer could not be justified in terms of how they
 presently made use of their computer. They did not define themselves as
 power users but rather people who kept their personal records, some
 educational programs for the kids, and a few favorite games on their
 home computers. There was, however, an implicit BUT !  It would be nice
 to have more multimedia options, to surf the net in other than a row
 boat and maybe, just maybe, start a home business doing books for some
 of the local small business.

 We confess to not doing an expensive survey but we did ask around.
 On and off the Internet, -some, - a few, - several, - not too many -
 careful people allowed that IF they were going to the expense of of
 upgrading their system was it possible to do it in stages and
 incorporate those upgrades immediately into their present system?

 We took our query to the ILink Hardware conference hosted by Bill
 Simonsen.  From past experience we knew this to be a bunch of very
 savvy people who would answer our questions with care. These were the
 questions asked and the answers given.


 From WindoWatch:

 "If someone were to ask you what was a logical and economical approach
 to upgrade several computers from 386DX 40 (ISA) with 8MB RAM and a 450
 MG IDE hard drive to 486 DX4/100 plus with enough ram for Win95.. What
 would you recommend? The option to scrap the computers and give them
 away for a tax deduction is not an alternative!

 Do we assume the first step to be a replacement of the motherboard?
 What are characteristics and the cost?

 How much memory? Up to 16 meg?  And what are these memory
 converter gizmos all about?

 From Jim Wright:

 I'd recommend a 486 PCI motherboard with a DX4/120 and 16Meg RAM.

     Here's the plan...

 -Trade in or sell the 8Meg of 30pin SIMMs for $25ea ($200) -Buy a 16meg
 72pin SIMM (about $500 - $200 trade in) net cost $300 -Buy a 486 PCI
 motherboard w/IDE, floppy, and I/O for about $125

 The board I use is the Amptron 9300.

 -Buy an AMD 486DX4/120 for about $130
 -Transplant the new motherboard into the systems
 -Think seriously about buying PCI video cards

 Without a new video card each system would cost you about $555 to
 upgrade.  You would have systems with PCI slots and 72pin SIMM
 sockets.  IF you buy PCI video cards, or any other PCI card, or more
 72pin SIMMs, they will be transplantable into Pentium motherboards
 if you upgrade later.

 Here's a slightly less expensive plan...

 -Buy a 486 motherboard with 8 30pin + 2 72pin SIMM sockets

  The only one I know of and use is a VLB motherboard for about $120

 -Buy an AMD 486DX4/120 for about $130
 -Transplant your 8 30pin SIMMs and buy an 8Meg 72pin SIMM for
  about $280
 -Transplant the new motherboard into the systems
 -Think seriously about buying VLB video cards

 This option without a video card,  your cost to upgrade is about $530.
 However, you will be stuck with any VLB cards you buy since almost no
 Pentium motherboards have VLB slots.

 A couple key points here...

 1: A 16meg 72pin SIMM cost less per Meg (under $32/Meg) than 4Meg or
    8Meg SIMMs (about $35/Meg).  That's about $60 per 16Meg of RAM.

 2: The average 64bit video card with 2Meg of DRAM costs more than
    either of the motherboards listed above.  It would be short-sighted
    not to consider the cost of replacing these cards, during a Pentium
    upgrade, if you go the VLB route.

 3: Someday you will be faced with converting to 72pin SIMMs.  The SIMM
    converter boards are at best, a clumsy expensive alternative.

 4: The PCI motherboard has only four ISA slots.  If your current system
    have more than four ISA cards, you must look at the cost of
    converting one or more to PCI.  Note: The motherboard does have
    on-board  Dual (four device) EIDE, and floppy drive controllers
    along with two (16550) serial, and an ECP/EPP parallel port.  This
    should allow you  to remove one or two ISA cards which currently
    perform the same functions. One more thing: The Dual EIDE adapter is
    a PCI, Mode 4, 32bit, high performance adapter.  You can have up to
    four devices, including EIDE CD-ROMs attached. The BIOS supports
    large ( greater than 512Meg) hard drives with LBA capability
    built-in.  Last thing: The BIOS also includes an embedded NCR 810
    SCSI adapter BIOS.  This means you can buy the cheap (under $100)
    NCR PCI Fast SCSI-II host adapters and start using SCSI devices.

  James Wright is President of Intuitive Microsystems, a computer
  VAR and custom integrator located in Aliso Viejo California. He is
  active in the Ilink Tech and Hardware conferences and can also be
  reached by email at intmicro@deltanet.com or FAX (714) 470-0572
  Intuitive Microsystems, Inc.       Tel: (800) 458-6108


  Joe Sokalski from the same conference responded thusly to my
  question about memory converters...

  "A DX4-100 VLB system board and processor will be around $300. SIMM
  converters can hold up to 4 SIMMs in each, a right and left one, if
  there is room above them in your computer's system case.  The SIMM
  converters are tall and cost about $50 each; they need to match the type
  of SIMM socket on the system board, 30 or 72 pin and gold or tin leads.

  However, two 4 MB SIMMs will cost about $150 each. Too many chips on a
  SIMM converter may cause a problem so test it  on one system first to
  see it works. You can also search for a SIMM dealer who will take the
  old SIMMs in trade for 4MB 72 pin SIMMs that would be compatible with
  most modern system boards.  A used 1MB SIMM is worth about $15-25."

  Both Joe Solkalski and later Bill Simonsen asked me a couple of
  hitting the nail squarely questions that anyone contemplating an
  upgrade-it-yourself project like this one should consider...

 From Joe:

 "Finally, who is going to install, test, and debug the upgraded
 systems? If it is a do-it-yourself project, do you have the time to
 spend and tolerance for things not working right the first time, and
 patience to trouble shoot and fix or replace things that add to the
 final upgrade cost. Are you turned off by searching for and reading
 technical manuals?"

 And from Bill:

 "What are you running on these machines, Lois?  I think they'd run word
 processing etc, alright under Win95.  If they are too slow, 486DX2-80
 motherboards are going for a song these days.  8 megs should be enough,
 450 megs hard drive too.  What I mean, is that you wouldn't be leading
 the technology parade, but they'd be quite useable.."

 Bill goes on to recommend:

 " and add in a Cirrus Logic PCI video card(s) if you do upgrade to PCI,
 this will cost around 90 dollars and you will be able to reuse them if
 you go Pentium. "

 And my response to Bill

 "The upcoming issue is going to deal with the question of upgrading to
 Win'95 and how an ordinary user (business) proceed. The tax code only
 allows depreciation over five years although there is an option to
 expense.  In any case there is a huge installed base of 386DX computers
 out in the world! Questions of utility - short and long term should be
 considered."

 With that Bill Simonsen again properly cautions us:

 "I think you have to watch it here, Lois. The average user doesn't have
 the do-it-yourself bent that most of us in this conference do.  But
 most medium businesses and schools have one or a couple of  hobbyist
 types who will take on the work."

 Many thanks to all the Ilink Hardware people for taking the time to
 help us out. lbl

                                     ww


