Differences

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--- blog:386_shootout_fic [2021/05/17 09:56] – [Results] 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 461: / Line 465: @@
 | Wolfenstein 3D (FPS)         | 29.3      | 31.7     | 34.7     | 36.3     | 39.2     | 40.3     | 40.0     | 40.7     | 40.9     |
 | F1GP Bench 1 (CPU %)         | 59-64     | 56-62    | 48-51    | 40-43    | 37-40    | 37-40    |          | 37-40    | 37-40    |
-| Doom timedemo 3 (low detail) |           | 2284 / 32.7fps | 1897 / 39.4fps | 1682 / 44.4fps | 1649 / 45.2fps  | 1632 / 45.7fps | 1645 / 45.4fps | 1617 / 46.2fps | 1617 / 46.2fps |
+| Doom timedemo 3 (low detail) | 2298 / 32.5fps | 2284 / 32.7fps | 1897 / 39.4fps | 1682 / 44.4fps | 1649 / 45.2fps  | 1632 / 45.7fps | 1645 / 45.4fps | 1617 / 46.2fps | 1617 / 46.2fps |
-| Doom timedemo 3 (high detail)|           | 9057 / 8.2fps  | 7835 / 9.5fps  | 6919 / 10.8fps | 6468 / 11.5fps  | 6010 / 12.4fps | 6419 / 11.6fps | 5835 / 12.8fps | 5835 / 12.8fps |
+| Doom timedemo 3 (high detail)| 9171 / 8.1fps  | 9057 / 8.2fps  | 7835 / 9.5fps  | 6919 / 10.8fps | 6468 / 11.5fps  | 6010 / 12.4fps | 6419 / 11.6fps | 5835 / 12.8fps | 5835 / 12.8fps |
-| PC Player benchmark          |           | 4.2fps   | 5.4fps         | 6.4fps         | 6.6fps          | 6.7fps         | 6.6fps         | 6.8fps         | 6.8fps         |
+| PC Player benchmark          | 4.2fps    | 4.2fps   | 5.4fps         | 6.4fps         | 6.6fps          | 6.7fps         | 6.6fps         | 6.8fps         | 6.8fps         |
 ----
@@ Line 486: / Line 490: @@
 ===== Conclusion =====
-{{:blog:386:fic386sc_vga.png?500|}} {{:blog:386:fic386sc_cpu.png?500|}}
+=== CPU ===
+Synthetic CPU/FPU scores from Landmark:
+{{:blog:386:fic386sc_cpu.png?500|}}
+Dhrystone and Whetstone integer and floating point metrics from CheckIt:
+{{:blog:386:fic386sc_dhry.png?500|}} {{:blog:386:fic386sc_whet.png?500|}}
+=== Disk IO ===
+HDD transfer speed ratings from CheckIt:
+{{:blog:386:fic386sc_diskio.png?500|}}
+=== Memory & Cache ===
+Results for CPU cache, motherboard cache and main memory throughput from Comptest:
+{{:blog:386:fic386sc_ram2.png?500|}}
+=== Gaming ===
+Results from Wolfenstein 3D //special benchmark version//, as well as 3DBench:
+{{:blog:386:fic386sc_wolf3d.png?500|}} {{:blog:386:fic386sc_3dbench.png?500|}}
+Results from the //Doom -timedemo 3// game benchmark:
+{{:blog:386:fic386sc_gaming_doom.png?500|}}
+Combined results of all gaming benchmarks:
+{{:blog:386:fic386sc_gaming_combined.png?500|}}
+==== 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 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. 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!//
-{{:blog:386:fic386sc_f1gp.png?500|}} {{:blog:386:fic386sc_wolf3d.png?500|}}
+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.
-{{:blog:386:fic386sc_whet.png?500|}}{{:blog:386:fic386sc_dhry.png?500|}}
+With the MR BIOS ROM fitted there are a good range of optimisation settings available and it performs well (very well, in fact) at virtually every setting. At the most-optimised settings with the 486DLC-40 and a Cirrus Logic GD5428 it equals the best recorded scores for other DLC-supporting 386 motherboards and is within a hairs breadth of full 486DX-33 systems.
-{{:blog:386:fic386sc_ram.png?500|}} {{:blog:386:fic386sc_diskio.png?500|}}
+For folks who had a 386 originally, the upgrade path of this board to the DLC processors would have been very, very tempting.
-{{:blog:386:fic386sc_3dbench.png?500|}}
+At some point I would like to try to find a Tx486SXL-40 or Tx486SXL2-50, since they contain 8KB of cache compared to the 1KB of the DLC. But other than that, this is about as far as you can really go with a true 386 design.
 (Go back to the [[blog:386_pc|386 PC main page]])