Hmmm if it's only between these two then I will go with the DX2 😀

You can play more games, especially a ton of early 3D games that struggle on a standard DX. We are basically talking double the frames in most cases.

L1 cache and Turbo should allow old games to run but depends on mainboard and implementation.

Mau1wurf1977 wrote:

Hmmm if it's only between these two then I will go with the DX2 😀

You can play more games, especially a ton of early 3D games that struggle on a standard DX. We are basically talking double the frames in most cases.

L1 cache and Turbo should allow old games to run but depends on mainboard and implementation.

^This. 486 gaming rigs didn't really start to shine until clock doubled chips started to become widely available. The DX2 66 became legendary largely due to it's gaming credentials.

I started out on a DX-33. I finally upgraded it to a DX/2 around 1998 or so, and to be honest I wasn't exactly blown away. It's an improvement for sure, but not what I was expecting. If you want to play early 3D games you might as well get a Pentium.

If the system has local bus graphics (VLB/PCI) I would go for the 486DX2-66. If it is an ISA system, then the 486DX-33 is good enough.
The 486DX-33 would play Doom well, whereas the 486DX2-66 with local bus would play also Descent well.

I've struggled with this same question and settled on a 33MHz chip in my 486 rig. 66MHz definitely plays 3D textured games better (Doom, Commanche, Duke3D, etc) and was a much more popular chip, but even with turbo off it was too fast for some older games like Test Drive III and Falcon 3.0.

I think it comes down to what kind of games you want to play. For late-80's and early-90's non-textured 3D polygon games and 2D adventures, the 33 is ideal. For mid-90's textured 3D games, go with the 66 (I generally play these games on my P-233 rig instead).

elianda wrote:

If the system has local bus graphics (VLB/PCI) I would go for the 486DX2-66. If it is an ISA system, then the 486DX-33 is good enough.

I second that. It really depends what you want to build. A VLB+DX2 is definitely faster then a ISA+DX/33 build, but the DX-33 could be a nice early DIY system. I would choose it, if it would be my only RetroPC.

I never got to experience a VLB 486DX2 66- just an ISA one with really slow video 🙁

Thanks for all the opinions! 😜

It was such a hard decision but I have gone with a DX2-66

486DX2-66 with Tekram Cache Controller 356004KB/sec