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First post, by pvlst

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I've been testing this new Cyrix 5x86-120GP CPU that I obtained recently. I decided to put it into AB-PB4 rev 1.3 together with some EDO RAM and PCI VGA. However the performance is worse than I could expect.

Specs:
- Abit AB-PB4, 256k cache
- ARK2000PV PCI VGA
- Voodoo 2 PCI accelerator
- 32MB EDO RAM (1 stick, also tested 1+1 so 64MB)

Already tried to fine tune the BIOS settings, DRAM/SRAM is set to fastest, all PCI buffers etc. are enabled.
BIOS is not the latest F2 but a bit older one, seeing the release notes I doubt that would be of any help.

In Quake timedemo I get only 12.7 FPS, Speedsys score is 54.54.

I mean I got a lot higher scores on an older motherboard with less FPM RAM, without any BIOS tuning and PODPR83 CPU.
Is the PODPR83 CPU so much better than Cx5x86-120? I doubt it.

Do you have any ideas? Thanks!

Reply 1 of 11, by Horun

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I think you mean PODP5V83 which is a Pentium Overdrive for 486 socket. I have a Cryrix 5x86 and it is not match for a Pentium Overdrive.
If you think a 120Mhz 486 can easily beat a Pentium at 83Mhz you are wrong 😀 But what do I know.... just my opinion

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Reply 2 of 11, by Anonymous Coward

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How does your board handle the PCI divider? Some boards will run PCI at 20MHz when you set the bus speed to 40.

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Reply 3 of 11, by darry

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pvlst wrote on 2021-06-29, 19:41:
In Quake timedemo I get only 12.7 FPS, Speedsys score is 54.54. […]
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In Quake timedemo I get only 12.7 FPS, Speedsys score is 54.54.

I mean I got a lot higher scores on an older motherboard with less FPM RAM, without any BIOS tuning and PODPR83 CPU.
Is the PODPR83 CPU so much better than Cx5x86-120? I doubt it.

Do you have any ideas? Thanks!

I would say your results are in the right ballpark (maybe a bit slower than expected) .

The POD83 can be significantly faster than than a Cyrix 5x86 at 120MHz in highly FPU dependent applications, such as Quake .

See

comparison_cpu.png
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EDIT : Benchmarks shown are for 100MHz versions of the Cyrix. Assuming the 120MHz version is 20% faster then the 100MHz, it is still slower than an 83MHz POD .

Reply 4 of 11, by megatron-uk

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Yes, the Cyrix 5x86 is much more competitive on an integer performance basis - look at the 3DBench and Doom performance metrics; they're much more inline with the Overdrive processors.

At the time Intel had put a huge amount of development into improving the FPU architecture, although it wasn't historically the 'killer' feature to that point. AMD and Cyrix didn't match the performance and had really cost-competitive, mainly-integer-focused parts... then fully 3D games came along and suddenly FPU performance took a front and centre role.

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Reply 6 of 11, by dirkmirk

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pvlst wrote on 2021-06-29, 19:41:

Do you have any ideas? Thanks!

Are you running the cyrix enhancements?

Quake timedemo should get around 15-16fps and speedsys around 67 IRRC.

edit: Have a read of this thread if you haven't already, If you run the Cyrix chip without enhancements your not getting the full performance potential.

Cyrix 5x86 Register Enhancements Revealed

Reply 8 of 11, by BitWrangler

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Maybe also you've got the ark 2000 board that I had back in the day (forgot any other details of it) that was slower than my CL5428 so I am always surprised when ppl refer to it as a faster chipset.

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Reply 9 of 11, by Garrett W

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So, as others have said already, don't expect miracles out of the Cyrix processor, especially when it comes to Quake. It's no wonder the POD performs better, as Quake is really one of the best case scenarios for Pentiums. In my case, I get exactly 17 FPS on timedemo 1, using Phil's Benchmark package. My system is:

Cyrix 5x86 100 running at 120 MHz using register tweaks
32MB FPM RAM
Biostar MB-8433UUD
S3 Virge 2MB
Vibra16
Win95c

Without further ado, here are my autoexec.bat, config.sys, msdos.sys and other used files.

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  • Filename
    5x86.zip
    File size
    19.79 KiB
    Downloads
    61 downloads
    File license
    CC-BY-4.0

Reply 10 of 11, by Socket3

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I got a tiny bit over 17 in software quake using a Cyrix 120GP/4X running at 133MHz (4x33) on a Zida 4DPS, 512kb l2 cache using 32Mb of HP branded registered FPM and a PCI 3D Blaster Banshee. Enhancements on except for branch prediction witch causes the game to crash about half way trough the timedemo. In GL Quake the system got around 20-21 fps. I'm having a look trough my pics, I have screenshots someware.

I tried running the CPU at 66x2 and it will post, but even with relaxed cache timings and the highest wait states, it will crash when running dos quake....

Reply 11 of 11, by pvlst

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I had no idea about all that, I believed all the time that Cyrix 120 beats Pentium 83 easily. Thanks for clarification.

Anyway I did some changes. I replaced memory sticks, cleared CMOS, revised BIOS settings, disabled unnecessary stuff + removed some drivers. This gave me 14.5 FPS in Quake timedemo.
Then I used the 5x86 utility to configure registers, after some first-try fiddling with those I got 17.1 FPS.

That's better. I'll try to get more.