mrau wrote:

hi, in the last one (cyrix machine) i totally did not get if you ever used any of those speed enhancing programs that helped to properly setup these processors?

Nope, just plain MS-DOS 7.1 and my DOS Starter Pack (Boot menu, Mouse and CD driver).

i ask because the cpu may be underperforming due to this fact

mrau wrote:

i ask because the cpu may be underperforming due to this fact

I think the 6x86 performed very well to be honest.

Cool video!

The 6x86 will be faster clock per clock than the Pentium classic in optimized integer code. But it will lack performance if a program requires legacy ASM FPU code (8087,287,387).

The AMD K5 is more or less the same, with the difference that it is even faster clock per clock than the 6x86 in integer code and is not as slow as the 6x86 in FPU code although it is obviously slower compared to Pentiums. There might be cases where specific Pentium optimizations (RDMSR,RDTSC,WRMSR,etc...) might bring added performance for Pentium Classics vs 6x86 and K5.

But overall i agree with Phil, the 6x86 performed pretty well. It's not as flexible as a K6+ but if its the only option for anyone it will still be a good base for a early to mid 90's retro computer.

I admit not having done much with the regular Socket 7 CPUs, so that's what I will be doing over the next few videos 😀 That particular Asus board does take all the CPUs it seems, K6-2 for sure, and I hope it will take the MII as well.

I've used it with K6+ CPU's too, cool board as its slower than most, which makes it interesting. The SiS chipset doesn't seem to support distributed DMA though.

This is harking back to turn of the century when I was lucky enough to work at a computer building firm so brought at wholesale + vat, but I built an AMD K6-2+ 550mhz using a Gigabyte GA-5AX board. It used an ALi Alladin V chipset. It was fabulous, and I think it had everything from AGP to ISA slots - I rememember it was full-ATX in size. If you can find a board with an Alladin V chipset, snap it up - all it's IRQ and DMA allocations are what you would need. Mine ended it's days in a CNC milling shop. I wish I had kept it but I needed the money from selling it back then.

betamax80 wrote:

using a Gigabyte GA-5AX board. It used an ALi Alladin V chipset.

Great board indeed, I do have one actually.

The 5AX is my personal favorite SS7 board. I have two of them and will never sell/trade them. Both rev 5.2. one is my goto DOS rig, and the other is for specialty games and demoscene stuff. For DOS, I simply can not think of a better motherboard.

I have a few Asus P5A's, but I find them to be more "fidgety". I don't think they handle PnP very well. It's always a big struggle getting things like the AWE-32, Gravis Ultrasound PnP, or ProAudio Spectrum 16 going on the P5A. Oddly enough, my SB-16 (CT2230) has no issues on install. But every other PnP or sudo PnP card (as in software setup and no jumpers/dip switches), just never installs correctly. I always have to edit or change some file or line in something.

I never have those issues with the 5AX. It's very well behaved. Hell I'd feed it treats and pet it, if I thought it wanted that, 🤣.

Building a Cyrix 6x86 DOS Retro Gaming PC

Interesting chip and does very well with 320 x 200 games. Struggles a bit at 640 x 480 though, but overall it's a nice chip.

Compatible with Mortal Kombat I p.e.?

Hey Phil, kinda curious about your current P-200 video. I was wondering why you didn't go with the P-233 instead? my guess is that the 686 was PR200 so you were looking only to compare the chips based on the direct counter product.

Kodai wrote:

Hey Phil, kinda curious about your current P-200 video. I was wondering why you didn't go with the P-233 instead? my guess is that the 686 was PR200 so you were looking only to compare the chips based on the direct counter product.

I tend to do the slower stuff first, then work my way up 😀

Cool, I was just wondering. I toyed around last year with a 233 mmx . I was going to use it for a DOS demoscene rig with a GUS and SB-Pro2, but ended up using a K6-3+ instead. I kinda want to try a WinChip or Cryix 686 because they have a fun history. But I also eschewed them back in the day because they were pretty much complete crap, 🤣. They are pretty cheap, so maybe I'll give them a whirl for fun, or just to say I've used them. Or maybe I'll just enjoy your videos instead, so I don't have to put the effort into it, 🤣.

It is because the P233 only comes with those evil MultiMedia eXtensions instructions 😜

Hey, those things really helped with RealPlayer and ViVo steaming. I'm sure somebody thought they were worth it, 🤣.

Pentium 200 MHz Review for DOS Gaming

Any chance to run SETMUL and try to access the TR12 registers?

gdjacobs wrote:

Any chance to run SETMUL and try to access the TR12 registers?

Can you expand on this please?

From the SETMUL thread:

-Pentium P54C test register "TR12" options. Parameters: BPD - Disable Branch Prediction VPD - Disable V Pipeline L1DX - Disable […]
Show full quote

-Pentium P54C test register "TR12" options. Parameters:
BPD - Disable Branch Prediction
VPD - Disable V Pipeline
L1DX - Disable L1 cache exclusively
CCD - Disable L1 code cache
DCD - Disable L1 data cache
PFE - Pentium Features Enable; Resets the above TR12 options to default.

Not sure if your CPU exposes them, but it would be cool to check I think.