The fastest DX4 was 100 MHz (from Intel). The fastest 486 was the AMD 5x86-P75 running at 133 MHz (there were planned faster ones with 150 and 166 MHz, but never officially released) and it is rated similar to the Pentium 75. The slowest Pentium II is 233 and is faster than the best Pentium (not counting the mobile variants) the MMX 233 MHz. From AMD the K5 and first K6 parts would be between DX4 and PII. All NexGen CPU also fit in between. From Cyrix: 5x86, 6x86 and 6x86MX (and maybe also the slowest MII). And the IDT Winchip and Rise mp6.
Check this list - it lists all Pentium-class CPUs.

Excellent. Thanks. I think I might go for an AMD K5 based system...

K5's have sucky floating point though.
My 'in the middle' would be the Pentium 100-166MHz range. (200MHz seems significantly speedier)

Also comfortably in the middle is the K6 233, which is nowhere near P2 233 performance in my experience.

Thanks a lot for the tip!!

Pentium 100-166 or K6 233 it is then!! 😁

I also recommend a Pentium. Quake was optimized for it.

Quake performances, my own test timerefresh

AM5x86-133 @ 120MHz - 8fps
AM5x86-133 @ 160MHz - 11fps
Pentium 100MHz - 21fps
Pentium 166MHz - 24fps
Pentium II 233MHz - 57fps

You decide which is in the middle 😀

Good job! 😀

PIIs really are fast! 😮

P6 rocks for Quake, and that's PPro to P3. The Quake techinfo readme talks specifically about how awesome PPro is for the game.

Don't forget FastVid!

Combined Write Caching FTW!

Some Turbo Pascal games (like Jazz Jackrabbit) had problems with CPU speeds higher than 200Mhz and generate a Runtime error 200.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turbo_Pascal#Iss … fast_processors

Granted there is a binary fix for some of those files, but if you want to play the original executable without modification, keep the CPU speed below 200Mhz. And FWIW, I've found that some of those games tend to run a bit fast on a 200Mhz anyway, which is why I built a 166.

Now I'm going to suggest the obvious: Why not take a fast K6 (preferably one with internal L2 cache, like the K6-III or the K6+ versions)?
These CPUs have open multipliers, so you can set them to any speed in their range, which starts about 100-166 MHz and ends about 400-500 MHz (depending on board and CPU model). The multiplier of the K6+ variants even can be set per software without needing to reboot.

BTW, these would be a perfect fit for the MSI board you're considering buying in your other thread.

Re: "I'm going to suggest the obvious..."

Please believe me, to me nothing is obvious! 🤣 I'm what you might call a "slow learner". 😉

Thanks for the K6 advice! 😀

I think I might get a couple of those MSI boards, but unfortunately the seller won't tell me what the board revisions are - (he might be too lazy to look them up.) I am worried I might get an early revision board, and the AGP might be a bit poor perhaps?

Still, I might go ahead and take the risk..!