joeguy3121 wrote on 2022-08-27, 17:00:

I'm clueless, is this a VIA C3 Ezra-T 1000 MHz?.

Yes, that's the one.

i use this board with a p3 -1000 (133 fsb with 7,5 multiplier).. MS-6153 rev2.1 aka 6351VA

be shure to check he jumpers to set the board to 133 fsb..

The Ezra T is plenty fast for games up through about 2000, but if the game uses FPU at all you might consider staying with P3 or using a C3 nehemiah instead.

The difference between the ezra T and the nehemiah is that the nehemiah can execute two FPs per clock cycle making it twice as fast for floating point. Most windows games don't use FP at all but some do. Nehemiah is also capable of about a 20% higher clock speed.

The nehemiah has a big speed hole that the Ezra T does not. You can emulate a fast 386DX 40 and a fast 486DX4 100, but the 486DX16/33/66 speeds you can't do without clock skipping or software slow down like mo slow. On the other hand, the nehemiah can run a little slower than the Ezra T which can help with a couple of earlier DOS games, so tradeoffs.

With that said speed sensitivity is usually not that important. If your goal is getting games to work for its own sake then yeah the nehemiah or the ezra T are fun to tinker with. If your goal is to play games you actually want to play I don't think it needs to be very complicated. Any P3 can slow down to 386 speeds with caches disabled which is the sweet spot for many classic speed sensitive games. For the ones that are stubborn just use dosbox or even slo mo/ACPI clock skipping.

mothergoose729 wrote on 2023-01-25, 16:35:

Most windows games don't use FP at all but some do.

Several video card drivers did use the FPU to assist in 3D rendering, especially T&L on hardware prior the nVidia GeForce 256.

Gmlb256 wrote on 2023-01-25, 16:46:

mothergoose729 wrote on 2023-01-25, 16:35:

Most windows games don't use FP at all but some do.

Several video card drivers did use the FPU to assist in 3D rendering, especially T&L on hardware prior the nVidia GeForce 256.

True, so probably want to use a card with hardware T&L if you go with the Ezra T

mothergoose729 wrote on 2023-01-25, 16:35:

The Ezra T is plenty fast for games up through about 2000, but if the game uses FPU at all you might consider staying with P3 or […]
Show full quote

The Ezra T is plenty fast for games up through about 2000, but if the game uses FPU at all you might consider staying with P3 or using a C3 nehemiah instead.

The difference between the ezra T and the nehemiah is that the nehemiah can execute two FPs per clock cycle making it twice as fast for floating point. Most windows games don't use FP at all but some do. Nehemiah is also capable of about a 20% higher clock speed.

The nehemiah has a big speed hole that the Ezra T does not. You can emulate a fast 386DX 40 and a fast 486DX4 100, but the 486DX16/33/66 speeds you can't do without clock skipping or software slow down like mo slow. On the other hand, the nehemiah can run a little slower than the Ezra T which can help with a couple of earlier DOS games, so tradeoffs.

With that said speed sensitivity is usually not that important. If your goal is getting games to work for its own sake then yeah the nehemiah or the ezra T are fun to tinker with. If your goal is to play games you actually want to play I don't think it needs to be very complicated. Any P3 can slow down to 386 speeds with caches disabled which is the sweet spot for many classic speed sensitive games. For the ones that are stubborn just use dosbox or even slo mo/ACPI clock skipping.

Sorry for the late response. This post is dated now as I now have a ASUS P3B-F REV 1.04 Slot 1 motherboard with a PII 350MHz as a placeholder until I'm ready to aquire a VIA C3 CPU.

