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Originally Posted by Digital Surgeon
Could I inflict physical damage by running thge i686 version not the i386????
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There is a matter of a rule that says:
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You can't damage a physical part of your computer using software
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OK; this is not always accurate, as you can indeed damage your CPU, GPU or M/B overclocking some stuff so that it burns out. It's difficult but possible.
Perhaps you heart about a virus (doomsday, I think) that 'damaged' the M/B... It wasn''t damaging anything indeed, just erasing the CMOS, which is a programable *erasable* chip.
You can damage the *data* contained in a hard disk, but it would be difficult to damage the hardware itself, unless you do something physical to it, like setting a wrong jumper or throwing it from the th floor.
In the case of a CPU you can hold strictly to the rule I told above. The CPU is not an erasable chip, all it contains is physically implemented. If a code is not designed for a chip it will simply not know what to do with it and will not be able to execute it.
In the case of the i386 arch: i686 includes specialized code for Pentium processors above Pentium-Pro (PII, PIII, PIV... and AMD and similar Cyrix chips). It includes MMX and SSE extensions.
I386, on the other hand means that it only uses the default capabilities of the primitive Intel 386 chips, these functions are present on every PC based machine in the world, it doens't matter whether you use a PIV with Multithreading, and Athlon-XP Mobile, a Cyrix Via C3 or a Centrino (PIII coppermine), i386 can be runt in *any* PC based architecture, even the older ones.
The only thing that could went wrong is in the case you actually use an intel 386 or a intel 486 machine, in which case, using packages for the i686 arch would cause troubles, as many parts are using the MMX, 3DNOW! or SSE extensions and relay on hardware that is not present in the intel 386 chips.
Conclusion: The only way to harm your CPU using i686 packages instead of i386 is trying to do so while putting your PC into the microwave oven, LOL.