Slowdown Utilities

Most of these Slowdown Utilities are of increasingly less usefulness with multi-core CPUs and ever increasing speeds. They are of no use for DOS games as those games should be played in DOSBox. Note: Never use a Slowdown Utility with DOSBox. That will have no effect on the game and will only increase the stress on your computer. These utilities should only be used with older Windows only games with timer bugs that have no patch. This page exists mostly for historical reference.

Originally from a thread by Stiletto on VOGONS

See The New PC Slow Down Page for more Slowdown Utilities.

If you have speed problems with your game, you could use a secondary (old/slow) PC or PC emulation (DOSBox or sometimes... Bochs) that will actually run the programs at a slower speed. If this is not possible or practical, you can try a slow down utility. For Windows applications, use Turbo, Moslo 4BIZ or CPU Killer.

WARNING! Many of these utilities could break your system. It's going to take some searching that can find anything that works in Windows 2000 / XP.

List of Slowdown Utilities

AT-SLOW - AT-SLOW is an alternate slowdown utility that works well on 286, 386, and 486-class machines, utilizing the Real-Time Clock chip found in 286's and above.

http://www.oldskool.org/pc/help/old...es/atslo410.zip
Bremze - Bremze (Latvian for 'brake') slows down PC performance by controlling the speed of execution of programs. This feature can be useful when running old processor-dependent programs on new PCs, particularly to decrease the speed of games for 'better results', or when wishing to gain a better understanding of the sequences and functioning of programs, etc. Big diapason of braking coefficients (enough to fastest PCs), braking level control and switch on/off by hot-keys, control output trough PC speaker and screen corner. Full command line control. Slows down DOS and Windows programs. Versions for both interrupts are available - 08h and 70h. Bremze works really well, but also isn't free (stops working after 5 minutes). Doesn't work as well under Win2k/XP as it does under 98SE, http://ansis.folklora.lv/bremze/
CPUKiller - CPUKILLER takes the control of your processor and makes the resource occupancy grow enough to slow down the execution of other applications . When you want your computer to return at the normal speed you have only to stop CPUKILLER!. You can even configure CPUKILLER to launch automatically your old programs and to terminate itself when they exits! http://www.cpukiller.com/
ICD/ICE - ICD and ICE disable and enable a 486 or Pentium's internal cache, which can result in a smooth slowdown. http://www.oldskool.org/PC/help/old...rces/icdice.zip
MIPS - MIPS is the speed benchmark Trixter uses when he is trying to get his PC down to a certain speed (and if he uses it, you know it's got the oldskool seal of approval ;-). It has "1.0" ratings for a 4.77MHz 8088, 8MHz AT, and 16 MHz 386, so you can gauge how close you are to a certain speed. For example: If you were aiming for an 8MHz 286 and your "number" according to MIPS was 1.7, you'd know that you were too fast and had to slow down your PC a bit more. Conversely, if your "number" after running MIPS was 0.6, you'd know that you slowed down your PC too much and should try again. Just run it and you'll see what he means. Note: This utility reports absolutely wacky results on anything over a 486/66's speed, so if you get numbers that don't make sense, you'll know that your machine is over a 486/66's speed and you need to slow it down further. http://www.oldskool.org/PC/help/old...ources/mips.zip
MoSlo - Mo'Slo is used to slow a specific application or batch file. It should be noted that the free version of Mo'Slo - Mo'Slo 1.32 only works on computers slower than 700mhz. Mo'Slo Deluxe 2.1 only works on computers 550mhz and slower. http://www.hpaa.com/moslo/
Mo'Slo 4BIZ - MoSlo 4BIZ isn't free, but it does work well and you'll get good support from the author, as well as a free upgrade to the latest registered version. Does not work as well under Win2k as it does under 98SE, Mo'Slo 4BIZ has two slowdown methods - the second one is supposed to be better for some video applications, but only works on Win 9x / Me. The second method, however, does work with DOS on Virtual PC, even with XP as the host. Also, 4BIZ lets you not only select the percent speed you want - it let's you select the exact speed you want (i.e. a var set to 6400 = 166mhz), but that feature doesn't seem to work 100%. 4BIZ has been fixed to work on computers 1THz and slower.
MySLOW - MySLOW is a public domain utility for slowing down MS-DOS games and applications run under Windows 95, Windows 98 and Windows ME. http://www.csclub.uwaterloo.ca/~rridge/myslow/
PentSlow - It disables branch prediction and the v-pipeline, maybe even the internal cache. There is one drawback: To speed up the system again you have to reset the machine. Still, any hardware slowdowns are more preferable to software, so it's listed above for your perusal. http://www.oldskool.org/PC/help/old...es/pentslow.com
Slow486 - Slowdown utility; disables the L1 cache on a 486 and Pentium for a significant and smooth slowdown. Locks up some Pentiums and non-Intel CPUs.
http://???
SlowDOS - SlowDOS is a software based slowdown utility that compliments Throttle's hardware-based slowdown features. It is similar to Mo'slo and Bremze in that it allows you to customize the amount of slowdown in 0.10ms increments. A combination of throttle and SlowDOS should allow you to put any machine down to the good old 4.77MHz days.

NOTE: SlowDOS requires the use of GIVEIO.SYS, which causes problems for VDMSound. http://www.waste.org/~winkles/throttle/
SLOWDOWN - SLOWDOWN slows down a fast computer so you can run older programs, or as a troubleshooting aid. http://members.aol.com/bretjohn/
Throttle - Throttle is a program that, provided your computer meets certain requirements, can slow the CPU speed down in variable steps. http://www.waste.org/~winkles/throttle/
Turbo - Turbo is a free Windows slowdown utility that lets you slow down your CPU in resource chunks/percentages. It's free, and works pretty well, but lacks many of the advanced features found in shareware Windows slowdown products, like CPUKiller. Turbo works under win XP although not that accurate. http://www.oldskool.org/PC/help/old...urces/turbo.zip

More here:

http://www.simtel.net/pub/msdos/sysutl/

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