Great Hierophant
Veteran Member
In a system with an 8088 CPU, the system is often designed to be run at 4.77MHz. When this was not sufficient, upgrade options were few.
The first upgrade is to replace the 8088 with the compatible V-20, which could offer up to a 20-25% performance increase depending on the software. This was often an easyish upgrade, assuming that the original 8088 was socketed. The V-20 is a pin compatible replacement.
But when the V-20 is not enough, more elaborate measures are required. The clock speed of many a PC and XT clone was not designed to be changed. There often was only one clock crystal (14,318,180 MHz) in the system from which all other timing was derived. Replacing that crystal in an XT machine is not a good idea. The timer requires a derivative of that signal and changing it would throw the system clock, RAM refresh and the speaker off.
So to accelerate the processor, you must increase the clock to the processor to make it run faster. This requires three components :
1. A clock crystal 3 x faster than the speed you intend to run the processor at. So for 8MHz CPU operation, you need a 24MHz crystal.
2. A i8284 (5-8MHz) or i8284-1 (10MHz) clock generator to divide the clock signal and provide the proper clock signal for an 8088/V-20.
3. An 8088-2 (8MHz), 8088-1 (10MHz) or V-20 rated to run at the speed which you intend to run it at.
The typical speed to accelerate an 8088 system is to 8MHz. Why 8MHz? Two reasons. First, the CPU accesses the ISA bus at full speed, which is OK at 4.77MHz. But XT boards do not have any capability to automatically insert wait states between bus accesses, so you are limited to accessing slots at no more than 8.33MHz to be safe. 10MHz accesses will lead to instability. Second, the RAM must be able to respond in 4 8088 bus cycles, and if you approach 10MHz slower RAM chips may not be able to respond in time. With 8MHz, even 250ns RAM chips will be able to respond in time for the 8088.
The first upgrade is to replace the 8088 with the compatible V-20, which could offer up to a 20-25% performance increase depending on the software. This was often an easyish upgrade, assuming that the original 8088 was socketed. The V-20 is a pin compatible replacement.
But when the V-20 is not enough, more elaborate measures are required. The clock speed of many a PC and XT clone was not designed to be changed. There often was only one clock crystal (14,318,180 MHz) in the system from which all other timing was derived. Replacing that crystal in an XT machine is not a good idea. The timer requires a derivative of that signal and changing it would throw the system clock, RAM refresh and the speaker off.
So to accelerate the processor, you must increase the clock to the processor to make it run faster. This requires three components :
1. A clock crystal 3 x faster than the speed you intend to run the processor at. So for 8MHz CPU operation, you need a 24MHz crystal.
2. A i8284 (5-8MHz) or i8284-1 (10MHz) clock generator to divide the clock signal and provide the proper clock signal for an 8088/V-20.
3. An 8088-2 (8MHz), 8088-1 (10MHz) or V-20 rated to run at the speed which you intend to run it at.
The typical speed to accelerate an 8088 system is to 8MHz. Why 8MHz? Two reasons. First, the CPU accesses the ISA bus at full speed, which is OK at 4.77MHz. But XT boards do not have any capability to automatically insert wait states between bus accesses, so you are limited to accessing slots at no more than 8.33MHz to be safe. 10MHz accesses will lead to instability. Second, the RAM must be able to respond in 4 8088 bus cycles, and if you approach 10MHz slower RAM chips may not be able to respond in time. With 8MHz, even 250ns RAM chips will be able to respond in time for the 8088.