So Nehemiah is the VIA C3 I should go with for a stable slowdown performence for 80s DOS games?. bloodem said Nehemiah is not as flexible as Erza-T, so will that effect the performence in games?. I'm not a very bright person. 😜

The card I'm planning to replace my current GeForce2 MX 400 is a GeForce4 Ti4200. Does Ti4200 have hardware T&L?.

joeguy3121 wrote on 2023-02-08, 04:10:

Sorry for the late response. This post is dated now as I now have a ASUS P3B-F REV 1.04 Slot 1 motherboard with a PII 350MHz as […]
Show full quote

mothergoose729 wrote on 2023-01-25, 16:35:

The Ezra T is plenty fast for games up through about 2000, but if the game uses FPU at all you might consider staying with P3 or […]
Show full quote

The Ezra T is plenty fast for games up through about 2000, but if the game uses FPU at all you might consider staying with P3 or using a C3 nehemiah instead.

The difference between the ezra T and the nehemiah is that the nehemiah can execute two FPs per clock cycle making it twice as fast for floating point. Most windows games don't use FP at all but some do. Nehemiah is also capable of about a 20% higher clock speed.

The nehemiah has a big speed hole that the Ezra T does not. You can emulate a fast 386DX 40 and a fast 486DX4 100, but the 486DX16/33/66 speeds you can't do without clock skipping or software slow down like mo slow. On the other hand, the nehemiah can run a little slower than the Ezra T which can help with a couple of earlier DOS games, so tradeoffs.

With that said speed sensitivity is usually not that important. If your goal is getting games to work for its own sake then yeah the nehemiah or the ezra T are fun to tinker with. If your goal is to play games you actually want to play I don't think it needs to be very complicated. Any P3 can slow down to 386 speeds with caches disabled which is the sweet spot for many classic speed sensitive games. For the ones that are stubborn just use dosbox or even slo mo/ACPI clock skipping.

Sorry for the late response. This post is dated now as I now have a ASUS P3B-F REV 1.04 Slot 1 motherboard with a PII 350MHz as a placeholder until I'm ready to aquire a VIA C3 CPU.

So Nehemiah is the VIA C3 I should go with for a stable slowdown performence for 80s DOS games?. bloodem said Nehemiah is not as flexible as Erza-T, so will that effect the performence in games?. I'm not a very bright person. 😜

The card I'm planning to replace my current GeForce2 MX 400 is a GeForce4 Ti4200. Does Ti4200 have hardware T&L?.

On my processors, with a 66mhfsb and thr0ttle set to the max I can get to just about the performance of a 8088 @12mhz. I use mo slow to get it a bit slower still and I can play games going all the way back to the beginning of dos in a reasonable way. The Ezra T can get pretty slow as well but the bottom end for the nehemiah is a bit lower.

The nehemiah doesn't have a speed setting (without using ACPI clock skipping or software slow down like mo slow) to approximate a 486dx66. There is a jump once you enable instruction cache where you go from a 386dx40ish to a 486dx4100 ish speeds.

Personally, I own a lot of games and I only know of one that needs a 486 exactly to play correctly (magic carpet). I use mo slow and it works fine, but it's also a terrible game that makes me sick so I don't care that much.

In my experience the 386 performance levels are the most important. Several early 1990s DOS games that you actually want to play need a 386 to play properly (mostly related to sound issues). Any slot 1 or socket 370 can get down to 386 speeds by disabling L1 cacahe.

After that, there are a few games that need a specific pentium speed (like Terminator future shock) to run well, and a few edge cases if you are using voodoo card. The nehemiah and the Eztra T should be fine. The nehemiah does have more granular speed steps in the pentium range but both should work.

IMO don't over think it too much with compatibility. Any socket 370 CPU is going to work well. If you are going to play mostly DOS games from the classic era than an Ezra T is probably the way to go. If you are also interested in later windows 98 era 3d games than a pentium III or nehemiah will be a lot faster while still probably being flexible enough for DOS.

mothergoose729 wrote on 2023-02-08, 17:11:

On my processors, with a 66mhfsb and thr0ttle set to the max I can get to just about the performance of a 8088 @12mhz. I use mo […]
Show full quote

joeguy3121 wrote on 2023-02-08, 04:10:

Sorry for the late response. This post is dated now as I now have a ASUS P3B-F REV 1.04 Slot 1 motherboard with a PII 350MHz as […]
Show full quote

mothergoose729 wrote on 2023-01-25, 16:35:

The Ezra T is plenty fast for games up through about 2000, but if the game uses FPU at all you might consider staying with P3 or […]
Show full quote

The Ezra T is plenty fast for games up through about 2000, but if the game uses FPU at all you might consider staying with P3 or using a C3 nehemiah instead.

