gregorem wrote on 2025-05-04, 12:16:

So I'm kindly asking if any owner of that board testing it against C3 CPUs and could confirm what is working and what not?

This is not an actual test result, but based on that list, I would expect any socket 370 VIA C3 to work on that board.
I did have the older SOYO 6BA+III. It could run Tualatin-S at 1266 MHz. It could run VIA C3 Samuel 1 core. I never tested my other C3's on that board.

( via c3 nehemiah motherboard compatability )

Are you just wanting to have a C3 to....have one?

Because it seems usually you can slow down CPUs enough for any speed sensitive stuff by disabling L2 or L1 cache

bertrammatrix wrote on 2025-05-04, 16:42:

Are you just wanting to have a C3 to....have one?

Because it seems usually you can slow down CPUs enough for any speed sensitive stuff by disabling L2 or L1 cache

Yes, but it cut "only" about 50% - 60% of performance. If you cut 50% from something like Pentium III 450 you still get something, with many DOS games barely could handle.
Also, Pentium III 450 isn't the best machine for playing late Windows 9.x games. So you ended with underpowered CPU for late 9.x games and overpowered for early ones.

I have no room for storing multiple setups for early '90 (I'm using 486-80), mid-nineties (Pentium II 400) and late one (currently Coppermine T 933) just for Windows 9.x and DOS games. I rely want to get rid of two of them.

I betcha a wire with a switch to throw the FSB down to 66mhz would slow it down the rest of the way.

I'm not sure you'll like the C3 to cover the "upper range " of what you would play on that 933, I think you will find it underpowered

bertrammatrix wrote on 2025-05-04, 19:54:

I betcha a wire with a switch to throw the FSB down to 66mhz would slow it down the rest of the way.

I'm not sure you'll like the C3 to cover the "upper range " of what you would play on that 933, I think you will find it underpowered

Ye, but playing with FSB causing instability. Also, if PCI/FSB divider is set on 3 for 100 MHz FSB or 4 for 133 MHz (and in many causes cannot be changed), you're not want to play around FSB.

Even the fastest C3 at 1400 MHz is probably visibly slower than my current PIII, but I have a plan to sell my 939 rig with Athlon 4000 and get some nice C2Q or AM3 CPU for anything from XP era upward.
In that scenario, second rig will be reserved for older games, up to 1999/2000.

I think about C3 because:
1) it is still more flexible than K6+ (K6+ scale performance from 486 to mid-range PII, C3 from 386 to mid-range PIII)
2) Socket 370 still offer ISA for DOS and also AGP for slightly more modern games
3) C3 is mostly cheaper to get and boards are more available - one I have probably in collection (Soyo).