# Software for changing clock speed? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 18, 2005, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/software-for-changing-clock-speed/295211 "2005-03-18T21:45:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Catalyst](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e47774/32.png) [@Catalyst](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Catalyst)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2005, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/software-for-changing-clock-speed/295211/1 "2005-03-18T21:45:41Z")
I want to play some of my older DOS games, but my computer’s just too damn fast for them to be playable. Unfortunately, my BIOS only supports overclocking, not underclocking, so I need a software solution. Does such an animal exist? I can’t remember the specific mobo at the moment, but it’s based on the KT800 chipset. The CPU is an Athlon 64 3000+. ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2005, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/software-for-changing-clock-speed/295211/2 "2005-03-18T22:06:08Z")
You are probably going to run into a lot more problems than just the clock speed. Here’s a page that may help: [http://www.dosgames.com/xphints.php](http://www.dosgames.com/xphints.php) It addresses the speed issue as well as many more problems you are likely to encounter. ---
**Author:** ![Reply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reply/32/15952_2.png) [@Reply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reply)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2005, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/software-for-changing-clock-speed/295211/3 "2005-03-18T23:28:08Z")
You could also try a DOS emulator like [Dosbox](http://dosbox.sourceforge.net/). That should address the speed issue and perhaps also other issues that haven’t popped up yet. It’s especially helpful for certain games that won’t run at all on Windows 2000/XP. ---
**Author:** ![Catalyst](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e47774/32.png) [@Catalyst](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Catalyst)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2005, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/software-for-changing-clock-speed/295211/4 "2005-03-19T00:58:13Z")
I made a bit of a mistake. I tried to run the game in Dosbox only to discover that it is in fact an old Windows game (circa '94). It’s definitely Win9x compatible (that’s how I used to play it), but it just runs too fast on this system to be playable. That, and the sound’s wonky, but I can deal with that later. So it seems I don’t really need an emulator, just some way to throttle back the processor a bit, down to 10% or so of its usual performance. Disabling the L1 and/or L2 cache should do that, but then Windows will take forever to load, and I don’t know how well it’ll actually run the game with such a handicap. Any thoughts? ---
**Author:** ![Reply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reply/32/15952_2.png) [@Reply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reply)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2005, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/software-for-changing-clock-speed/295211/5 "2005-03-19T01:37:48Z")
Go to [this page](http://www.geocities.com/kulhain/) and download Turbo. ---
**Author:** ![Catalyst](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e47774/32.png) [@Catalyst](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Catalyst)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2005, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/software-for-changing-clock-speed/295211/6 "2005-03-19T01:49:18Z")
> [@Reply](#): > > Go to [this page](http://www.geocities.com/kulhain/) and download Turbo. Have you tried it with WinXP? The site only mentions compatibility with 9x and NT. ---
**Author:** ![Reply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reply/32/15952_2.png) [@Reply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reply)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2005, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/software-for-changing-clock-speed/295211/7 "2005-03-19T01:59:45Z")
Yes, it works simply by taking up a percentage of your CPU’s power. I tried it on XP and everything became slower. I don’t know how well it would work with your particular game, but it’s worth a try… ---
**Author:** ![Reply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reply/32/15952_2.png) [@Reply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reply)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2005, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/software-for-changing-clock-speed/295211/8 "2005-03-19T02:04:28Z")
I mean, in _theory_, it should work perfectly with any game. But of course, in practice, theory doesn’t always work. ---
**Author:** ![Catalyst](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e47774/32.png) [@Catalyst](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Catalyst)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2005, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/software-for-changing-clock-speed/295211/9 "2005-03-19T02:17:51Z")
Thanks! I’ll give it a shot tonight.