AMD 486 chips - "Windows Compatible" vs "Designed for Windows 95" - does it matter?

[cjreha]

AMD 486 chips - "Windows Compatible" vs "Designed for Windows 95" - does it matter?

Hi all,

I'm planning to build a high-end 486 for DOS and early Windows gaming (3.x era) and I have a question regarding AMD's 486DX4 100 and 120 MHz chips.

I see that there were versions of both chips made with a "Designed for Microsoft Windows 95" logo on them and I was wondering, could you put DOS and Windows on one of these? Or would it not work correctly with that chip? I ask because I know of the existence of a "Windows compatible" 120 MHZ DX4 CPU from AMD but the only ones I can find for sale are all "designed for 95". :curse:

Asking as I'd like to put a really high end 486 chip in the build. I am aware there are higher end 486 chips than the AMD's but I'd like to stick with them.

Thanks :D

 

[glitch]

As far as I remember, it's just a marketing gimmick DOS, Windows 3.x and earlier, Linux, and the BSDs all run fine on them. I doubt there were any differences in the 486 core at all, AFAIK there are no extra instructions added in, at least not as far as Linux is concerned.

 

[krebizfan]

There was a slight difference. The "Designed for Windows 95" chips incorporated the various power savings techniques that were common in laptop chips.

 

[Osgeld]

^^ this, but other than that there is no performance difference, just better power management to go with the better power management of the OS


as far as DOS, you can boot oDOS 6.22 just fine on a brand new i7 (just dont expect all the peripherals to work and the ram is capped lol)

 

[Scali]

DOS, Windows 3.x and earlier, Linux, and the BSDs all run fine on them.

I had an early Am486DX2-66, and for some reason, OS/2 didn't run on it. You could install it, and you'd get through the installation process just fine, but when it wanted to boot, it got a BSOD. Booting in safe mode worked okay.
After replacing the CPU with an Intel 486DX2-66, OS/2 worked, so it must have been something in the CPU.
I have had no other issues with that CPU. DOS and Windows worked fine, as did any DOS extenders I've ever tried.