The 486DX2 vs. the Pentium Overdrive: I chose wrong and I'm still mad about it.

Last year I was rebuilding a 1993-era system and hit the classic upgrade crossroad. I had a dead 486SX and the choice was a proper 66MHz DX2 chip for $40 or a weird 63MHz Pentium Overdrive CPU for $35. I went with the Overdrive because it was cheaper and sounded cooler. Big mistake. The thing ran hot enough to fry an egg, needed a special heatsink I had to hunt down, and some of my old DOS games just refused to boot with it. After three months of fiddling, I pulled it and spent the extra cash on the DX2. Has anyone else had a nightmare with one of those oddball upgrade chips from back in the day?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_henry1mo ago

My Cyrix chip was a total paperweight...

thomas_young1mo ago

Bet it still ran Doom though.