The tale of a CPU upgrade
An Introduction
Steel Dust's computer was doing fine for business purposes. However, it's often in use for more mundane things like games that really drive the need for speed.
The base machine's details are here; it's a Cyrix PR166+ which has been fine for the type games I play (MechWarrior2, Warcraft II, Red Alert, NASCAR (I & II), and IndyCar (I & II)) until the most recent crop (like MechCommander, Heavy Gear, and MechWarrior2: Mercenaries with Direct 3D). The Cyrix chip is great for integer calculations and business applications, but the floating point unit (FPU) is only about as fast as an Intel P90, which is getting pretty long in the tooth.
Our new CPU package incorporates a PowerLeap PL-Pro/MMX Plus! adapter with an AMD K6-2/333 CPU running on a 66 MHz bus with a 5.0 internal multiplier. The K6-2/333 is normally spec'd to run on a 95 MHz bus with a 3.5 multiplier. The 66x5.0 is noticeably slower (see Tom's Hardware for a comparative discussion of the K6-2/300 at 100x3.0 vs. 66x4.5), but in this case I was willing to sacrifice some performance for ease of installation (see here for more discussion).
At this point (Nov. 1998), I'm happy. I've spent just over $200US, and have something approaching a PII/300 system. It should last me until summer or fall of 1999. (As of Feb. 1999, it's $179.99 for the AMD K6-2 333 MHz unit, and $159.99 for the Intel Pentium 233 MHz.)
Computers are one of my main hobbies (see here for another), and spending a mere $20US a month to be able to keep up with current games seems like a bargain. Somewhere down the line I'll probably have to buy a new system, but I've been nursing this one since it was an Intel 80286 12MHz based system in 1988. It still has the original 5.25 inch floppy drive! (Which doesn't see much use, but you never know... and everything else has been changed, some, numerous times.)
Incremental upgrades usually mean not having the best system, ever; but they also mean the financial bite is never too severe. You purchase a newer/faster version of only the components that are causing intolerable bottlenecks. Such a system will almost always be "good enough," but will leave you wanting more. However, you won't feel the pain of $3,000+ spent on the latest and greatest machine that is no longer cutting edge in 2 months!
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Contact us at SteelDust21@mchsi.com.
This page last updated 3/3/99