The usually trustworthy mail order company that we usually use told my Dad that for his 486 pc he would require an external modem as the internal modems need the PC’s cpu to share the workload and the minimum specs were a P133 at least. Then a few months after that when we needed a new modem my Dad bought a cheapo internal modem, forgetting the advice of the mail order company and various computer magazines.
The new modem worked every bit as well as the first, so were the people from the mail order company telling lies? My Dad brought the old modem into the shop with him when he went to purchase the new one just incase so the two modems were both 56k and V.90 if thats of any help. Do the internal modems really place all that great a strain on the CPU?
Cheaper internal modems are partially CPU dependent; more expensive ones are fully hardware based and place no greater burden on the CPU than an external modem.
My local PC emporium, PCs for Everyone, recommends hardware-based modems for online gamers but points out that they aren’t advantageous for other uses. Surfing wouldn’t cause a noticable slowdown because while the CPU is engaged in supporting the modem’s operation, the user is generally just waiting for the page to be downloaded.
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- If you buy a “vintage” modem (a used one pulled out of a 386/486/586), it very likely is a hardware modem. In my neighborhood, 56K vintage modems for sale are rare birds but 33’s are still easy to find.
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I dunno if a hardware 33 is faster than a Winmodem 56. - MC
- If you buy a “vintage” modem (a used one pulled out of a 386/486/586), it very likely is a hardware modem. In my neighborhood, 56K vintage modems for sale are rare birds but 33’s are still easy to find.
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Pushkin, the primary differences between internal and exernal modems are:
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The internal modem gets its power from the bus; the external, from a transformer/power supply.
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The internal modem has no case.
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The internal modem communicates with the computer thru the bus, the external needs some kind of cable.
As you can see, the external modem has more parts, so it will cost more, all other things being equal. It also takes up space on your desk.
The store clerk, like many in that position, was not well informed. I used to run a 28K internal (hardware based, tho) modem on a 16 mhz 386, and the CPU spent most of its time idling. Any way you look at it, because of the low modem communication speed (compared to other data pathways like ethernet and parallel ports), it doesn’t put much strain on a CPU.
There are two types of internal modems. 1.hardware 2. software, these use the CPU of the computer instead of having their own, thus they are cheaper.
1 is as fast as an external modem.
Another thing to bear in mind is that older computers–pre-pentium often had rather eccentric internal configurations. I think the mail-order company was making a blanket statement to cover themselves in case John Doe bought a pci modem and ruined it trying to jam it into an isa slot. Since external modems usually use a spare serial port, this problem is neatly side-stepped.
Another minor difference between the two types was that back in the day before win95, if you had a modem, you were probably going to have to fiddle with the dip switch settings from time to time, and it was handy to have them outside the computer. Also, the lights on the modem were useful when connecting to odd BBS’s.