I've now upgraded my PC and fitted K6-2 / 350 in my VX-Pro+ motherboard, and it works - very well !!!
I have still not been able to get my board to run at 83Mhz FSB, I suspect that either my SDRAM (which is PC66) and or my motherboard itself are at fault as I don't even get a boot to the BIOS - ah well, I suppose in time I'll change it out for something more 'modern'. So, as with the retail version I quickly tested previously, I was able to work at rates upto 412Mhz (5.5x75). I did try 2x75, which is mapped onto 6x in the CXT core K6-2 CPUs but again, it wouldn't boot into the BIOS. I haven't tried increasing the core voltage yet, that's for another day!
Using Sisoft Sandra 99, the true clock speeds were identified, and the benchmarks are shown here;
CPU
K6/337
K6-2/337
K6-2/375
K6-2/412
As the latest version of the VX-Pro+ BIOS does not recognise the latest version of the K6-2 with the CXT core, it is necessary to run a program to enable 'write enabled cache' and/or 'write combining'. The program I chose to use is the "SETK6" program written by Andreas Stiller, and is available all over the web.
After configuring SETK6 to switch on write cache enabling I got the following results;
|
CPU |
|
|
|
|
|
K6-2/337
|
|
|
|
|
|
K6-2/412
|
|
|
|
|
After Configuration to enable write combining the results were;
|
CPU |
|
|
|
|
|
K6-2/337
|
|
|
|
|
|
K6-2/412
|
|
|
|
|
The effect of write combining is to enhance the access to and from memory and so the advantages can be seen in frame rates of games.
Was it worth it? Most certainly! the whole system seems much 'snappier' now and for less than £50UK it has to be one of the best 'bang per buck' upgrades I've undertaken!
Now, I wonder if a K6-3 will work???