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First post, by presto

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I asked this question tentatively in another thread and got no answer, and would like to ask it directly now.

I use DOSBox 0.70 on a PowerPC Mac (733 MHz) with very satisfying results. The only occasional problem being, it's sometimes a little slow (for my games/applications, I usually run at CPU cycles = 4000 or thereabouts). I am thinking about getting an Intel Mac, and believe it or not one of the criteria for my decision is whether or not DOSBox will run a lot faster on Intel Mac due to dynamic core. I hear of numbers like 50,000 CPU cycles and more for x86.

My question, for anyone using DOSBox on Intel Mac: Have you tried the "dynamic core" configuration option, and if so, what success have you had? (Specific info that would help me is what GHz your Intel mac is, are you using DOSBox 0.70, and how high in CPU cycles can you reach without trouble. And maybe what game/app.)

Reply 3 of 7, by presto

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I will assume that you mean 3000 cycles is as high as you can go without problems.

(By the way, I made a misstatement in my original post. I have two PowerPC Macs, a 733 MHz and a 1.8 GHz; my 4000 cycle comfort level is for the 1.8 GHz Power PC.)

At any rate, I'm interested in hearing from Intel Mac users of DOSBox . . .

Reply 4 of 7, by Qbix

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intel mac people should be able to use the dynamic core.
on 1.8 Ghz (core2duo ?) you should be able to play almost every game at full speed.

Water flows down the stream
How to ask questions the smart way!

Reply 5 of 7, by wd

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I will assume that you mean 3000 cycles is as high as you can go without problems

No he means 3000 is what is displayed when cycles=auto,
which is irrelevant as this is fixed for real mode.

The dynamic core should give pretty much the same speed
increase on x86 osx as on x86 windows/linux, as qbix said
the difference is unplayable -> playable.

Reply 6 of 7, by rhoenie

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The speed improvement on INTeL based macs is enormous. If the framerate of a late 90ies shooter is a suitable benchmark for you then you can expect up to 10 times more rendered frames on a 2GHz Core2Duo compared to a 1.8GHz G5 (yes, thats ~5fps vs ~50fps).