New processor - expensive?

I want to buy a used computer for my kid to bang on, but the processor is “an 366 Intel Celeron” and the software I’ve got for him requires “486DX2/66 or higher”.

Can I still use this software on this pc? Probably not, right?

So what would it take to make this computer compatible with our games? These are all cartoony games, if that matters. And would it be affordable/cheap?

I guess an alternative would be for me to give him my old laptop to bang on and use the pc for work/internet but I don’t want to do that.

Thx!

Jennifer

A Celeron 366 is much newer and faster than a 486-66. You needn’t worry about that.

A possible problem: Some older games have driver problems with newer systems. But unless the game is ancient, you can probably make it work on that system.

Thanks Cranky! Silly me, I thought the higher the number, the faster it was.

Jennifer

It’s generally true that the higher the number the faster the processor, but you have to look at the right number.

When you see the 486-66 numbers, the 66 means 66MHz.

Therefore, your Celeron 366MHz is many times faster than that.

Hope that helps

It’s actually correct: some games may run at a speed where you can’t follow (control) them anymore. So be carefull!

Rascal, I didn’t understand that, I’m sorry. These are just kids’ cartoony Jump Start games, so they’re nothing like Counter Strike or anything. Perhaps when I go to see the seller/computer, I can bring one of our disks along.

Thanks everyone,

Jennifer

It means if the processor is too fast then the game runs too fast so that you can’t play it anymore.
Counterstrike has IMHO complex graphics and thus requires lot’s of processing power, but the games you mention might not. Thus they are processed / displayed too fast to play them properly.

But it’s a good idea to try it out first, then you can be sure only.

Have a nice weekend!

If the game is really an old DOS game, then chances are it will run too fast. There was a bug in a Borland library that didn’t do any effect up to 486 processors, but came to light with the Pentium generation. (They offered a fixed library later, but that was only useful for the game companies, you can’t recompile the game as you don’t have the source code.) (DOS) Games compiled using that library will run extremely fast, depending on the processor speed (on which it should NOT depend on…). Now imagine a Jump’n’Run game with 10-20x the original speed… :?