squiggly wrote:infiniteclouds wrote:squiggly wrote:
The fact is many games don't rely heavily on the FPU and will probably run OK on a C3...but as soon as you hit the FPU it's good bye time.
What are some examples? Do they exist in DOS? Windows 95? I'd like to see some examples of games that run better on a K6 than my Ezra-T. I should say, run well - if a game is barely running on a K6 it needs something better anyway. I'm not doubting they exist by any means -- I just want to see for myself!
I also have a Nehemiah I haven't tested yet but it supposedly is much improved over the Ezra in terms of FPU. It does not scale as smoothly for older games though, from what I've read.
I don't remember the name but there was some kind of space strategy sim that crawled to a halt every time a certain battle sequence initiated, only on the C3. The fact is because floating point math is so much slower than integer math, most games probably avoid it to start with, I don't know how widespread the problem actually is. Nehemiah has a full-speed FPU...but it's a Via FPU so even at full-speed it's like a crippled old man running a marathon.
Is the space strategy game you are referring to Homeworld? I remember a discussion a while ago with it running slower on a VIA C3 Ezra compared to a K6-III+. That's a Windows game, which is far better running on a fast P3/ P4 than any of the aforementioned CPUs.
A VIA C3 is best used in a DOS-focused build, as it is more like a supercharged 486/ 586 with a gimped FPU. And in that environment, I'm not aware of any game requiring VGA or lower that is going to run too slow.