TheMobRules wrote on 2022-12-24, 06:02:
arncht wrote on 2022-12-23, 21:40:Thx… similar benches looked for, i plan since a long time an early socket4 rig. […]
Show full quote
Thx… similar benches looked for, i plan since a long time an early socket4 rig.
There is one issue with the fast 93 pentium machine theory, the early pci mainboards came out in the very end of 93 or very early 94. The pcmag tested the branded machines just in jan of 94, the pci cards what they got (prerelease cards!), came with acient ati mach32 or s3 928 chipsets. So i wouldnt expect so good dos fps performance (especially not the ark - in the bench - from 95).
A couple of months later intel released the socket 5 with p90 (p100 were not really available in 94) and the decent 64 bit pci cards (vision864, tseng w32p, etc).
So for 93 probably still the dx2-66 with a fast vlb card looked a good choice.
I agree with the lack of options (especially PCI video) for a 1993 Pentium machine, DX2-66 + VLB was the best choice for DOS games until 1994.
However, I have seen quite a few P100 CPUs from 1994. I have an FDIV bug-free SX962 with 1994 datecode, so I assume many of the previous steppings with bugged S-specs (SX886, 910 and 960) must be even older, from before mid 1994. The P90 was much more common, but there were definitely a few P100s around.
Sure… the p100 released, just the take out was very poor, so practically the p90 was the available top on the market (sept of 94). It same like at the ghz p3. They demoed in march of 2000, but the mass production started at the end of the year - and the situation was very different (the p4, faster athlons released).
To build a period correct pc, if we are talking about months, years, is not too easy 😀
Another issue with the socket4 builds, most of the boards sold in a 95 config - the socket7, cheap socket 3 cpus released, it was not a good offer anymore. So I would target the first part of 94 to build a decent socket4 for dos gaming, the 93 builds should be much more poor opti based mainboards with vlb/isa/eisa vga for server purposes.