First post, by RJDog
I'm not sure if this topic has been discussed before or not... couldn't find it anyway.
I have recently acquired a VIA C3 computer, circa 2003. I'm curious what other Vogoner's opinions and experiences are with this CPU line, and it's place in the retro community.
The VIA C3, when brand new, was terribly underpowered compared to it's contemporaries Pentium III and Athlon, but was instead marketed as low-price, low-power solution. It better performed when compared to higher end Pentium II (e.g. C3 733MHz compares better to P2 450Mhz) than to equivalent core clock speed P3/Athlon. Consquently, it was never considered a contender for a gaming rig, but rather more for the embedded applications... indeed, the C3 machine I recovered was being used as a router.
Now, given the timing of the release of this particular board I have, the only officially released Windows drivers are for Windows XP... but in my opinion this 733MHz C3 is a little underpowered for Windows XP and is likely much better suited for Windows 98SE or Me. I obviously haven't got it all together yet, but I am expecting it will be good with early Windows 3D games... Quake 2, Half-Life, Unreal... the challenge I am finding is getting Windows 98/Me drivers for the board, where XP drivers are the officially released ones... not impossible but a challenge.
So, is it suitable as a retro rig, comparing it to a P2? Do people view it more akin to a P3 system (it is Socket 370 afterall)? What are your thoughts/experiences?
