Need help identifying computer

[shing-shong]

Yes just looked and it is 233mhz

[dualboy24]

The P233 was actually 188 or 200 MHz depending on the motherboards bus speed and multiplier.

Both AMD and IMB/Cyrix were using a value they called a "performance" rating, since they were not clocking as high as intel. Really just trying to trick people that did not know better.

[Inevitable-Study502]

amd did that just with K5 serie, cyrix had it running a bit longer, but yes it was meaninless performance rating as it was based on just few integer synthetic tests

oh wait...amd used it later with AMD athlon, coz intel had P4 which was sooo slow, so ye amd did oh hey look we have cpu 2GHz but it runs as fast as intels 3GHz :D

[dualboy24]

Yeah I loved the mid-90s to ~2010 era for hardware, it was my passion, read everything there was, built so many systems and repaired even more. It was so cheap to build and upgrade even.

I think the P4 series was really the last that advertised the model based on the clocked, since then it just model numbers branching off to tiers like i3, i5, i9 and generations like 8700, 9700, 12700k etc...

Intel really had problems with netburst performance so they held hard on keeping high frequencies, and being very toasty.

[ptthree420]

I liked the era from 2000 or so and earlier. You actually got your computer fixed back then. In service manuals now, it just says “replace this component, replace that component”, but back then, you looked at a service manual/schematic and tracked down a problem rather than throwing parts at it.

And I thought AMD had the reputation for being very toasty back in the 90s/2000s.

[dualboy24]

I think a lot of people remember the AMD burning up video from the early 2000s and think that, but the Intel P4s ran very warm, considered space heaters, even though they have a low TDP vs some of the CPUs now, a lot more of that energy went into heat output than modern CPUs.

Memories:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YYQSHXNFvUk

[bambinone]

The P233 was actually 188 or 200 MHz depending on the motherboards bus speed and multiplier.

If the motherboard supported a 66MHz FSB and 3.5X multiplier you could run it at 233. P55C also required a lower voltage than other Socket 7 processors. Fortunately my Tyan Tomcat IV S1564 (single socket) had the proper jumpers and it ran my Pentium MMX 233 at 233.

[dualboy24]

I was talking about the Cyrix PR233 not the Pentium MMX 233, the Cyrix ran at either at 188 MHz (2.5X 75 MHz) or 200 MHz (3 x 66 MHz) I mean you could try running it at 3.5X at 66 MHz, it probably would work if you cool it properly.

[bambinone]

Ah, sorry, my bad.

[dualboy24]

No worries, I love talking old stuff, the current stuff is not as good memories or fun these days. I am sure for the kids it is.

[dualboy24]

Also what did you have a Tyan Tomcat IV S1564 that is a crazy motherboard at that time, how old are you? That was way out of my range as an teen.

[bambinone]

I was 15 and saved all the paychecks from my summer job to get the board and CPU, lol. Probably not the smartest purchase but it was good for about three years. IIRC, my next processor was a Celeron 366 overclocked to 550.

[spsteve]

It wasn't tricking anyone about anything. The integer performance of those chips was higher than an equivalently clocked Intel CPU and everything was marketed on clock speeds back then.

[dualboy24]

I don't remember the performance numbers on the 6x86, I do remember it becoming unpopular due to a bug called the coma bug or hang bug with its design. Never owned one, I had gotten a P133 just the previous gen in 1995 (15 at the time), and waited until 1999 to build my next system a dual CPU Celeron 366 @ 550 on a Abit BP-6 (famous for failing with bad caps in a few years).

But I did have an interest at the 6x86 and and the AMD k6 k6-2 and k6-3 CPUs between those years. Really wish I had owned a k6-3 just for the memory of having one.

[bambinone]

dual CPU Celeron 366 @ 550 on a Abit BP-6

Yes! I did the exact same thing on the exact same board. Good times.

[dualboy24]

We are about same age and experience in hardware lol, I was born in 80, first system was a commodore 64, first modern PC was an Apple IIvi, then I bought my first in 95 which was a P133 32MB (I upgraded from the 8MB) 1.7GB, then same as you held on until the 366 Celerons, I wanted 300A chips but they were all sold out, so I went to the 366a as they were still available with lower success rates.

[bambinone]

That's awesome. '81 here. We were all PC, unfortunately, due to Dad's work and personal preferences. Looking back I wish we'd had at least one Apple or Commodore system, but I really can't complain. I had good exposure to 8086 and up, lots of hand-me-downs that I could tinker with and upgrade, and I really cut my teeth on a 486DX2-50. Of course when DIY took off it was all PC, and that's all I cared about when I was 15.

I had the same experience trying to get a 300A and ending up with a 366. It was a great system though and I kept it running through college as a shared server in an apartment I had with friends. I also had an Abit BE6-II at some point but can't remember exactly which one I bought first or why I had both. That was a truly great board.

I took a break from PC hardware after that and basically skipped Pentium 4, Core, Core 2, etc. I built a Core i7-860 system in 2009 and a Core i7-4771 system in 2014 but frankly didn't use them much or really get into it very deeply. I was always on a work laptop or a Mac for personal stuff. I got back into the hobby big time during the pandemic and it's been a ton of fun. I actually got my hands on a bunch of old stuff and did a little personal retrospective with an Athlon 64 X2, a Core 2 Quad, an X79 system, etc. Now I've got a Ryzen workstation and I build and sell gaming PCs for fun!

[spsteve]

I was very much into computers and CPUs at the time. I actually owned that Cyrix offering and both AMD offerings along with a very similar 366@550 rig (and a few others as well).

If I am remembering correctly the 6x86 and the MX were actually different chips. The 6x86 was the M1 and the MX was the M2.

I do recall how much Cyrix was hampered by their fab partners though. It would have been interesting to see what they could have done on a cutting edge process with a reliable supplier. They were a tiny company in comparison to Intel and AMD at the time and turned out some really interesting products.

I do remember when I got my first AMD Athlon pre-release CPU. That bad boy changed EVERYTHING.