If all else fails, there's always Moslo and the like.

Maybe WinThrottle will work?

You can use SETMUL to disable L1 on a slot 1. Depending on the speed of the slot 1 processor, it can slow down quite a bit. For example, my Pentium II 333 becomes like a slow 386. A faster Pentium III will slow down a little less. There is a Google spreadsheet with results for different CPUs here:
Let's benchmark our systems with caches disabled

Some Pentium II's had some of their multipliers unlocked (mostly 333MHz and older), making their multiplier selectable kinda like it is for most s7 CPUs.
Afaik all Slot 1 CPUs 350MHz and above had their multipliers locked (except maybe for some ES).

I have a CPU that I still have to retrieve, that probably does that.

It's an Intel Pentium 233 that runs at 33MHz FSB by default, so it runs on 133MHz!!
Why didnt't I bring it when I moved 😵

Arctic wrote:

I have a CPU that I still have to retrieve, that probably does that.

It's an Intel Pentium 233 that runs at 33MHz FSB by default, so it runs on 133MHz!!
Why didnt't I bring it when I moved 😵

Yeah, my PII-333 clocks down to 133Mhz too. 😀
It's the 2nd to last result on this chart:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1uKhCI … #gid=1720967797
Performs like a 286 with L1 disabled. 🤣

This is the slot 1 cpu (233mhz with mmx) I'm wanting to slow down. Can anyone verify if this can be done with a intel 440-BX board and setmul or
another program?

The number on top of the cpu is B80522P233512 and then SL2QA if that helps. Thanks ahead for any input!

buckeye wrote:

This is the slot 1 cpu (233mhz with mmx) I'm wanting to slow down. Can anyone verify if this can be done with a intel 440-BX boa […]
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p2-233.jpg

This is the slot 1 cpu (233mhz with mmx) I'm wanting to slow down. Can anyone verify if this can be done with a intel 440-BX board and setmul or
another program?

The number on top of the cpu is B80522P233512 and then SL2QA if that helps. Thanks ahead for any input!

From the Setmul page:

SetMul allows disabling the L1 cache on any x86 processor from the 486 onwards.

Keep in mind you will be going from super fast to as slow as a 286, with no in-between.

Moslo or other speed reduction programs may give you more speed points, but from my understanding they are also problematic and often will work for some games but not others, or may not keep a consistent speed. I don't have much experience with them.

Setmul is perfect for AMD K6-2+, K6-III+, and some VIA C3 and Cyrix chips. It also works well with AMD K6-2 and some Pentium Overdrive MMX cpus. What I mean is, you are allowed multiple slowdown options, which give you different speed points. Pentium II and III are pretty limited. Just disable L1 and that's it. FYI.

Thank you Clueless. Look like if I want to pursue this then need to start looking for a socket 7 board.

Before you start tearing your hair out looking for a socket 7 board, have you considered which specific unpatchable speed-sensitive games you might actually want to play for which this PII 233 would be unsuitable? (And that you could not possibly stand to play under DOSBox?)

Jorpho,

I have no hair to pull out actually, but you're right - may be more trouble than it's worth. So far dosbox on my XP rig is running everything fine it's just that challenge of building a dos system from scratch keeps "calling my name". May end up just buying an old packard bell or something similar.

You don't need a Socket 7, nor a Super Socket 7 board for slow-down. A Slot 1 board is one of the most versatile for slow-down. What you need is a Slocket / Slotket interposer with onboard VRM that's compatible with Via Cyrix 3 Socket 370 processors (ideally Ezra or Ezra-T) . Most 440BX boards with the latest BIOS should be compatible with this processor. And this setup is more flexible than your typical SS7 with AMD K6 combo..

That pentium ii cpu is probably unlocked so just change the multiplier in bios or via jumpers. You could run it @166 mhz or even 133 without l2 cache.

Quick question about underclocking a Pentium 2

In case it's of any use, there are some slot-1 motherboards that have separate BIOS options for the L1 and L2 caches, so that's an alternative to using a software utility. I know I've seen it on some EpoX boards, not sure about other brands. However, from what I've read this isn't quite as flexible as it sounds. if you disable L1 then (reportedly) L2 always ends up disabled also (I've never tried it). I guess it's a P2/P3 CPU limitation.
My understanding is that you can run with L1 on+L2 off, or with both caches off, but you can't run with L1 off+L2 on, so it leaves quite a gap in the speeds that you can achieve.

The VIA C3 is probably a good option, I don't know anything about them myself.