The difference between the ezra T and the nehemiah is that the nehemiah can execute two FPs per clock cycle making it twice as fast for floating point. Most windows games don't use FP at all but some do. Nehemiah is also capable of about a 20% higher clock speed.

The nehemiah has a big speed hole that the Ezra T does not. You can emulate a fast 386DX 40 and a fast 486DX4 100, but the 486DX16/33/66 speeds you can't do without clock skipping or software slow down like mo slow. On the other hand, the nehemiah can run a little slower than the Ezra T which can help with a couple of earlier DOS games, so tradeoffs.

With that said speed sensitivity is usually not that important. If your goal is getting games to work for its own sake then yeah the nehemiah or the ezra T are fun to tinker with. If your goal is to play games you actually want to play I don't think it needs to be very complicated. Any P3 can slow down to 386 speeds with caches disabled which is the sweet spot for many classic speed sensitive games. For the ones that are stubborn just use dosbox or even slo mo/ACPI clock skipping.

Sorry for the late response. This post is dated now as I now have a ASUS P3B-F REV 1.04 Slot 1 motherboard with a PII 350MHz as a placeholder until I'm ready to aquire a VIA C3 CPU.

So Nehemiah is the VIA C3 I should go with for a stable slowdown performence for 80s DOS games?. bloodem said Nehemiah is not as flexible as Erza-T, so will that effect the performence in games?. I'm not a very bright person. 😜

The card I'm planning to replace my current GeForce2 MX 400 is a GeForce4 Ti4200. Does Ti4200 have hardware T&L?.

On my processors, with a 66mhfsb and thr0ttle set to the max I can get to just about the performance of a 8088 @12mhz. I use mo slow to get it a bit slower still and I can play games going all the way back to the beginning of dos in a reasonable way. The Ezra T can get pretty slow as well but the bottom end for the nehemiah is a bit lower.

The nehemiah doesn't have a speed setting (without using ACPI clock skipping or software slow down like mo slow) to approximate a 486dx66. There is a jump once you enable instruction cache where you go from a 386dx40ish to a 486dx4100 ish speeds.

Personally, I own a lot of games and I only know of one that needs a 486 exactly to play correctly (magic carpet). I use mo slow and it works fine, but it's also a terrible game that makes me sick so I don't care that much.

In my experience the 386 performance levels are the most important. Several early 1990s DOS games that you actually want to play need a 386 to play properly (mostly related to sound issues). Any slot 1 or socket 370 can get down to 386 speeds by disabling L1 cacahe.

After that, there are a few games that need a specific pentium speed (like Terminator future shock) to run well, and a few edge cases if you are using voodoo card. The nehemiah and the Eztra T should be fine. The nehemiah does have more granular speed steps in the pentium range but both should work.

IMO don't over think it too much with compatibility. Any socket 370 CPU is going to work well. If you are going to play mostly DOS games from the classic era than an Ezra T is probably the way to go. If you are also interested in later windows 98 era 3d games than a pentium III or nehemiah will be a lot faster while still probably being flexible enough for DOS.

All I want is a CPU with a balance between compatibility and performence from early DOS games to Windows 9x games up to year 2000 running at 60fps and 1024x768. It would be no problem for me if the fps in some games are locked below 60, have frame drops in sections during gameplay, or the requirement to slow down the fps by throttling it lower. Which of the 2 VIA C3s or Pentium III is capable of my wishes while at 1024x768 resolution?.

