: >>>I have a chance to pick up a 486DX-50 system which runs its VESA bus
: >>>at 50 MHz. The implication is that graphics will go much faster than
: >>>on typical systems which have 25Mhz or 33Mhz busses. Does anyone
: >>>have such a system and has tried it with NASCAR SVGA? I know I'm not
: >>>especially impressed with my P90 when it's running in SVGA, but I also
: >>>know its internal bus is running at 33MHz.
: >>>
: >>>Note: This is not a DX2-50, a DX - this would either be an
: >>>old system released before DX2's came out or a new one specially
: >>>purchased for this kind of thing.
: I wish you the best of luck, but I can state with little fear of being
: wrong that:
: 1) Your external cache will probably not work at all
Cache works fine on my DX50.
: 2) If you don't have 60ns DRAM, you'll need a ton of wait states
70ns chips are quite happy.
: 3) Make sure your CPU has an alarm on the cooling fan
Mine has been running fine for three years now.
: 4) Good luck finding a video card too...
My ATI is quite happy.
Having said all this though, I don't think you'll have the power to run
NASCAR properly. Remember, clock speed isn't the only factor. Pentiums
can do more in each clock cycle than a 486 can. Killer graphics aren't
just a lot of bus transfers - they also eat processor time, it's still
the CPU that determines what to display and where to display it. A
DX50 will outperform a DX2-50, but don't buy it expecting today's
NASCAR and tomorrow's sims to run properly.
Brian
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