Irvine, California-based Advanced Logic Research Inc has announced the ALR Sequel 586, a system board upgrade designed specifically for the Compaq Computer Corp Prolinea desktop, minitower and Deskpro 80386 and 80486 personal computers. Key features include PCI, enhanced video – courtesy of a Cirrus Logic Inc chip – and support for 128Mb of system RAM, which is four times the amount supported by the original Compaq systems. The company reckons the board is a cheaper option than a chip upgrade for Compaq users wanting to upgrade their machines to take advantage of 32-bit systems. The company said its tests showed that an ALR Sequel 586 configured with a 75MHz Pentium can deliver up to a 105% performance gain over the 66MHz 80486DX2-based systems. An upgraded 80386 system can achieve performance gains of over 200%. The board can be configured with Intel Corp’s 75MHz to 133MHz varieties of Pentium processor. This design also adds a PCI local bus to the Compaq system’s current AT bus. There is also an integrated PCI enhanced IDE disk interface and built-in video controller for accelerated local bus graphics. The ALR Sequel 586 system upgrades are out this month. Prices start at $600, $700, $800 and $1,100 depending on the speed of the Pentium processor.
