• Some users have recently had their accounts hijacked. It seems that the now defunct EVGA forums might have compromised your password there and seems many are using the same PW here. We would suggest you UPDATE YOUR PASSWORD and TURN ON 2FA for your account here to further secure it. None of the compromised accounts had 2FA turned on.
    Once you have enabled 2FA, your account will be updated soon to show a badge, letting other members know that you use 2FA to protect your account. This should be beneficial for everyone that uses FSFT.

Cyrix sighting/horror story

MooCow

MooCow

[H]F Junkie
2FA
Joined
Apr 13, 2000
Messages
9,417
So last night I was at a friend's house, he had two computers, 1 decent one that he currently uses, and one old scrap piece of shit PC. Well anyways we wanted to scrap a fan out of the old PC, and when I take off the HSF, what do I see? A FUCKING CYRIX :mad:

My friend told me he was ripped off when he bought it from a low balling college professor two or three years ago, he charged him $400 for a fucking Cyrix, with 64MB of RAM, shit ass PCI video card and modem.... you get the point. This made me fucking SICK!!!! Just looking at a fucking Cyrix... those FAILURES.... this happened last night and I woke up this morning and the memory kicked in again... I couldn't get it out of my head it was so sick. Help me... :(
 
....every older Cyrix I've ever seen eventually lost it's L2 cache, which would quickly cause the hard drive to be mysteriously corrupted.....over and over and over. Replacing them with Pentium's solved the dilemma permanantly.

I'd also forgotten the horror.......:eek:

Regards - B.B.S.
 
Target practice anyone, maybe a nice way to work out stress...with your foot!
 
starhawk said:
cyrix x86... :eek: ancient!
Click to expand...
I don't even think Cyrix even deserves to be called Ancient as it barely worked in the first place. I'd rather call it an ACCIDENT!!!

Phoenix86 said:
What model(s) of Cyrix chips are we talking about (BBS and the OP)?
Click to expand...
The POS.... :p
 
I remember some guys in the dorms who bought some comptuers from Computer Rennasance. The computer didn't work after a while. While digging inside the case, which was badged as a Pentium 2 (this was in '99 mind you) I noticed a loose HSF. I poped it off to reseat it and what do I see? A Cyrix. I laughed my ass off. They didn't understand, not being geeks. But I found it funny they got ripped off.
 
in our shop a lady brought in a computer and complained it was running slowly. I get it to boot, take a look at it, and OMFG it's a cyrix with 64mb of ram...running windows xp.

Not only that, but XP no service packs, viruses and spyware infested this thing..

You have any idea how hard it is not to laugh your ass off when you call with the diagnosis of "it's dead Jim." Lady actually asked if I could fix it...sigh... Explained that if I spent an hour and half or two fixing all the (software) problems on the box, she's be out about 5x the actual value of the system, pirated software and all.
 
I've got a cyrix 600(I believe that's the model number - 233mhz) from 1998 running in a hewlett packard right behind me. It's been going strong with no broken parts save a cdrom - 4.3gb hitachi hard drive and all. It works well for my younger sisters to type their school work on. Windows 98 first edition so they don't have to worry too much about spyware. Haha, I'm not saying it's fast, but it sure works. I'm amazed.
 
Tawnos said:
in our shop a lady brought in a computer and complained it was running slowly. I get it to boot, take a look at it, and OMFG it's a cyrix with 64mb of ram...running windows xp.

Not only that, but XP no service packs, viruses and spyware infested this thing..

You have any idea how hard it is not to laugh your ass off when you call with the diagnosis of "it's dead Jim." Lady actually asked if I could fix it...sigh... Explained that if I spent an hour and half or two fixing all the (software) problems on the box, she's be out about 5x the actual value of the system, pirated software and all.
Click to expand...
I pity the public who spend sometimes more than a thousand pounds on a computer, but don't even know the basics of anything about it.
 
even better... they are invariably paying 2x what they would in the us... manufacturers in britain forget that a pound is about $2 (i think it's $1.85 atm but i'm not sure) so everything is twice as expensive!

but the atmosphere of the UK more than makes up for it... spend a week in NYC if you don't believe me.

