Try running these DOS benchmarks from within Windows and see if that makes a difference. I remember reading something along these lines.

Wow, you know everything, Phil!

I ran Quake from Windows, and the framerate jumped to 61.3 in 800x600, about 50% faster than the P3-866.

Duke3D seems about the same, but I'm not positive. Not sure if Fastvid ever improved Build engine too much, compared to idTech.

I always try to run DOS games from a bootdisk. Is there any downside to running these later DOS games directly from Windows?

Well, a lot of games won't work 😊 But many will.

I think the keyword is linear frame buffer. Windows, or the graphics driver, activate this under Windows. But not under DOS, so tools, such as FASTVID are need. I'm afraid that many of these tools simply focus on Intel. But I am sure there are AMD specific tools. Just got to find the right one for your processor.

Your processor might be "too new" for DOS applications, so not sure if you will find something.

boxpressed wrote:

Is there a program like Fastvid for Athlon CPUs? If not, I think I may go back to the Tualeron & SE440BX-2, which is almost as fast as the XP
2400+ & KT133A in Windows anyway.

MTRRLFBE by rayer. Less fancy name then FastVid, but better functionality.
http://rayer.g6.cz/programm/programe.htm

LFBs have nothing to do with it, they are provided by the video hardware and BIOS. What you are seeing here are the effects of Write Combining, which Windows drivers should enable. What you might want to try is to start Windows, then drop to DOS without rebooting and see if the drivers just leave the MTRRs alone when shutting down.

The speed increase comes from enabling Write combining for the LFB memory range. It can be enabled by setting the right values in certain CPU registers. Fastvid does that, MTRRLFBE does that, windows video drivers may do that.

gerwin wrote:

boxpressed wrote:

Is there a program like Fastvid for Athlon CPUs? If not, I think I may go back to the Tualeron & SE440BX-2, which is almost as fast as the XP
2400+ & KT133A in Windows anyway.

MTRRLFBE by rayer. Less fancy name then FastVid, but better functionality.
http://rayer.g6.cz/programm/programe.htm

Thanks. When I run the program, I get this response:

Load error: no DPMI - Get csdpmi*b.zip

Should I follow instructions in this thread?

Re: csdpmi*b.zip????

alexanrs wrote:

LFBs have nothing to do with it, they are provided by the video hardware and BIOS. What you are seeing here are the effects of Write Combining, which Windows drivers should enable. What you might want to try is to start Windows, then drop to DOS without rebooting and see if the drivers just leave the MTRRs alone when shutting down.

Exiting to MS-DOS mode from Windows works. 63.0 FPS in 800x600 (no sound because AWE64 wasn't initialized).

Just follow what was said in that thread and you'll get it running. I'm just not sure it is compatible with the Athlon, but it is worth a shot.

On rayer's page there is a link to 'DPMI server', With that missing file.
The command line would be 'mtrrlfbe lfb wc' (This way it won't affect VGA range, just VESA).

Thanks, gerwin! Works great. Exactly 61.3 FPS, just like running from Windows. But now I don't have to!

Ah, yes Write Combining was the term. Thanks for clearing that up.

Great outcome everyone 😀