First post, by Great Hierophant
- Rank
- l33t
What can DOSBox do with a really fast processor? Today, the fastest consumer-level processors come from the Intel Core Duo and Quad lines. An processor with excellent value is the Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 Wolfdale 3.0GHz 6MB L2. This processor offers alot for $260 (Newegg). It is not the fastest processor available in the ordinary retail channel, but it is very impressive.
Obviously a comparative system must be built around this processor. It would have at least 2GB of DDR2-RAM, probably a Geforce 9600GS on a Geforce 750i motherboard. A good, but not an overkill system for playing today's games. Windows XP Pro of course as an OS.
But what about older games running on DOSBox. DOSBox does not, as far as I know, take any advantage of 64-bit operation or multiple processor cores. Improved processor architectures, more cache, and a faster system bus are essentially what DOSBox may be able to take advantage of. DOSBox does not need a super-fast 3D card because it emulates 2D and some basic 3D games. More RAM will only help to handle multi-tasking.
So, what sorts of games does this system let DOSBox run well? Obviously those last DOS games, the ones that use high resolution and high color graphics, the ones that should have supported a 3D accelerator. Although unsupported, many Windows 9x games should be able to run smoothly with such a system. But can anyone give some real world examples of improved games? Even a Conroe processor should give a good idea of what to expect.
