Doom on 386-40 vs 486-25

[butterburp]

#10005

Here’s a fascinating comparison from Phil’s Computer Lab:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3fcPxAO1FeU

In most real world applications, the 386 isn’t that much slower than the 486, but Doom is a stark exception. I suspect it is specifically designed to take advantage of the 486 architecture, like the internal cache on the CPU. As a result, the 386 chugs massively behind.

So if you want to play Doom in all its glory, the 486 is king. (Might need the 100 Mhz model…I seem to recall even the 66 had some lag during hectic scenes.)

[dr_st]

#10006

That’s an interesting video indeed.
Thing is about Doom – once it has enough power to get to the 35FPS it’s capped at – it is not speed-sensitive. So even a Pentium or a way faster system (K6-2/3, Pentium II or III) is going to play it just as well, and in fact, better, when it comes to newer, bigger and more complex levels.

[TigerQuoll]

#10010

Agreed, it is interesting.
Carmack was a pretty savvy programmer – I would not be surprised if he found some 486 specific optimisations.
I would be interested to see how this test would go with Fastdoom.
(FYI, it’s a modern port with heaps of new tweaks and optimisations)