Intel 80486SX
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The Intel 80486SX is an Intel 486DX microprocessor with its floating-point unit (FPU) disconnected. All early 486SX chips were actually 486DX chips with a defective FPU. If testing showed that the central processing unit was working but the FPU was defective, the FPU's power and bus connections were destroyed with a laser and the chip was sold cheaper as an SX; if the FPU worked it was sold as a DX. Some have claimed that DX chips with working FPUs were turned into SX chips to meet demand for lower-cost chips.
Some systems allowed a DX chip to be plugged into an expansion socket. A board jumper would disable the SX chip, which was hard to remove because it was inserted in a non-ZIF socket.
The FPU unit was shipped as the Intel 80487, a full blown 486DX chip with an extra pin to prevent it being used as a 486DX.
[edit] References
This article was originally based on material from the Free On-line Dictionary of Computing, which is licensed under the GFDL. Back in the early 1990's it wasn't advantageous for most users to have an FPU. Those involved in heavy computer gaming or mathematical work generally benefited from the FPU. Computer Manufacturers that used these processors include Packard Bell and Compaq.
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