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Build for 80's through early 90's

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First post, by tauro

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Hello folks,

I already have a few builds, a high end late DOS computer (P3 1.4GHz) and a mid-90's (P54C 133 MHz).
Now I'm looking to explore the 80's and early 90's with an AMD DXL-66 MHZ (any difference with the DX?).

I just built this:

MOBO: PCCHIPS M919 V3.4 B/F
CPU: AMD DXL2 66 MHz.
RAM: 16 MB FPM (2x 72-pin 8MB modules)
VIDEO: S3 TrioV64+
AUDIO: SB16 2290, MPU-401AT
SYSTEM: WIN 3.11 / MS-DOS 6.22

Contrary to popular experience, I have two M919 (V3.2 and V3.4 B/F) and they are very fast and stable even though they don't have any L2 cache.
Both have 3 PCI slots, IDE/FLOPPY/SERIAL, etc on-board, and a broad range of processor compatibility.

Did some testing with topbench, and this is what I got:

Cache disabled / Turbo
65				    10
Cache enabled / Turbo
156				   38

According to it's performance table, it means:

 10: 8086  @10MHZ
 38: 286   @16MHz
 65: 386SX @33MHz
156: DX2   @66MHz

Will the 80's games and software work as intended back then? Excluding some Sierra graphical adventures, and some very popular games, I don't know so much about that period. I'm a 90's kid.
Would building a separate older rig make sense for the earlier soft? I have a Racer 286-Rev B / N80286-12 (12MHz) too. Would that be enough or I need to go even further back?
I'm looking for a pretty broad range, I know, but I still want to preserve as much compatibility as possible.
Can you think of any games from the early to mid 90's (pre-Doom) better suited for the P133?
What are your thoughts?

Reply 1 of 4, by clueless1

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I have done similar things with my DX2/66 system. Disabling caches and turbo gets it to about a slow 286. My tests for proper speed include Ultimas I-V and LodeRunner. All these run great at cacheless/deturboed speeds. 😀

The more I learn, the more I realize how much I don't know.
OPL3 FM vs. Roland MT-32 vs. General MIDI DOS Game Comparison
Let's benchmark our systems with cache disabled
DOS PCI Graphics Card Benchmarks

Reply 2 of 4, by Jorpho

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tauro wrote:

I have a Racer 286-Rev B / N80286-12 (12MHz) too. Would that be enough or I need to go even further back?

If you look hard enough, you can find games for which even a 12 MHz 286 is just a little too fast. The pivotal question is whether you're really so interested in running any of them that DOSBox would be unthinkable.

Reply 3 of 4, by tauro

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The question is: what hardware has the widest range of compatibility? Essentially, what microprocessor?

How would you divide the PC eras and what hardware would you recommend for each?

I mean something like this (only a very rough idea):

Year range / CPU
1981-1986 - 8086 - Perhaps a 286 can get away with this era too?
1985-1992 - 80286 - Can the DX2 do this period accurately?
1985-1993 - DX2 - What about this period?
1993-1995 - Pentium 133 MHz
continues...

I believe there must be someone who already thought about this. Maybe not. So please speak about your experiences. I'd appreciate that.

Reply 4 of 4, by j^aws

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^^ I've already thought about it:
WIP 2: The 6-in-1 Turbo-switched Socket 7 - from XT to 500MHz; dual Tseng powered...

The above build can cover nearly 2 decades of PC gaming - from circa '81 to '99. Choice parts can cover 3 decades of PC gaming with just two builds... And three builds can cover most of 4 decades of PC gaming...

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