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I'm applying for a contest that challenges people to write a program for a classical computer. I will apply with a PC/MS-DOS entry. The rules permit using a CPU up to a 386.

I'm been investigating a little and I've found that the most powerful 386 in the market was the Intel 386DX running at 40MHz. Anyway, I don't know if any of its competitors (AMD, Cyrix, Texas Instruments...) released a 386-compatible CPU with better overall performance (I'm specially interested on those ones including in-chip FPU).

Do you people know any better 386 variant? Additionally, I need to know how to emulate it on DOSBox with the most accuracy available.

Thanks!

starblue
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davidcm
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  • Hmmm. Isn't it generally encouraged that one complete this type of challenge on the *actual hardware* if at all possible? Emulation still strikes me as cheating just a little bit. :-) – Cody Gray - on strike Mar 11 '11 at 09:06
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    To my knowledge, no 386 (Intel or otherwise) was released with an integrated FPU. The 486 DX was the first in the range to ship with an integrated FPU. – Chris Taylor Mar 13 '11 at 17:16

2 Answers2

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Fastest desktop CPU seems to be Am386 @40Mhz, Intel finished at 33 (there were special versions at 40, but not for desktops). IBM variant had alot of cache, but 33Mhz max(and it was pretty rare).

When you want to emulate precise specifics of old hardware, this might be not possible. I would just use DOSBox without using any 486+ instructions (easy to turn off in compiller).

BarsMonster
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There is no 386 with a integrated FPU. There are some parts which could be considered close to the 386 design internally, like the Cyrix 486 DLC, but which were sold as a 486 because of marketing reasons. Actually the Cyrix could replace a 386 (same pin layout) and clocked up to 100 MHz.

But I strongly doubt that you will find an emulator to emulate these chips exactly.

Gunther Piez
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