I would recommend the Nehemiah. For software 3d games like quake it makes a pretty big difference to have the extra floating point and clock speed. I don't think the 486 speed range is important at all for DOS. In all but one or two cases a fast 386 or a slower Pentium will work just as well.

mothergoose729 wrote on 2023-02-09, 07:49:

I would recommend the Nehemiah. For software 3d games like quake it makes a pretty big difference to have the extra floating point and clock speed. I don't think the 486 speed range is important at all for DOS. In all but one or two cases a fast 386 or a slower Pentium will work just as well.

So with Nehemiah, where do you go to adjust it's speed?. In the system BIOS or do you need a software tool to do so?.

joeguy3121 wrote on 2023-02-09, 08:56:

mothergoose729 wrote on 2023-02-09, 07:49:

I would recommend the Nehemiah. For software 3d games like quake it makes a pretty big difference to have the extra floating point and clock speed. I don't think the 486 speed range is important at all for DOS. In all but one or two cases a fast 386 or a slower Pentium will work just as well.

So with Nehemiah, where do you go to adjust it's speed?. In the system BIOS or do you need a software tool to do so?.

SetMul, it is a DOS software that can adjust the CPU multiplier on the fly and works within Windows 9x too.

joeguy3121 wrote on 2023-02-09, 08:56:

mothergoose729 wrote on 2023-02-09, 07:49:

I would recommend the Nehemiah. For software 3d games like quake it makes a pretty big difference to have the extra floating point and clock speed. I don't think the 486 speed range is important at all for DOS. In all but one or two cases a fast 386 or a slower Pentium will work just as well.

So with Nehemiah, where do you go to adjust it's speed?. In the system BIOS or do you need a software tool to do so?.

Your system will bench slightly different than mine, but here is a decent place to start

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1usQPR … bPaw/edit#gid=0

The tools you will need are

setmul - a tool that sets the multiplier of the CPU can enable/disable caching and instructions.

Throttle - a tool that uses something called ACPI clock skipping to make your CPU slower

Mo slow - A software slow down tool that uses interrupts to slow down your CPU.

Where possible, don't use throttle/mo slow as they can have side effects. If you do use throttle, execute setmul AFTER as throttle will disable caches as well.

I would recommend writing batch scripts something like "386dx33.bat".

Note that the fsb can have an impact on performance as well. Some motherboards have the ability to set the FSB in software but most of the time you will have to hard reboot into the bios to adjust it, or sometimes even have to set jumpers on the motherboard to change the FSB. Just keep that in mind. In general, for dos 66fsb is what you will be using pretty much all the time, and then 133mhz fsb for windows/max performance.

Before you buy - approximating the performance of a CPU with tools is not equal to having that CPU! Is it good enough for games? Yes. Is it exactly the same in every way? No. DOS is weird, where exceptions area the norm. It's a fun rabbit hole to explore, but if the goal is really to "just play some damn games" you should use dosbox. I'm 100% serious. The hardware and getting things working for their own sake is the fun to be had here. Gaming is a nice side effect 😀.

The CPU speed is just one variable for all this DOS stuff. Sound card drivers, memory managers, weird patches you will need (especially if you are doing early DOS gaming) to get around things like having too much conventional memory (Yes!) and having a disc speed that is too fast (also yes!) and having a graphics card that supports standards that are too new (thrice yes!) are also part of the equation. Patches can help as well. Like I said, it's a deep rabbit hole where the fun is the setup and getting things working.

That doesn't mean every game will be a pain in the ass, but if you play enough DOS games some of them definitely will. Enjoy!

Throttle has the -C command line switch to avoid disabling the L1 cache and just only do the ACPI throttling.

Mate, i would go for mo'slo (despite the fact that i see that you don't want to use utils to slow things down). I run a PIII 750 Thinkpad T21 with this tool and it really works wonderfully. Besides this, i would suggest that you look out for something like a Toshiba CDT480 or similar (233 Pentium) where you will essentially have all-in-one with a very nice screen to boot.

mothergoose729 wrote on 2023-02-09, 17:21:

Your system will bench slightly different than mine, but here is a decent place to start […]
Show full quote

joeguy3121 wrote on 2023-02-09, 08:56:

mothergoose729 wrote on 2023-02-09, 07:49:

I would recommend the Nehemiah. For software 3d games like quake it makes a pretty big difference to have the extra floating point and clock speed. I don't think the 486 speed range is important at all for DOS. In all but one or two cases a fast 386 or a slower Pentium will work just as well.

