Running a Core 2 Duo T9550 @ 2.66GHz which performs nicely with DOSBox (low CPU usage even with demanding games). I think I've tested fixed cycles, but the issues in the setup app were still there.

I can see you're a lover of EA sports titles, just like me (; .

You need to update the game to 1.1 and then I used the soecialy compiled dosbox and its working liek a charm

ftp://ftp.ea.com/pub/easports/patches/nhl97/