List of CPU speed sensitive games
From Vogons Wiki
This is a list of games that do not run properly in some ways on CPUs faster than what was common than at the game's release. 1990+ for the most part, since before that, this was more often the case than not: As a general rule, games for IBM XT computers require a 8088 4.77 MHz to play right.
Some CPUs, for example AMD K6-2 and earlier Pentium IIs have selectable multipliers, which may help with achieving the lower speeds recommended for some of the games in this article. Additionally, disabling L1/L2 caches will slow down the processor as well, e.g. a Pentium III with disabled caches will be comparable to a 386. Also, it is possible to use a slow 3D card to slow some of the games down, especially with the early proprietary APIs; a special case here are Rendition Vérité cards, since their slow VGA performance will also bottleneck DOS games using these modes.
For games with unlisted optimal CPU specs refer to the minimum requirements published by the developers.
DOS
| Game title | Symptoms with faster CPUs | Recommended CPUs | Fix available? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Double Dragon (1988) | Locks up before final battle and player 2 will have fewer moves | 8088 4.77 MHz | |
| Wing Commander (1990) | Runs too fast | max. 386DX-33 | |
| Test Drive III (1990) | Runs too fast | 386 | |
| The Secret of Monkey Island (1990) | Garbled MT-32 music with fast CPUs | ? | |
| Space Quest IV: Roger Wilco and The Time Rippers (1991) | Bugs every time a sequel police is on the screen | 386? | |
| Ultima VII: The Black Gate (1992) | ? | ? | |
| Zool (1992) | ? | ? | |
| Star Control II (1992) | ? | ? | |
| Lotus III: The Ultimate Challenge (1992) | Crashes with invalid opcode error | Pentium II 350 or slower | |
| Syndicate (1993) | Crashes at startup with glass breaking sound (5x86 133/P166 and Sound Blaster) | ? | |
| Day of the Tentacle (1993) | No sound with >P166MMX | ? | |
| Lemmings 2: The Tribes (1993) | Requires HDD smaller than 504 MB (CHS limit) or else the copy protection checksum calculated by the installer is wrong | ? | |
| SkyRoads (1993) | Runs too fast | ? | |
| Alien Carnage (1993/1994) | Runs too fast? | ? | |
| Descent (1994) | Runs too fast with ~higher PIIs | Pentium 233 MMX | |
| Jazz Jackrabbit (1994) | Doesn't start (error message "Runtime error 200") with about PII 233 | plays fine with patch | TPPATCH (3rd party) |
| Theme Park (1994) | Runs too fast | 486 DX2/66? | |
| Warcraft: Orcs & Humans (1994) | Scrolls too fast, water animations cycle too fast, somewhat playable | 386DX-33 | |
| King's Quest VII: The Princeless Bride (1994) | Speed bug with one or two puzzles | ? | |
| Warlords II Deluxe (1995) | Crashes on startup with fast CPUs | 486DX2-66 | |
| Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness (1995) | Scrolls too fast with PIIs, but playable | Pentium 133? | Battle.net Windows version works fine |
| Alien Trilogy (1996) | Runs too fast on higher P3s | ? | |
| Descent II (1996) | Normal game speed, but mouse sensitivity drops down on high framerates | Pentium II 300? | |
| Toonstruck (1996) | Speed bug with one or two puzzles | ? | |
| Micro Machines 2: Turbo Tournament (1996) | ? | ? | |
| Hi-Octane (1996) | Speed problems | Pentium 90 | |
| Carmageddon (1997) | Runs too fast | ? | |
| Bubble Ghost (1987) | Runs too fast/slow | 386SX 16 sweet spot |
Windows
| Game title | Symptoms with faster CPUs | Recommended CPUs | Fix available? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Master of Orion II (1996) | Battle screen scrolls too fast, minor issue | Pentium 166? | |
| Jane's US Navy Fighters 97 (1996) | Runs too fast | ? | Increase resolution; Jane's Fighters Anthology version works fine |
| SimCopter (1996) | Runs too fast/glitchy and crashes on P4 3.2 GHz/98SE | K6-2 350 | |
| Streets of SimCity (1997) | " | " | |
| Interstate '76 (1997) | Broken physics? | ? | |
| Wipeout 2097/Wipeout XL (1997) | Runs too fast | ? | supposedly available |
| Imperialism (1997) | World map scrolls too fast | plays fine with patch | Patch 1.1 (slight scrolling delay added) |
| Sega Rally Championship (1997) | Direct3D version plays too fast | ? | |
| Star Trek Generations (1997) | Runs too fast | ? | |
| Grand Prix Legends (1998) | Runs too fast with >1.7 GHz | plays fine with patch | CPU patch for version 1.2 |
| Star Trek: The Next Generation: Klingon Honor Guard (1998) | Crashes to desktop in the "Advanced Options" menu, CPU throttling issues | ? | |
| Unreal (1998) | " | ? | |
| TNN Outdoors Pro Hunter (1998) | " | ? | |
| Gex: Enter the Gecko (1998) | Lack of framerate limiter may cause the game to play too fast in certain situations | ? | |
| Monaco GP Racing Simulation 2 (1999) | Runs too fast at >2.0 GHz | <2 GHz | |
| Speed Busters (1999) | Crashes at >2.0GHz | <2 GHz | GOG.com version works fine |
| Unreal Tournament (1999) | CPU throttling issues | - | See main article for details |
| Pro Rally 2001 (2000) | Hangs at >2.0 GHz | plays fine with patch | Install with [1], update to 1.1, [2], may not work with AMD FX CPUs |
| Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: The Fallen (2000) | CPU throttling issues | ? | Use Direct3D renderer |
| Cossacks: European Wars (2001) | Runs too fast in multiplayer? | ? | |
| FIFA Football 2002 (2001) | Crashes to desktop with >2 GHz | <2 GHz | |
| Silver (1999) | Timing issues with a certain bell puzzle on fast Pentium 4 and above CPUs | PIII/Athlon 1GHz and below | GOG.com version works fine |
| Havoc (1995) | Too fast on late PII and above | Pentium II 300 | CPU Killer |
| Hexplore (1998) | Crashes after a minute on fast P4 and above | Pentium III 500 | Fix for Modern Systems |
| Betrayal In Antara (1997) | Day/Night transitions + movement too fast | Pentium MMX 233 | GOG.com version works fine |
