Anybody have any experince with Intel OverDrive processors?

[PentiumMMX]

As a side-project to the modern PC I'm building, I'm considering upgrading my oldest one, which I mostly use for the older games, to make it a little more powerful; which, after doing some research in the old, falling-to-pieces instruction book for this PC, I discovered it supports being upgraded to an Intel OverDrive processor. Before I splurge on a $100 NOS Pentium OverDrive, I'd like to gather some opinions first

Has anyone here used an OverDrive processor before? If so, how well do they work?

[BlueBMW]

I've used a few overdrive chips in the past. They're basically just plug and play as far as I can tell. I used on in a Pentium 90... overdrive to 150. And another in a pentium 133 overdrive to 200. Worked great!

You dont have to reset your bios or motherboard to compensate for the CPU speed difference. Usually the chips are designed for a few different CPUs. For example, the 150mhz overdrive chip would replace a pentium 75, 90 or 120 mhz and push it to 150mhz. The 200mhz overdrive chip was for a 90, 133 or 150mhz and pushed it to 200.

Its been a decade and a half since I installed these, but they're still working great!

[Jorpho]

I beg your pardon, but I'm having a lot of trouble trying to figure out why exactly you'd want to do this - especially for $100. For that kind of money, you could easily, say, get a much nicer computer that you could make a little less powerful for whatever these mysterious games are that your old computer is not powerful enough for.

I mean, if nothing else, when you start dealing in increasingly obscure parts, you're more and more likely to start running into increasingly obscure compatibility problems that you're likely to spend more and more time trying to resolve - which is fine, I guess, but isn't the goal here to play games ?

[NayusDante]

If you're playing late 90s Windows games on it, just get a Pentium II. My retro rig is a PII 266 and it runs everything up to System Shock 2 and Unreal Tournament.

Quake may run "the way it was designed" on a Pentium, but you're not losing anything by upgrading the processor to something with more oomph. The important parts of a retro rig are things like the sound card, 3d accellerator, RAM, hard drives, and OS. You can probably upgrade all of those for $100.

[PentiumMMX]

If you're playing late 90s Windows games on it, just get a Pentium II. My retro rig is a PII 266 and it runs everything up to System Shock 2 and Unreal Tournament.

I'd love to put a P2 in it, but the newest processor it can normally handle, OverDrive aside, is a 100Mhz Pentium. I did try putting a plain 150Mhz Pentium in it, but it could only use 100Mhz of that at the most. Also, I do have a 600Mhz Pentium III as it's counterpart; to handle some of the newer games (Half-Life, for example), but I though it'd be cool to push this desktop to it's limits to see what it can really do.

After all, it's processor and video card did not even meet the minimum requirements for Lego Island, yet it ran that game pretty well (It did get a bit slow if things on screen got too crowded, but it never crashed). It makes me wonder, with it's RAM maxed out, a much higher-end graphics card, and a faster processor, what it would be capable of.

Of course, I could easily get a used 100Mhz Pentium for about $5, if the OverDrive isn't worth it...

[NayusDante]

http://cgi.ebay.com/Asus-Intel-Penti...item5ad1e8695b

This has all you need. ISA, AGP, USB, everything. Pop Windows 95 and a Voodoo 3 on there and game away.

[PC-ENGINE HELL]

As stated in my sales thread, I have a huge stash of older pc parts covering a wide range I am willing to sell, including cpus, ram, motherboards, graphics cards, etc. If anyone wants, someone could send me a request list. I could sell a K6-2 cpu/motherboard combo that would be a hell of a lot cheaper then that Pentium Overdrive the Op mentioned.

[bobotech]

I'm sorry but I just don't get the idea of cranking up an old pentium 1 system. Like everyone has mentioned, going the ATX/Pentium II or better route just seems much easier.

Is there some games that will not run on an ATX based motherboard compared to the AT style motherboard on the early early pentiums?

[Jorpho]

Is there some games that will not run on an ATX based motherboard compared to the AT style motherboard on the early early pentiums?

The most relevant compatibility issues have nothing to do with ATX vs AT.

[bobotech]

The most relevant compatibility issues have nothing to do with ATX vs AT.

That just reinforces my point. Why bother souping up an old pre-ATX style computer when you can get an ATX based computer that has both ISA and PCI slots and a much faster cpu than a pentium 1 such as the pentium 2 or 3.

[NayusDante]

That just reinforces my point. Why bother souping up an old pre-ATX style computer when you can get an ATX based computer that has both ISA and PCI slots and a much faster cpu than a pentium 1 such as the pentium 2 or 3.

A Pentium II board with AGP and ISA is pretty much the desired board for a retrogaming rig. Fast enough for Windows games up to about 2001, and compatible with DOS games back to '81. If you're specifically wanting to play the older stuff, I can see wanting an older setup that doesn't require MoSlo.