3 weeks in the UK was not enough for me... i'm going back... someday.
 
i have a laptop with a Cyrix chip in it...its total crap but then again all it does is run the software for my telescope. Its like 200mhz something like that. :cool:
 
I agree Cyrix chips were rather poor. The on thing that kinda intrigued me was their MediaGX chip which had everything including video and sound on the cpu itself. I think intel was designing A chip like that but scrapped it.
 
starhawk said:
:rolleyes: that's crazy... cyrix's were *that* bad?
Click to expand...
Yes... you missed out on a very dark chapter of computing history... be lucky that you did though. Cyrix was just another company out there competing with AMD and Intel at the time, though AMD was also kinda dragging along back then too, so nobody really knew who was going to come out strong back then. Well, Cyrix had mad compatibility issues with windows, BSOD's due to physical hardware designs.... I understand that designing and manufacturing CPU's is a complex and complicated process, but what they have left behind did more harm than good to the industry (those desktop CPU's back in the day). I can't believe they were really just objects to rip people off with... literally.
 
I thought I remember these chips being cooler than its competition. Maybe that was just a marketing ploy but it was supposed to be "the next big thing",.
 
nope, they ran hotter. Cyrix M2 6x86, better than a Pentium cuz a Pentium is only a 5x86... bullshit.

my little bro's lasted 3 years, then I upgraded him to a Pentium 200MMX. Every Cyrix PC I've seen, the CPU went out in under 5 years. Admittedly, they were all M2s of some type. Word has it quality has improved alot, but performance is not their game.

Currently they are cheap and cool, nothing more.
 
considering how Cyrix started out, I figure they didnt do too bad. Cyrix's were badged with a retarted PR system like amd does now, but they didnt have any power.

Cyrix's are horrible for any real work. my PR233 166Mhz Cyrix is comparable to a 100Mhz 486 when encoding MP3s. Just not worth it to upgrade. But we are talking about 16 year old technology. Things were to be different.

But if you remeber, AMDs used to be comparable to Cyrix's. Slow, hot, and incompatible.
10 years ago, Cyrix was an option worth considering for a person who wasnt rich. a P133 gaming system would run upwards of $3,000. Thats not considering extra goodies. Nowadays, Cyrixes should only be considered for nostolagia, coasters, or something to make a back-scratcher/keychain out of.

Do your friend a favor, buy a K6-500 on ebay, and throw the Cyrix out of the window. Why have an old computer if it cant be usefull? at least with a K6-500 you can watch DVDs and play some games.
 
starhawk said:
:confused: i thought cyrix had been bought out by via years ago?
Click to expand...
They did, and untill a few years ago, were still selling newer versions of Cyrix CPUs. I suppose thats what the transmenta or whatever cpu is based from. ether way, VIA and Cyrix are crap CPUs in a gaming machine. Via is more into embedded devices.
 
i upgraded from a intel 486sx/2-50 to a cyrix 486dx/2-80. was an awsome chip. i couldnt believe how much faster it was. i always wanted that amd dx/4-120 though... drool. ;)
 
i heard that one of the via boards (the epia cl6000 IIRC) got the spectacular and utterly unique score of 2 3dmarks in one of cpumag's tests... seems it was getting 0.3fps.
 
While im posting, Ill share my Cyrix sighting. My friend, whos parents live off unemployment checks, had a crap PC. He complained it wouldnt play is old games, and its a tiny baby AT case. I traded with a PII-266 with 64Mb PC100 ram, I wanted the smaller case.

I started installed turbolinux 6.0, which took FOREVER. linux loaded horribly slow, and I popped the heatsink off to see what was in there. a Cyrix PR233 150Mhz, which I quickly o/ced to 166Mhz. I ripped it out and swapped for a K6-200 which is running at 233.
 
bob said:
considering how Cyrix started out, I figure they didnt do too bad. Cyrix's were badged with a retarted PR system like amd does now, but they didnt have any power.

