I have Cyrix 5x86 100 Mhz, motherboard type - unknown ( I dont have =
any!!! documentation ), Diamond Stealth 64 Video ( S3 Vision 868 chip ) =
1 Mb Dram, 16 Mb Ram ( non-Edo ).
Before I started messing around with utilities my computer scored Cpu: =
161 and Video 164 in gp2log.txt.
Loading Vesa 2.0 driver ( Sdd52.exe or Univbe52) gave me Cpu: 170 =
!!!!?????, Video: 164 or 165. I was very surprised by Cpu score, so I =
tried different Vesa 2.0 driver ( s3vbe302.zip ) and the Cpu score was =
back to 161. Not much of an improvement, but still I would recomend =
using Sdd52.exe.
The next utility I use is S3spd302.zip ( as you see I'm listing =
compressed archives so you can find them on the Net ).
c:\> S3spdup.exe vesa+ vga+=20
gave me Cpu: 170 ( still with Univbe52 ), Video: 254 :-)))))))), but in =
the game itself not a big improvement :-((((( .... so I belive that =
graphic cards ( as long as they are at least middle class PCI ) don't =
make much difference in Gp2. All 3d graphic cards are pretty useless ( =
saying that I mean they don't perform that much better to justify mega =
bucks spent on them than 2d cards in Gp2 ). It's an all different story =
with games written specially for the chip that your 3d card has. BTW, =
does anybody know if ICR2 for Win95 takes advantage of 3d accelerators =
by using Direct3d drivers?
Next step was to get some extra power from my Cyrix 5x86 100. I use =
5x86.exe utility. I think I have found a good ( and stable ) 5x86.exe ( =
by P. N. Moss ) configuration:
5x86.exe btb=3Don lin=3Don fp_fast=3Don bwrt=3Don rstk=3Don lss=3Doff
Cpu: 178 ( kewl, 8 points for a short line in your autoexec.bat ),Video: =
the same
5 laps at Monaco and I decided to overclock my processor. Without any =
documentation ??????? Yep!! After an hour or two I found four switches =
that allowed me to change the bus speed. 75 Mhz - no thanks, 100 - the =
same, 100 ( yes at startup it displayed 100 Mhz) - but the sistem was =
unstable, so I thought this is it. I was running it at 120 Mhz, just my =
motherboard didn't recognise that. Some Bios tweaking and it was very =
stable, but slower than before I overclocked it!!!! That's =
understandable, because I slowed down Sram and Dram access and Bus speed =
in Bios. Just when I wanted to give up I remembered I guy that switched =
his 3.3 V processor power supply to 3,5 V. I wanted to do that, but it =
was only 3,3 V or 4 V !!!!!! So I changed it to 4 V. Turned it on and it =
was working!!!! In Bios I only had to lower Dram access time by one step =
and Gp2 is yet to crash. The chip is quite cool.
Cpu: 213 and sometimes 199 ( I don't know why; but PO in game is always =
the same. So processor doesn't slow down it's a processor test's fault. =
), Video: 275 or 274.
I used turbo switch and keylock to overclock processor and chage voltage =
to 4 V, so when I need extra power ( and with Gp2 who doesn't ???? ) I =
turn of computer, press turbo, turn the key and my processor runs at 120 =
Mhz with no problems.
I'm currently writting this in Win NT at 120 Mhz :-)))))).
I can play Gp2 in Vga with all textures on except sky, nothing in =
mirrors with estimated 25 fps ( I use 19,6 fps ).
I DO NOT encourage anyone to do the hardware speedup, but it's obvious =
that $ 60 ( or even less ) processor can compare to pentiums ( I saw =
P120 and his Cpu was only 225 ;-))), probably it wasn't configured well =
). I will probably buy Cyrix 6x86 when my 5x86 runs out of steam. Hope I =
don't have to wait to long ( remember 4 V ) :-)))))))) =20
Borut "and I thought Senna was crazy" Srebotnik
P.S. : I will let you know when it dies.
