🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <toma.78...@expert.cc.purdue.edu> to...@expert.cc.purdue.edu (Duke Toma) writes:
>	Why do people keep talking like Pentiums are still outragously
>priced?  There are systems available NOW for under $2000 and it hasn't
>even been cloned yet.

Except that the $2000 systems are VERY bare bones, and based on the P60, not
the '90, and don't get more than small incremental performance improvements
over your generic 486DX2/66.  I personally don't consider the Pentium 60 to
be a viable upgrade from what I have now.  (Yes, I know that the Pentium
chip has better floating point.  Name two games that use it.)

> If and when AMD and Cyrix make their own 586's
>the prices will drop considerably more.

Oh, certainly.  But you've just argued against your first point.  Pentium 90
grade processors will be dirt cheap someday, just like everything is dirt
cheap SOMEDAY, just not at the moment.


				Ron
-- 

You can't give power to government and confine it only to those politicians
who share your ideology. -- Oliver

to...@expert.cc.purdue.edu (Duke Toma) writes:
>joe...@dumbo.cc.utexas.edu (Ajaipal Tanwar) writes:
>>Why should they support the 486 a year from now? By then, the P5 and it's like
>>should drop below $2000 and be readily available. Why not take advantage of
>>all that processing power, especially when your goal is to create worlds? If
>>you can't run their games with your setup, don't buy them. They will still make
>>plenty money, and when you do get an adequate system, you can get it too.

>	Why do people keep talking like Pentiums are still outragously
>priced?  There are systems available NOW for under $2000 and it hasn't
>even been cloned yet.  If and when AMD and Cyrix make their own 586's
>the prices will drop considerably more.

	Well, I don't know about over there, but down here they still are
"expensive" (ie for an upgrade... I am in no mood to dump my WHOLE system to
buy a new one).  But more than that, what will happen to those people who buy
Pentiums now only to find that in about a year and less from now - when the
P6/686 and the Power PCcome out - those pentiums may become "obsolete" as 486's
are starting to become now?


>	If you have a low end system,
>which some 486's are, then you can't expect games to run %100 like designed.

	To be honest, I DO.  The 486 is still a chip with tremendous processing
power... just because there are faster chips out there it does not mean that
this chip is obsolete.  If coding does become "tighter" (like OSI did with the
WC Armada ENGINE) then you can play games decently.  Of course I realise that
SVGA full animation is a little out of the way of the 486 because of the SVGA
processing requiremnts, but I cannot think of more than a dozen titles out there
that use full screen SVGA processing.


>My point is that you don't NEED a Pentium to run new games.  Unless
>you have the money to upgrade your system every time any new piece
>of equipment comes out, you might have to deal with a little slow-down
>here or a pause there.  And if a game is absolutely unplayable on
>your system, wait until your next upgrade.  You'll find it a whole
>lot cheaper, and may even decide it's not worth buying.

	Good points.

							- Falcon

r...@gasco.com (Ron Christian x5545) writes:
>In article <toma.78...@expert.cc.purdue.edu> to...@expert.cc.purdue.edu (Duke Toma) writes:
>Except that the $2000 systems are VERY bare bones, and based on the P60, not
>the '90, and don't get more than small incremental performance improvements
>over your generic 486DX2/66.  I personally don't consider the Pentium 60 to
>be a viable upgrade from what I have now.  (Yes, I know that the Pentium
>chip has better floating point.  Name two games that use it.)
>				Ron

	Not to disagree to your post, but the answer to you question is
"Falcon 3.0" and some (if not all) of the "V for Victory" games.

							- Falcon

>In article <toma.78...@expert.cc.purdue.edu> to...@expert.cc.purdue.edu (Duke Toma) writes:
>Except that the $2000 systems are VERY bare bones, and based on the P60, not
>the '90, and don't get more than small incremental performance improvements
>over your generic 486DX2/66.

	Depends on how much you shop & what you want. I already had a 
sound card & CD-ROM, so I shopped for just a system. For $2000 (in the
US), you can get a P-5/90, 8Mb, 256Kb cache, PCI video card w/1Mb or 2Mb,
540 Mb IDE drive, 1 floppy, 15" monitor. I paid extra because I wanted a
good video card (#9GXE Pro, 2Mb VRAM), and a 17" monitor... (got those from
another dealer) Still, my total was $2,750. (Oh, just for the perceptive, yeah,
this does include keyboard, mouse, and WfWG 3.11. It also has 16550 UARTs,
which is nice, enhanced IDE, also nice, and an enhanced parallel port, which
is ok, too.)

	Most things run 2-3 times as fast as my old '66, so I'm pretty happy.
I did the new PCMag benchmarks (WinStone, DosMark, etc), and found I had an
average performing P90 with above average graphics, which is what I wanted.
So, not too hard to do. I could, for just a bit more, have gotten a double
speed CD-ROM drive. ($75 from MidWest Micro, the place I bought the system
from) Heck, they even tossed in a copy of MicroSloth Works!

	Oh, just one more point. Altho I got the system from MidWest, I looked
at similar setups from 3-4 other companies. Not quite as good, obviously, or I
would have gone to them, but competitive, so this wasn't a special offer or
remainder deal, or anything like that.

	So, the moral is that the new price point for P90's is $2000-$2500.
For those outside the US, of course, it may differ, I dunno. (Actually, I
wouldn't mind hearing some examples of prices outside the US!)

Tom

In article <3artkb$2...@harbinger.cc.monash.edu.au>
           gme...@lindblat.cc.monash.edu.au "GM Enierga" writes:

> r...@gasco.com (Ron Christian x5545) writes:
> >In article <toma.78...@expert.cc.purdue.edu> to...@expert.cc.purdue.edu
>  (Duke Toma) writes:
>> <snip> (Yes, I know that the Pentium
> >chip has better floating point.  Name two games that use it.)
> >                               Ron
> 
>         Not to disagree to your post, but the answer to you question is
> "Falcon 3.0" and some (if not all) of the "V for Victory" games.
> 
>                                                         - Falcon
> 
Hope they don't fall foul of the Pentium FPU bug . . . Intel are still
keeping quiet about this tho' they apparently _will_ swap your Pentium
if you've got a bad one. 
 
|~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~||~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~||
| Nick Hadlow                ||"Et semel emissum volat irrevocabile      ||
| UK                         ||                                verbum"   ||
| Ni...@tungle.demon.co.uk    ||  - Horace                                ||
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ni...@tungle.demon.co.uk (Nick Hadlow) writes:
>In article <3artkb$2...@harbinger.cc.monash.edu.au>
>           gme...@lindblat.cc.monash.edu.au "GM Enierga" writes:
>> r...@gasco.com (Ron Christian x5545) writes:
>> >In article <toma.78...@expert.cc.purdue.edu> to...@expert.cc.purdue.edu
>>  (Duke Toma) writes:
>>> <snip> (Yes, I know that the Pentium
>> >chip has better floating point.  Name two games that use it.)
>> >                               Ron

>>         Not to disagree to your post, but the answer to you question is
>> "Falcon 3.0" and some (if not all) of the "V for Victory" games.
>>                                                         - Falcon

>Hope they don't fall foul of the Pentium FPU bug . . . Intel are still
>keeping quiet about this tho' they apparently _will_ swap your Pentium
>if you've got a bad one. 
>| Nick Hadlow                ||"Et semel emissum volat irrevocabile      ||

	I hear they will only swap it if you are an academic or student or
something where the FPU reliability will hamper YOU severely... Unfortunately
I do not think they mean us "game-playing-mortals-who-sometimes-do-work"...
	I don't know, it's what someone here wrote.

							- Falcon