Cyrix's are horrible for any real work. my PR233 166Mhz Cyrix is comparable to a 100Mhz 486 when encoding MP3s. Just not worth it to upgrade. But we are talking about 16 year old technology. Things were to be different.

But if you remeber, AMDs used to be comparable to Cyrix's. Slow, hot, and incompatible.
10 years ago, Cyrix was an option worth considering for a person who wasnt rich. a P133 gaming system would run upwards of $3,000. Thats not considering extra goodies. Nowadays, Cyrixes should only be considered for nostolagia, coasters, or something to make a back-scratcher/keychain out of.

Do your friend a favor, buy a K6-500 on ebay, and throw the Cyrix out of the window. Why have an old computer if it cant be usefull? at least with a K6-500 you can watch DVDs and play some games.
Click to expand...
I've got to disagree on one point, I never had any incompatibilty issues with my old AMD processors, starting with the old 5x86. M2, on the other hand... 99% of comercial software worked, but the cheaper the program...

The only program I had that didn't work on my old AMD's was a hacked version of Bleem!, it made specific calls for Intel CPU's, there was a hacked AMD version as well, didn't work on Intels.
 
bob said:
While im posting, Ill share my Cyrix sighting. My friend, whos parents live off unemployment checks, had a crap PC. He complained it wouldnt play is old games, and its a tiny baby AT case. I traded with a PII-266 with 64Mb PC100 ram, I wanted the smaller case.

I started installed turbolinux 6.0, which took FOREVER. linux loaded horribly slow, and I popped the heatsink off to see what was in there. a Cyrix PR233 150Mhz, which I quickly o/ced to 166Mhz. I ripped it out and swapped for a K6-200 which is running at 233.
Click to expand...
i've got a pair of k6-ii's lying around, complete with board and ram... if you're interested in upgrading.

pm me if you're interested.

mods: feel free to delete this if you think it's too much of an eyesore... just don't delete me in the process plz ;)
 
Cyrix chips were a disaster reguardless of how you look at them. The ceramic was 2x as thick as AMD and Intel's similar chips, they didn't run on standard bus speeds (hence why they did the whole PR rating), they required more voltage and ran hotter than the origional Athlons.

Unless you had a Super Socket 7 motherboard with a PCI lock for 33Mhz, you were in for hell. My first and only Cyrix was a PR200. It ran on a 75Mhz bus with a 2x multiplier. The PCI bus was run on 1/2 the FSB, so 37.5Mhz. My PCI video card and sound cards did not run at that speed, I had to clock the damn thing down to a 66Mhz FSB and 133Mhz chip speed. My buddy's K5 was more stable and cooler.
 
you had about a 50/50 shot, mine was a PR200, 166MHz on a 66MHz bus, I ran it at 2x75 for a while, didn't help... nothing helped. Weak ass FPU, integer performance was nice, but not spectacular.

Reliability blew goats tho...
 
if you guys are aiming for nostalgia... anybody remember NexGen? mueahah... wish i still had that thing. Nx586-p90 :D never had a single problem with it... except the cpu was not upgradable.. i did hate that.
 
Heh...good old Cyrix. :) Those were the days....when AMD's were slow and hot, Cyrix was around, and Intel was king. ;)
 
I've got an IBM 6x86MX PR300 here on my desk that I pulled out of a computer from a dumpster. It doesn't say Cyrix anywere on the top but it does on the bottom. Neat looking cpu, though. It's gold colored.
 
ShuttleLuv said:
Heh...good old Cyrix. :) Those were the days....when AMD's were slow and hot, Cyrix was around, and Intel was king. ;)
Click to expand...

And the prices? Fit for a king ;)
 
ShuttleLuv said:
Heh...good old Cyrix. :) Those were the days....when AMD's were slow and hot, Cyrix was around, and Intel was king. ;)
Click to expand...
Yup, pretty much said it. I'd have to give it to Intel though, with the slightly higher prices as they have always had, they have been in the game since the beginning. Don't ask me to define "beginning" though...
 
Hey I bought a cyrix chip........for $1 to put in my CPU shadow box :D ...I did have a Cyrix 200mhz back in the day.....
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top