Sorry if this has been discussed. I am new to this
group and am posting for a friend. Please reply
1) Should you buy a Pentium 200 or a Pentium Pro 200
or does it not make any difference when buying a new
machine. I want something that will last me a while
for both DOS games and NT applications. I know the
PRO will last longer for NT apps but is it sufficient
for DOS games, specifically F1GP2?
2) How does the floating point for the PRO compare
to the regular Pentium. I care about this for Quake
currently but future auto simulators may use floating
point.
3) I have heard that DOS games these days run in 32 bit
mode. Is that true? If it is, is a Pentium or a Pentium
PRO faster with a DOS game running in 32 bit mode (assume
same clock speed)?
Thanks again
Eddie Hunnell for Steve Dawes
The supposed issue with the Pro running games is that segment load times
are slower. Most DOS games use a run-time environment called a run
extender which allows it to run in protected mode utilizing more memory
than is available to traditional DOS applications, while still being able
to call DOS services. To my knowledge, the run extenders on the market all
use a lot of segment loading which can be slower on a Pro. However, I have
heard that the segment load cache from the Pentium was finally put into the
Pro, so I am not sure if some of this is just rumor. My experience is
running NASCAR Racing on a P120 and a Pro200. I saw little speed benefit
from the Pro200. I have not tried a P200 so I cannot comment. I do want
to point out that my P120 uses a S3 VRAM card whereas the Pro used a 3D
DRAM card, not running a version of NASCAR that supports 3D. The VRAM
cards are supposed to be faster.
If you really want a game capable machine, you really want a new Pentium
with MMX (MultiMedia Extensions). I am not sure what the ETA on these are.
Good luck. /THansen
