I use almost exclusively AMD K6-2 (3D) CPU's right now because of the high
performance to cost ratio.  These chips occasionally have minor quirks to
deal with.  For example, Windows 95 will need a patch (www.amd.com) for K6-2
chips over 300 MHz to avoid a startup protection fault error.  Some software
installations may require a manufacturer patch or simple workaround.  For
the most part the chips are painless and dirt cheap for the performance they
yield.  Beware the Via chipsets with Windows 95, they can be flaky (fine
with Win98, though).

I have not encountered any case of an AMD K6-2 chip flat out not running
software.  Some software will be optimized for Intel P-II API's and not for
AMD K6-2/3D (which hits the AMD performance for that app.), but most new
games are coming out with the AMD API's (thanks to some of the major
computer companies offering AMD alternatives).

The Cyrix chips are super cheap and relatively slow, and may run in to
frequent installation glitches (although again the fixes are simple
generally).  The key here is Cyrix doesn't offer as fast of chips as AMD,
and AMD doesn't offer as fast as Intel...so for top end you HAVE to go Intel
(first to the market so far since the days of the Commodores).

In my opinion, for a given dollar value, the average user will get a lot
more from the K6-2 option.  Now, if you are talking overclocked or dual
motherboard, the story changes...

Wanna buy my used Cyrix P166+ dirt cheap?
Martin Kurr
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> ----------
> From:         Setyo Nugroho[SMTP:[log in to unmask]]
> Subject:      [PCBUILD] Non - Intel processor based PC
> Does anybody have experience in using non-Intel Pentium processor based
> PCs
> (e.g: AMD K6, K6-2 3D, IBM M6, M7)?
> Are non-Intel processors reliable and fully compatible with Intel's?
> Can they work well with all operating system and software designed based
> on
> Intel's machine language?
>
>
> Thanks,
> Setyo Nugroho
>
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