With all the fair warnings taken to heart, not to push the poor 486 boards all too far, I've continued exploring the 486 boards mentioned in my old posting.

Interestingly I've found that attaining more than 12 fps in the Tough PCP Test on 486 is possible, without using any of the 486 'overburn' bus frequencies of 50 or 60Mhz. Wonders 😀

Using only the chipset and a nice video card, both the CPU and video running pretty cool, literally. Yet the performance ^__^

Don't need the overclocking magic...
"Using ~only~ the sword, we'll rise to the level of Noble Phantasm!"
😄

40 Mhz bus, X5-133 AMD @160, 32 mb 50 ns EDO memory, ASUS Riva128 (or S3 Virge GX2) video card.
this board,
http://stason.org/TULARC/pc/motherboards/D/DA … 86-EXP8449.html

Pretty standard "assembled in China" board. Uses the last ALi chipset and is oh so promising 😀

Having such a surprising edge in PCP Player that tends to be tough for 486 machines, it has a _very_ slow memory subsystem, even on the _highest_ possible BIOS settings:

Eats 2mb off _any_ memory chip capacity, too. Horror.

Its cache handling method is not optimal when we use a quad-multiplier X5-133 CPU.
There is a better CPU setting scheme but it is all selected with jumpers, as part of "processor type" huge pile of jumpers. Pity it is _not_ usable if we run x4 multiplier with our X5-133.

Oterwise I would have gained an extra 0.1 fps! 😀
setting the CPU in this 'better' mode, as a 120Mhz DX4 CPU, gives exactly this advantage against the same 120MHz in the slower, "Enchanced AMD" mode. That is (alas!) obligatory when running the x4 (2&2) AMD133 multiplier.

ALi has AMI Bios used here and it's less configurable, it is impossible to run L2 "WB" mode using just a bios setting OR just a jumper @_@ Only a big "CPU type selection" mess of jumpers can do this as part of CPU setup.

It was a bit of luck that I discovered the setting for this board to handle AMD X5-133 CPU at all. Maybe the support was added as a last-minute change. The manuals found over the net don't say it supports 5x86AMD.

*

So, have I failed to beat the record mark, 12.5 fps PCP bench, in the end? 😀

Being humble is surely needed, just sometimes. And it should not be when the other good qualities are missing, contrary to the popular saying. I have pulled off the excellent 50ns 32mb EDO memory and replaced it with an unassuming standard 16 mb FPM, 8 chip single-sided. Golden contacts but so humble...

It's

So, now it's ~really~ the Noble Phantasm 😄
a cold CPU and 12.6 fps.

By handling our CPU power perfectly... we can have this without all the heat at 180-200Mhz overclocked CPU 😀

Just kidding, am I the current PCP champion now, huh...

Somehow this Chinese marvel can't handle EDO just as fast as FPM can actually work with it. Isn't this much brighter (FPM, here):

But surely not too bright, yet. 486 SiS has so much better memory scores as we all have seen it.

I think another board might have a better X5-133 support, with better memory and caching features.
I might get the above-mentioned 0.1 fps "back" and get 12.7 fps.
Or even more ^ ^

*

On the next related matter and for reference purposes, I'll post my results with SiS (496/497) in QUAKE 1.
After the Tough PCP Test it's really the next big ordeal for the 486 machines... due to its first (in computer history) and most cruel Intel Pentium FPU and all other stuff "optimization" by ID Software.
Bordering on the sale of the world gaming community, Judas style, directly to Intel and greatly harming their AMD and Cyrix competitors and their fans.

I've tested it all myself, measuring the "Timedemo demo1" results (console moved immediately off).
The misery of many of these results revive the memory of Dante's pilgrimage, in Hell.

So the main stages of using one's 486 SiS with Quake do get Dante references. 😀
Though the last -and the optimistic one- is from Yousei Teikoku gothic group, from Japan.

*

The Divine Comedy of Quake,
for 486 users.

Uses "timedemo demo1" w/o console.

In four <s>screams</s> parts.

Canto I

Hell. The Stygian bog of Hopelessness

10-14 fps. Minimal 320x200 res.

DX4 or AMD X5 CPU not overclocked, slower memory and video cards.

*

Canto II

The Purgatory of Trials

17.7 fps, Minimal 320x200 res.

X5@160Mhz CPU with better settings, memory and Virge, Ark or Matrox video.

*

Canto III

The Limbo of Hope

20.2 fps. Minimal 320x200 res.
18.5 fps @ 320x240 or 16.1 fps @ 400x300

with Rendition Verite 2200 videocard, VQuake.exe and the microcode file.

*

Canto IV

Paradise 😀

18.6 fps @ 640x480 res.

Same but Matrox + Voodoo1 accelerator, all defaults.

21.3 fps @ 640x480 res. Same and Matrox + Voodoo2, all defaults.

? (Voodoo2 SLI mode)

" In the end, for this miniature garden-in-a-box
in the Endless miracle I have always believed. "

^__^