but I noted that the DOSBox documentation stated that setting cycles higher than your machine can handle is BAD. What is meant by this?

Your game will actually run slower.

Could you damage your machine if you do this?

No more so than you could with any other computer program. DosBox like any other emulator uses your processor heavily. If you do not have adequate cooling on your processor then yes you could damage it.

Which brings me to my final question - is there a chance that if I set my cycles to auto, could this accidently damage my machine?

If you run a demanding program that causes your processor utilization to reach very high values and you do not have adequate cooling. Then yes you can damage your machine.

Thanks for your quick reply. I'll keep an eye on my CPU temp when running DOSBox. I seem to max my CPU temp at 140 degrees F, which is below the threshold that sets off an alarm.

It appears that the CPU temp threshold is set to 150 but I could set it higher. Does anyone know how hot you can safely let a standard CPU get before you are getting into the danger zone?

Auto seems to work well; I'm playing Avalon Hill's 'Third Reich' program and it runs much faster when I set cycles to auto.

DOSBox is GREAT!! 😁

Galaxus

p.s. I'm a bit of a DOS Freak myself! I've been called Doctor DOS at one point! 😀

Galaxus

Welcome to the forums, galaxus. 😎