Will a 333 Celeron be too fast for good DOS gaming?

[Chaotic42]

F-19
Doom
Silent Service 2
Master of Orion
Silent Hunter

I want to play those old games that won't work well with XP on my 1800. Will a 333 be too fast for those games? Any problems I should look out for?

 

[TheGrandHooHa]

Well, I am not sure if you will see an apreciable difference, but you might try looking for programs that 'slow down' your CPU. i.e., there are a few programs out there that emulate a 386 or 486 on a faster processor. Not sure of any names though; maybe someone else will know.

 

[DeRusto]

well, there is one program that i know of that will make dos games playable on pretty much any new cpu.

you can find it here CPUKiller it only lets you use the program for..i think 20 minutes..unless you register it, which costs a good 20 bucks

 

[Schadenfroh]

moslo

 

[DaveSimmons]

IIRC the P2 celerons are not multiplier-locked so you can try downlockng it by setting your jumpers or BIOS as if it's a P2-233.

Moslo and (never tried it myself) CPUKiller should also help. A few some games like DOOM are written well enough that they use the clock timer to set the frame rate instead of just running at insane speeds. Others, like Wing Commander 1-2 will be unplayable without Moslo even at 133 MHz.

 

[MercenaryForHire]

iD was really ahead of the curve with the clock timer. Even Descent has issues with timers, and some Windows 95 games will do it too (Wipeout XL Turbo, anyone?)

- M4H

 

[redbeard1]

Even Descent has issues with timers

I used to love Descent, but when I upgraded from my AMD 400 with a 4 meg S3 video card, to a P3 800 with a 16 meg voodoo, it was way too fast and jerky and the video was blocky. I've considered building a slower box, just to play that again.

So, my guess at your answer would be that it would be about right. Though doom may be a little quick.

 

[ViRGE]

Originally posted by: DaveSimmons
IIRC the P2 celerons are not multiplier-locked so you can try downlockng it by setting your jumpers or BIOS as if it's a P2-233.

The 333mhz Celeron was most definately multiplier locked.

 

[redbeard1]

Some "locked" cpu's will clock down, especially older ones. The motherboard also makes a difference in whether they will slow down.

 

[Sid59]

celeron and "too fast" should never be used in the same sentence.

 

[MDE]

Originally posted by: Sid59
celeron and "too fast" should never be used in the same sentence.

That is so true. Unfortunately he used them properly .

 

[DaveSimmons]

Originally posted by: Sid59
celeron and "too fast" should never be used in the same sentence.

Actually for their time the 300a - 400 were great processors, faster than the P2s in some applications since the 128 MB cache ran at processor speed instead of the half-speed cache of the P2s.

The P3 Tualatin celerons were also good, fast chips compared to the initial P4's, and they're still good chips for file servers and playback-only HTPCs. Low-power and cool-running compared to P4s and XPs.

So not all celerys are second-rate, only the 600 - 766 MHz were broken-legged turtles. And of course all the P4 celerons.

 

[Mitzi]

Slightly off topic but worth mentioning anyway...

Anyone wishing to play Doom (any version), Hexan and Heretic should take a look at Legacy Doom. The application adds some interesting features such as OpenGL support, mouse look etc but I am sure these can be disabled if required so you can play in original mode. All you need is the original WAD files and you'll be good to go.

 

[sharkeeper]

Actually for their time the 300a - 400 were great processors, faster than the P2s in some applications since the 128 MB cache ran at processor speed instead of the half-speed cache of the P2s.

We wish!

Yes I remember paying $185 for a C300A that did 504 at stock voltage. Wouldn't do any more than that regardless of voltage but 504 was actually stable enough to call stable. Back when the PII 450 was ~$650, that was well worth it.

-DAK-

 

[Quixfire]

I'm playing most of my DOS games on a 400 Celeron or a 300 PII without any problems.