Socket 7 Builds
Socket 7 platform offers late DOS and early Windows games compatibility. Almost anything from 1990 to 1998 can be played at reasonable framerate and with enough comfort.
Contents
Choosing a CPU
List of supported CPUs
- Intel Pentium (75-200MHz)
- Intel Pentium MMX (166-233MHz)
- AMD K5
- AMD K6 (sometimes K6-2 and K6-III)
- Cyrix 6x86
- idt WinChip, WinChip2
As you can see from the list above, there were plenty of CPUs for Socket 7 platform. However, the CPU of choice is usually either classic Pentium or Pentium MMX. They are better supported by chip set manufacturers (all most common chip sets were also produced by intel) and have good performance. AMD and Cyrix CPUs performance is subject of lots of arguments. WinChip processors were originally designed for low-cost market and though don't perform as well as Pentiums. They have more simple architecture and are closer to 486 and 5x86 rather than Pentium.
Pentium Classic
Classic Pentium CPUs have a wide variety of speeds, from 75 to 200 MHz. They are supported by literally any Socket 7 chip set and proved to be fine performers. Pentium Classic is a good choice for Socket 7 Build, especially for beginners. They are easy to find and cost next to nothing.
Benchmark information will follow shortly.
Pentium MMX
Pentium MMX CPUs arrived in 166, 200, 233MHz versions (66MHz x2.5, x3.0, x3.5).
Comparing to Pentium Classic, they have different core (P55C) with lesser 0.28 µm process. L1 cache was doubled (32KB vs 16KB). A new set of instructions called MultiMedia eXtensions was introduced, although the software to use them started to appear only by the time Pentium MMX processors were severely outdated.
Pentium MMX processors are supported by later Socket 7 motherboards with split rail voltage. Not every motherboard will accept such a CPU.
Overall Pentium MMX 233 can be considered the best choice of authentic CPU for a socket 7 system. When overclocked to 262MHz or further, it provides exceptional performance no other Socket 7 CPU can match. However, Super7 CPUs like K6-2 and K6-III still outperform Pentium MMX, but they were designed for different class of hardware and though comparison of the two is not fair.
Pentium MMX CPUs are harder to find than Classic Pentiums, but they are still quite cheap.
Overclocking
Disclaimer: Author does not take any responsibility for any damage caused by you in the course of overclocking.
Pentium MMX are known to work fine over clock. For that purpose 233MHz version should be used, as most 166 and 200MHz versions have locked multipliers. On a solid motherboard most Pentium MMX can work fine on bus speeds 60, 66, 75 or even 83 MHz (see table). However, RAM and PCI bus might not cope with 83 MHz FSB.
| FSB | x2.5 | x3.0 | x3.5 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 60MHz | 150MHz | 180MHz | 210MHz |
| 66MHz | 166MHz | 200MHz | 233MHz |
| 75MHz | 188MHz | 225MHz | 262MHz |
| 83MHz | 207MHz | 250MHz | 291MHz |
Benchmark information will follow shortly.
