Randall, at 17:24 on Apr 20 1996, you wrote to Bill Grimsley...

BG> The really strange thing is that once jumpered to take the
BG> DX5, the bootup screen reports the chip as being an "Am5x86/P75",

RL> This is actually the correct terminology for this CPU. Cyrix has
RL> designed what it calls a "P" rating for its chips and AMD
has also taken
RL> in on board. The "P" stands for "Performance"
but it is a rating based
RL> on how the CPU rates against the range of Pentium CPUs. Hence am
RL> Am5x86/P75 has a performance rating equivalent to a Pentium 75.

Must be an overall rating then, as the DX5 benchmarks quite a bit faster
than the P75.  Internal CPU instructions only though.

RL> If a CPU has a rating say P100+ then it means that it surpasses the Pentium
RL> 100 but does not equal the next Pentium, the 120. This is to supposedly
RL> show potential buyers the speed of the CPU, considering the Mhz speed is
RL> not something that you can compare across CPU manufacturers.

True, it's a real can of worms right now.  I hear that the Cyrix 686s are
actually faster than the equivalent Pentiums, and for around half the
price, but I still wonder if their internal architecture is very similar.

Regards, Bill

--- Msgedsq/2 3.20