So with Nehemiah, where do you go to adjust it's speed?. In the system BIOS or do you need a software tool to do so?.

Your system will bench slightly different than mine, but here is a decent place to start

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1usQPR … bPaw/edit#gid=0

The tools you will need are

setmul - a tool that sets the multiplier of the CPU can enable/disable caching and instructions.

Throttle - a tool that uses something called ACPI clock skipping to make your CPU slower

Mo slow - A software slow down tool that uses interrupts to slow down your CPU.

Where possible, don't use throttle/mo slow as they can have side effects. If you do use throttle, execute setmul AFTER as throttle will disable caches as well.

I would recommend writing batch scripts something like "386dx33.bat".

Note that the fsb can have an impact on performance as well. Some motherboards have the ability to set the FSB in software but most of the time you will have to hard reboot into the bios to adjust it, or sometimes even have to set jumpers on the motherboard to change the FSB. Just keep that in mind. In general, for dos 66fsb is what you will be using pretty much all the time, and then 133mhz fsb for windows/max performance.

Before you buy - approximating the performance of a CPU with tools is not equal to having that CPU! Is it good enough for games? Yes. Is it exactly the same in every way? No. DOS is weird, where exceptions area the norm. It's a fun rabbit hole to explore, but if the goal is really to "just play some damn games" you should use dosbox. I'm 100% serious. The hardware and getting things working for their own sake is the fun to be had here. Gaming is a nice side effect 😀.

The CPU speed is just one variable for all this DOS stuff. Sound card drivers, memory managers, weird patches you will need (especially if you are doing early DOS gaming) to get around things like having too much conventional memory (Yes!) and having a disc speed that is too fast (also yes!) and having a graphics card that supports standards that are too new (thrice yes!) are also part of the equation. Patches can help as well. Like I said, it's a deep rabbit hole where the fun is the setup and getting things working.

That doesn't mean every game will be a pain in the ass, but if you play enough DOS games some of them definitely will. Enjoy!

Jesus!!!!! Opening the computer to physically mess with the motherboard just to get one game to work doesn't sound cool to me and would rather sit back and mess with settings within the computer. If that's the case then I'd rather stick with my PII 350Mhz just for compatibility of speed sensitive DOS and early 9x Windows games though I'd also get below 60fps performence in later 9x Windows games but I don't care and use DOSBox-X as a alternitive for DOS games that are flat out incompatible on 98SE.

If their aren't too many DOS games where your required to mess with the jumpers on the motherboard, then I'll reconsider and play those type of games without risking harming my 98SE on DOSBox-X.

joeguy3121 wrote on 2023-02-09, 21:09:

mothergoose729 wrote on 2023-02-09, 17:21:

Your system will bench slightly different than mine, but here is a decent place to start […]
Show full quote

joeguy3121 wrote on 2023-02-09, 08:56:

So with Nehemiah, where do you go to adjust it's speed?. In the system BIOS or do you need a software tool to do so?.

Your system will bench slightly different than mine, but here is a decent place to start

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1usQPR … bPaw/edit#gid=0

The tools you will need are

setmul - a tool that sets the multiplier of the CPU can enable/disable caching and instructions.

Throttle - a tool that uses something called ACPI clock skipping to make your CPU slower

Mo slow - A software slow down tool that uses interrupts to slow down your CPU.

Where possible, don't use throttle/mo slow as they can have side effects. If you do use throttle, execute setmul AFTER as throttle will disable caches as well.

I would recommend writing batch scripts something like "386dx33.bat".

Note that the fsb can have an impact on performance as well. Some motherboards have the ability to set the FSB in software but most of the time you will have to hard reboot into the bios to adjust it, or sometimes even have to set jumpers on the motherboard to change the FSB. Just keep that in mind. In general, for dos 66fsb is what you will be using pretty much all the time, and then 133mhz fsb for windows/max performance.

