GP2 with a K6

I want to improve the performance of GP2 with a faster processor. I know the K6 chip isn't so hot at FPU as a Pentium - but just what difference is there? Is the GP2 performance of the K6-233 better than a Pentium-166MMX or Pentium-200MMX for instance? Anyone got experience using a K6 with GP2?

What good timing you have? I have just bought (two weeks ago) a K6 200 and tried it with gp2 and it is a vast improvement over my old pc (a 486 DX4 100). The graphics can be turned all the way up (except for the sky) and gp2 runs fine at 25 fps, even at Monaco. Although obviously the cpu occupancy takes a bit of a dive at graphic intensive tracks such as Monaco? But in my experience a K6 200 works great with gp2. Now for the even better news..... I have just overclocked my K6 to run at 233Mhz, and so far it is running fine, with no probs. And the performance with gp2 has improved too. The k6 is not the be all and end all as far as cpu's go, but if you look at the performance you get per pound (or dollar) it's very hard to beat? I am very happy with mine, especially now that I have successfully clocked it!!!!!! Get one TODAY..... d:~)) **Peter**

I have both a system with K6-233 and Pentium 233MMX overclocked to 266MMX. The K6 runs a little faster than the overclocked Intel 233MMX. Hands down winner is K6 because you don't have to overclock it to get the performance.

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> What good timing you have? > I have just bought (two weeks ago) a K6 200 and tried it with gp2 and it > is a vast improvement over my old pc (a 486 DX4 100). > The graphics can be turned all the way up (except for the sky) and gp2 > runs fine at 25 fps, even at Monaco. > Although obviously the cpu occupancy takes a bit of a dive at graphic > intensive tracks such as Monaco? > But in my experience a K6 200 works great with gp2. > Now for the even better news..... > I have just overclocked my K6 to run at 233Mhz, and so far it is running > fine, with no probs. > And the performance with gp2 has improved too. > The k6 is not the be all and end all as far as cpu's go, but if you look > at the performance you get per pound (or dollar) it's very hard to beat? > I am very happy with mine, especially now that I have successfully > clocked it!!!!!! > Get one TODAY..... > d:~)) > **Peter**

Got to agree here - haven't done in-depth testing but ICR2, Nascar 2 and EF2000 2.0 (G+) Rendition versions are faster, as is GP2 compared to my Cyrix P/150 o/c'd to 200. Got a K6/166 yesterday for $150!! - have run it at 188 MHZ (2.5 multiplier - 75 mhz bus) and 200 MHZ (3.0 multiplier - 66 mhz bus) with no problems - for the price it is really something - seems to outperform P5/200 mmx by a good margin and it's cheaper, even after the Intel price cuts. Ken

On Sat, 09 Aug 1997 14:33:51 -0400, Ken Beard >> I have just bought (two weeks ago) a K6 200 and tried it with gp2 and it >> is a vast improvement over my old pc (a 486 DX4 100). [snip] >> The k6 is not the be all and end all as far as cpu's go, but if you look >> at the performance you get per pound (or dollar) it's very hard to beat? >Got to agree here - haven't done in-depth testing but ICR2, Nascar 2 and >EF2000 2.0 (G+) Rendition versions are faster, as is GP2 compared to my >Cyrix P/150 o/c'd to 200. Ken- This is great news, but I'm confused about something. Does ICR2/Rendition work with the K2? I thought it had a check for Intel-only, and that it dropped down to a slower (non-DMA?) mode when something other than an Intel chip was present. If ICR2/Rendition works normally with the K6, I'll be kicking myself, because I just bought a P-166 for the same price I would have paid for a K6 200! Alison Remove the spam blocker NOSPAM to email me. http://www.nh.ultranet.com/~alison

Start kicking.... The K6 works fantastic in all these games.

KIck twice. Intel dropped prices of 166MMX to that of 166vanila.

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> >This is great news, but I'm confused about something. Does > >ICR2/Rendition work with the K2? I thought it had a check for > >Intel-only, and that it dropped down to a slower (non-DMA?) mode when > >something other than an Intel chip was present. > >If ICR2/Rendition works normally with the K6, I'll be kicking myself, > >because I just bought a P-166 for the same price I would have paid for a > >K6 200! > >Alison > Start kicking.... > The K6 works fantastic in all these games.

Yeah, K6 is cheaper than what a P5 went for last month, and is still cheaper than the MMX chips after the cuts - and runs Rendition games flawlessly. I was scared to get non-Intel after my experience with a Cyrix, but am quite pleased. It's a rocket :) Ken

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>>This is great news, but I'm confused about something. Does >>ICR2/Rendition work with the K2? >>If ICR2/Rendition works normally with the K6, I'll be kicking myself, >>because I just bought a P-166 for the same price I would have paid for a >>K6 200! >Start kicking....

Ow! Ow! My backside is already sore! One more question: Does the K6 have functionality equivalent to a Pentium MMX, or does it only have the Pentium instruction set? In other words, when used with DirectX, is it as fast as a Pentium MMX, with all the MMX graphics functionality and extensions? Alison Remove the spam blocker NOSPAM to email me. http://www.nh.ultranet.com/~alison

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> Ow! Ow! My backside is already sore! > One more question: Does the K6 have functionality equivalent to a > Pentium MMX, or does it only have the Pentium instruction set? In other > words, when used with DirectX, is it as fast as a Pentium MMX, with all > the MMX graphics functionality and extensions? > Alison > Remove the spam blocker NOSPAM to email me. > http://www.nh.ultranet.com/~alison

Keep on kicking, the K6 rocks with GP2 (read much faster than anything short of a Pentium II). To answer your question, it really depends on which extensions you are running. MMX and floating point performance are "functionally" slower on the K6, but the 32-bit integer performance is much better on the K6 than a Pentium MMX. My subjective impression is that is runs every game I own very smoothly (K6-200). That includes Indycar2 and Nascar2. Also, I have heard nothing about compatiability problems with the K6 and any games. The only conflict I have caught wind of is with running a K6 and a Creative Labs Soundblaster 64 Gold sound card. See if you can return the P166 and trade up! -- Matt & Audrey Lewis