stealthjoe wrote on 2021-11-30, 14:43:
Hello,
I found exactly the same motherboard locally and contemplating to purchase it for a similar purpose - early to mid Dos gaming. The existing board however comes with a P3 processor. Is a C3 processor required for obtaining the various speed steps or could the same be achieved partly with a P3 (atleast through Throttle) ? Please let me know your thoughts. Thanks.
Hey,
It's a great little motherboard! It just lacks an AGP port, and any ability to lower the FSB. Without the ability to lower the FSB it won't work with a Voodoo 1, but otherwise it's pretty solid.
The C3 processor is required for the speed steps. I did try to use a P3 and Throttle (or CpuSPD) with a different motherboard in my first DOS PC attempt, but it really only worked for late DOS games. The P3 could only go too fast, or too slow (with L1 Cache disabled). Throttle didn't give enough control to get older games to work. I feel Throttle works better when you are near the range of desired frequency, and you need to just slow it a little. So C3 + Throttle / CPuSpd is really the ideal combination for DOS games.
Regarding C3 processors, there are two options: Ezra-T 1.0 GHz, or Nehemiah 1.2+ GHz. The Ezra-T is better for DOS games as it has 15 speed steps, but also has a borked FPU that limits it's performance in Quake. The Nehemiah is much faster, has a better FPU, but it doesn't have as many steps. The Nehemiah is also more expensive, but if you want both DOS and Win98, Nehemiah is the way to go.
Hope that helps!