The crap memory scores are just par for the course on VIA-chipset based boards.
Since this board also uses a PCI bridge chip, it might be best to stick with VLB cards.

foxzflow wrote on 2024-02-22, 22:21:

Sorry to not post before, I have been dealing with a I/O write problem on the CF card that I was using. I just replaced it and n […]
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CoffeeOne wrote on 2024-02-19, 22:29:

foxzflow wrote on 2024-02-19, 22:18:

Great, thanks for sharing all your thoughts! Really appreciate it. […]
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Great, thanks for sharing all your thoughts! Really appreciate it.

I just ran CHKCPU and it seems that CPU is correcly identified with WB enabled.

I am also running several test using speedsys and CACHECHK, confirming L1 cache and different performance settings related to RAM speed, external cache WT vs WB, etc.

Here some of my last screenshots after some testing.

IMG_20240219_231057.jpg

IMG_20240219_231017.jpg

One question. Why writing to floppy drive is a good / reliable for stability test?

Thanks!

Your L2 cache and memory values are really bad. Did you try faster settings in the Bios?

Sorry to not post before, I have been dealing with a I/O write problem on the CF card that I was using. I just replaced it and now it is fine.

Going back to the cache settings, I can not get better results than the ones published above 🙁
Also, I found another great post in the forum about 486 benchmarks, and are not so better than my results.

Anyway, here are the available settings from the BIOS motherboard.

Any suggestions?

Thanks!

That is really a weird BIOS. Cache timing is "Turbo", DRAM timing is "FAST", 🤣. Normally you have to set some parameters. What are the other options?
External cache I would set to Writeback, because there is also a setting for combine tag and alter ram. That means the alter or dirty functionality should work.
Also IDE block mode On. (minor prio)
DRAM write burst maybe to Enabled (also minor prio)

So external cache WB shall bring something, at least in real world applications like Doom.
The main parameters seem to be hidden by this Turbo, fast, .....

EDIT: All the PCI bus features for increased speed seem to be disabled, too.
But we were talking about cache and memory speed, for that is does not matter.

This board is more of a looker - it's really beautiful. But compatibility and performance wise, it's not the best. But even though the scores don't seem too high, they could be sufficient in real world test, like Doom.

Paar wrote on 2024-02-25, 19:33:

This board is more of a looker - it's really beautiful. But compatibility and performance wise, it's not the best. But even though the scores don't seem too high, they could be sufficient in real world test, like Doom.

Please post a picture then. The higher resolution, the better. I want to see the looker 😀

You don't like it? I think it's very nice with the combination of green and red. Looks high-end. But beauty is always subjective.

Paar wrote on 2024-02-25, 20:03:

You don't like it? I think it's very nice with the combination of green and red. Looks high-end. But beauty is always subjective.

Is there a picture somewhere? Did I miss something?

There is a nice photo on the retro web. I just think the red resistor networks look nice but there is a version of the board with black ones and with them the board looks generic.

foxzflow wrote on 2024-02-22, 22:21:

Sorry to not post before, I have been dealing with a I/O write problem on the CF card that I was using. I just replaced it and n […]
Show full quote

CoffeeOne wrote on 2024-02-19, 22:29:

foxzflow wrote on 2024-02-19, 22:18:

Great, thanks for sharing all your thoughts! Really appreciate it. […]
Show full quote

Great, thanks for sharing all your thoughts! Really appreciate it.

I just ran CHKCPU and it seems that CPU is correcly identified with WB enabled.

I am also running several test using speedsys and CACHECHK, confirming L1 cache and different performance settings related to RAM speed, external cache WT vs WB, etc.

Here some of my last screenshots after some testing.

IMG_20240219_231057.jpg

IMG_20240219_231017.jpg

One question. Why writing to floppy drive is a good / reliable for stability test?

Thanks!

Your L2 cache and memory values are really bad. Did you try faster settings in the Bios?

Sorry to not post before, I have been dealing with a I/O write problem on the CF card that I was using. I just replaced it and now it is fine.

Going back to the cache settings, I can not get better results than the ones published above 🙁
Also, I found another great post in the forum about 486 benchmarks, and are not so better than my results.

Anyway, here are the available settings from the BIOS motherboard.

Any suggestions?

Thanks!

You did the right thing by comparing the chkcpu and cache benchmark results—if they differ, it indicates that the write-back (WB) cache is indeed active. However, it’s worth noting that for 486 processors, WB cache usually provides only minimal benefits in games or FPS benchmarks.

In my experience, there are three requirements for successful WB cache operation:
1. The BIOS must support WB L1 cache CPUs,
2. The setting must be configured in the BIOS,
3. Proper jumpers must be set.

If any of these are missing, the processor might either run in write-through (WT) mode or may not start at all. Many are misled by the fact that the L1 WB cache option appears in BIOS menus as early as 1994. However, true WB support for DX4 and 5x86 processors, along with the appropriate BIOS support, didn’t become available until the second half of 1995. So, even if you enable the option, nothing happens because earlier BIOS versions lack the functionality to make it work.