Before you buy - approximating the performance of a CPU with tools is not equal to having that CPU! Is it good enough for games? Yes. Is it exactly the same in every way? No. DOS is weird, where exceptions area the norm. It's a fun rabbit hole to explore, but if the goal is really to "just play some damn games" you should use dosbox. I'm 100% serious. The hardware and getting things working for their own sake is the fun to be had here. Gaming is a nice side effect 😀.

The CPU speed is just one variable for all this DOS stuff. Sound card drivers, memory managers, weird patches you will need (especially if you are doing early DOS gaming) to get around things like having too much conventional memory (Yes!) and having a disc speed that is too fast (also yes!) and having a graphics card that supports standards that are too new (thrice yes!) are also part of the equation. Patches can help as well. Like I said, it's a deep rabbit hole where the fun is the setup and getting things working.

That doesn't mean every game will be a pain in the ass, but if you play enough DOS games some of them definitely will. Enjoy!

Jesus!!!!! Opening the computer to physically mess with the motherboard just to get one game to work doesn't sound cool to me and would rather sit back and mess with settings within the computer. If that's the case then I'd rather stick with my PII 350Mhz just for compatibility of speed sensitive DOS and early 9x Windows games though I'd also get below 60fps performence in later 9x Windows games but I don't care and use DOSBox-X as a alternitive for DOS games that are flat out incompatible on 98SE.

If their aren't too many DOS games where your required to mess with the jumpers on the motherboard, then I'll reconsider and play those type of games without risking harming my 98SE on DOSBox-X.

I am not sure what hardware you already have... but a slot 1 Pentium III katmai at 600mhz is more than enough to play pre 2000 games at 60pfs and can be found easily and for cheap. Disable L1 cache and you have a fast 386. Your setup can be expensive and complicated but it doesn't have to be.

mothergoose729 wrote on 2023-02-09, 23:07:

joeguy3121 wrote on 2023-02-09, 21:09:

mothergoose729 wrote on 2023-02-09, 17:21:

Your system will bench slightly different than mine, but here is a decent place to start […]
Show full quote

Your system will bench slightly different than mine, but here is a decent place to start

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1usQPR … bPaw/edit#gid=0

The tools you will need are

setmul - a tool that sets the multiplier of the CPU can enable/disable caching and instructions.

Throttle - a tool that uses something called ACPI clock skipping to make your CPU slower

Mo slow - A software slow down tool that uses interrupts to slow down your CPU.

Where possible, don't use throttle/mo slow as they can have side effects. If you do use throttle, execute setmul AFTER as throttle will disable caches as well.

I would recommend writing batch scripts something like "386dx33.bat".

Note that the fsb can have an impact on performance as well. Some motherboards have the ability to set the FSB in software but most of the time you will have to hard reboot into the bios to adjust it, or sometimes even have to set jumpers on the motherboard to change the FSB. Just keep that in mind. In general, for dos 66fsb is what you will be using pretty much all the time, and then 133mhz fsb for windows/max performance.

Before you buy - approximating the performance of a CPU with tools is not equal to having that CPU! Is it good enough for games? Yes. Is it exactly the same in every way? No. DOS is weird, where exceptions area the norm. It's a fun rabbit hole to explore, but if the goal is really to "just play some damn games" you should use dosbox. I'm 100% serious. The hardware and getting things working for their own sake is the fun to be had here. Gaming is a nice side effect 😀.

The CPU speed is just one variable for all this DOS stuff. Sound card drivers, memory managers, weird patches you will need (especially if you are doing early DOS gaming) to get around things like having too much conventional memory (Yes!) and having a disc speed that is too fast (also yes!) and having a graphics card that supports standards that are too new (thrice yes!) are also part of the equation. Patches can help as well. Like I said, it's a deep rabbit hole where the fun is the setup and getting things working.

