Differences

This shows you the differences between two versions of the page.

--- blog:386_shootout_fic [2021/05/17 12:58] – [Final Thoughts] john
+++ blog:386_shootout_fic [2021/05/17 21:12] (current) – [Final Thoughts] john
@@ Line 182: / Line 182: @@
 {{:blog:386:img20210504195230.jpg?500|}} {{:blog:386:img20210504194809.jpg?500|}}
+===== Case Setup =====
+{{:blog:386:img_2055.jpg?600|}}
 ===== Speed Testing & Tuning =====
@@ Line 524: / Line 528: @@
 ==== Final Thoughts ====
+   * Testing proves that the Cirrus Logic card is **as-fast-as** or **faster-than** the Tseng Labs ET4000AX in every real-world benchmark. That's no surprise as it's a much later design.
    * The Am386DX-40 really doesn't benefit much from the ISA overclock to 13MHz; in Doom it is clearly the processor that is by far the most restrictive element.
-   * The Tx486DLC-40 going from cpu cache-disabled to the default cpu cache-enabled setting results in a 12% improvement in Doom low-detail frame rates and 13% in high-detail.
+   * The Tx486DLC-40 going from cpu cache-disabled to the default cpu cache-enabled setting results in a **12%** improvement in Doom low-detail frame rates and **13%** in high-detail.
-   * The Tx486DLC-40 going from cpu cache-disabled to the most optimised cache-enabled setting results in a 17% improvement in Doom low-detail frame rates and a staggering 35% improvement at high-detail.
+   * The Tx486DLC-40 going from cpu cache-disabled to the most optimised cache-enabled setting results in a **17%** improvement in Doom low-detail frame rates and **a staggering 35%** improvement at high-detail.
-   * Boosting the ISA clock from 10MHz to 13MHz with the DLC brings just a 1% improvement to Doom low-detail frame rates (to be expected, since we're not pushing many pixels!) but more than 6% in high-detail.
+   * Boosting the ISA clock from 10MHz to 13MHz with the DLC brings just a **1%** improvement to Doom low-detail frame rates (to be expected, since we're not pushing many pixels!) but more than **6%** in high-detail. In certain benchmarks this is noticeable, but in the real world many ISA cards would be way out-of-spec at such a setting; in that case the 10MHz ISA clock is a good, stable increase over the ISA 'default' standard of ~8MHz.
-   * From non-optimised cache-enabled settings to most-optimised shows gains over just under 5% in low-detail modes and 19% in high-detail Doom timedemo results. Who wouldn't want a free 19% of extra performance!
+   * From non-optimised cache-enabled settings to most-optimised shows gains over just under **5%** in low-detail modes and **19%** in high-detail Doom timedemo results. //Who wouldn't want a free 19% of extra performance!//
 This is a really nice 386DX board - it has plenty of expansion slots, supports up to 256KB of cache, and natively detects and supports the DLC-series of 386-486 processors from Cyrix and Texas Instruments. To get the best performance from the DLC processors you really must use the //cyrix.exe// cache control utility as the basic support from the motherboard BIOS really does not let it shine.