First post, by tpowell.ca
- Rank
- Member
So, after building multiple systems to try and get performance that can be crippled down to low 386 levels required by older DOS games, but at the same time, being powerful enough to play some of the early Windows 98 Direct3D games, I started building a chart (WORK IN PROGRESS).
We all know that the AMD K6+ series CPUs are excellent at reaching a very wide performance range, and doing so in hardware, but their Windows performance is, in my opinion lackluster, and extremely picky with respect to memory, AGP videocards and drivers. Obviously, a Pentium III does give you fantastic Windows 98 performance but completely useless for vintage DOS gaming.
That's where the VIA C3 comes in.
My test for minimum required Windows 98 performance is the CPUs ability to decode in real-time MPEG2 video such as that in the Wing Commander IV DVD version without the use of dedicated hardware decoding.
The VIA C3 Ezra-T and the Nehemiah were both able to playback MPEG2 video, have unlocked multipliers, under/overclock VERY well, and produce very little heat.
Couple that with an Intel BX chipset and you get a far more reliable experience than you would on an ALI or VIA chipset for a super socket 7.
What I've build around the VIA C3 CPU:
-Antec NSK 4400 ATX case
-Seasonic ATX power supply
-Micron 512 MB PC133 CL2 RAM
-Gigabyte GA-6BXC Rev 2.0 motherboard (with PowerLeap BIOS)
-MSI MS-6905 Master slotket Rev 2.0
-Via C3 Ezra-T 1000 (100MHz x10) running at 1223MHz (112MHz x11)
-nVidia Quadro FX500 128MB AGP
-Powercolor Voodoo2 12MB PCI
-Corsair F120 120MB SATA SSD
-Promise SATA150TX2 PCI controller
-intel Gigabit PCI NIC
-TSSTcorp TS-H492C IDE DVD-ROM (with digital out connected to Yamaha soundcard)
-Yamaha YMF744 XG/OPL3 PCI soundcard using SB-Link
-Gravis Ultrasound PnP 16MB
So far, nothing I've tried on this setup failed that didn't also fail on my AMD K6-III+ setup with the DFI motherboard.
And unlike the K6-III+, I've had ZERO bleuscreens or freezes.
NOTES:
[1] 3.0x to 16.0x, 27 choices
[2] 4.0x to 16.0x, 25 choices
[3] 2.0x to 6.0x in 0.5x increments, 8 choices (2.5x is excluded).
[4] L2 runs at half-CPU core speed. 333 / 2 = 166MHz
[5] L2 runs at half-CPU core speed. 500 / 2 = 250MHz
[6] Gigabyte GA-6BXC
* MSI-6905 Master v2 slotkit adapter^
* Micron 512MB CL2 PC133 SDRAM (3 sticks)
* nVidia Quadro FX500 128MB AGP (driver version 56.64)
* FastVid loaded for DOS Benchmarks
^ for Socket 370 CPUs only.
[7] DFI K6XV3+/66
* nVidia Quadro FX500 128MB AGP
* FastVid loaded for DOS Benchmarks
[8] OVERclocked, 1224MHz (112MHz x11.0)
[9] OVERclocked, 1224MHz (112MHz x11.0)
[10] OVERclocked, 500MHz (100MHz x5.0)
[11] UNDERclocked, 612MHz (112MHz x5.5)
[12] UNDERclocked, 780MHz (112MHz x7)
[13] OVERclocked, 500MHz (100MHz x5.0)
[14] PhilsComputerLab benchmark, Max Detail mode
[15] DOS 320x200, No Sound
[16] 640x480, No Sound
[17] nVidia Quadro FX500 128MB AGP
[18] 3dfx Voodoo2 12MB PCI
[19] High Quality (800x600), No Sound
- Merlin: MS-4144, AMD5x86-160 32MB, 16GB CF, ZIP100, Orpheus, GUS, S3 VirgeGX 2MB
Tesla: GA-6BXC, VIA C3 Ezra-T, 256MB, 120GB SATA, YMF744, GUSpnp, Quadro2
Newton: K6XV3+/66, AMD K6-III+500, 256MB, 32GB SSD, AWE32, Voodoo3