That doesn't mean every game will be a pain in the ass, but if you play enough DOS games some of them definitely will. Enjoy!

Jesus!!!!! Opening the computer to physically mess with the motherboard just to get one game to work doesn't sound cool to me and would rather sit back and mess with settings within the computer. If that's the case then I'd rather stick with my PII 350Mhz just for compatibility of speed sensitive DOS and early 9x Windows games though I'd also get below 60fps performence in later 9x Windows games but I don't care and use DOSBox-X as a alternitive for DOS games that are flat out incompatible on 98SE.

If their aren't too many DOS games where your required to mess with the jumpers on the motherboard, then I'll reconsider and play those type of games without risking harming my 98SE on DOSBox-X.

I am not sure what hardware you already have... but a slot 1 Pentium III katmai at 600mhz is more than enough to play pre 2000 games at 60pfs and can be found easily and for cheap. Disable L1 cache and you have a fast 386. Your setup can be expensive and complicated but it doesn't have to be.

Here's my hardware:
MB: ASUS P3B-F REV 1.04 Slot 1
CPU: Intel Pentium II 350MHz
RAM: 512MB PC133
GPU 1: Nvidia GeForce2 MX 400 64MB
GPU 2: 3DFX Voodoo2 8MB
SC 1: Sound Blaster Live! CT4830
SC 2: Sound Blaster 16 CT2260

There's still the need of compatibility for speed sensitive Win 95 games such as Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire. I've tried slodn310 to use for Win games when I previously had a PIII 733MHz and a Socket 370 motherboard. While it did it's job of slowing down the speed, the voice and some sound effects audio would still cut off in Shadows of the Empire like it would when the game is ran on a faster CPU. The audio cut offs did not occur and the game ran slow and perfectly with PII 350MHz at 233MHz. Will the PIII 600MHz have a 233MHz setting in the BIOS?.

joeguy3121 wrote on 2023-02-10, 00:06:

Will the PIII 600MHz have a 233MHz setting in the BIOS?

No, the CPU multiplier is locked at 6x. Switching the FSB to 66 MHz would leave the CPU frequency set to 400 MHz which is still too fast for some speed-sensitive games.

However, the ASUS P3B-F motherboard is capable of working with any VIA C3 CPUs (it isn't really complicated as you think) and there is a suitable BIOS for it: Modified BIOSes for ASUS P3B-F, P3V4X, P3V133, CUBX, CUBX-E/L and P3C-E

Gmlb256 wrote on 2023-02-10, 00:20:

joeguy3121 wrote on 2023-02-10, 00:06:

Will the PIII 600MHz have a 233MHz setting in the BIOS?

No, the CPU multiplier is locked at 6x. Switching the FSB to 66 MHz would leave the CPU frequency set to 400 MHz which is still too fast for some speed-sensitive games.

However, the ASUS P3B-F motherboard is capable of working with any VIA C3 CPUs (it isn't really complicated as you think) and there is a suitable BIOS for it: Modified BIOSes for ASUS P3B-F, P3V4X, P3V133, CUBX, CUBX-E/L and P3C-E

What is FSB?. I'm new to old school computer tech. Is it the blue box with switches on the P3B-F 1.04 motherboard?. I never bothered it.

joeguy3121 wrote on 2023-02-10, 00:52:

What is FSB?

Front Side Bus: It is a bus between the CPU and host bridge/memory controller hub (the chipset with the green heatsink near the Slot 1 CPU in the case of the ASUS P3B-F). On older computers, the CPU clock is based on the FSB frequency which it gets multiplied. For example: PIII-600 = 6.0 x 100 MHz FSB = 600 MHz.

I'm new to old school computer tech. Is it the blue box with switches on the P3B-F 1.04 motherboard?. I never bothered it.

Yes, some of the DIP switches are for the FSB frequency but it isn't necessary since it has a kind of SoftMenu mode (or JumperFree as ASUS calls it) which allows to set it in the BIOS setup. ASUS has the motherboard manual on their website, which explains it in a detailed way.