| Configuration | What you get |
| Processor | RAM | Video | |
| 386DX | 4meg | 512k | Slow system capable of running some applications |
| 386DX | 16meg | 1meg | Good word processor capabilities; most simple applications will run fairly well; stick to the old versions of most programs |
| 486SX | 8meg | 1meg | This system will probably run similar but slower than a 386 system with 16megs RAM (see above) |
| 486DX | 16meg | 1meg | Still a common configuration. This system will run slowly at times, especially when viewing multimedia and working with graphics, but it should be capable of running office applications with a fair degree of efficiency. It will not be sufficient for most new games on the market today. |
| 486DX | 32meg | 2meg | Bumping the RAM up to 32 megs and doubling video memory will enhance the speed of a 486 system quite a bit in windows 95. If you can run most applications in RAM they may load slowly, but once they're running you'll have a faster system than a pentium owner with 16megs of RAM. You still won't be able to run many of the new games available today. |
| Pentium-60 | 8meg | 1meg | Overall, this system will be about as fast as a 386 with 32megs of RAM. It is badly in need of more RAM because Windows95 will use just about all the available 8megs RAM, leaving nothing to run applications. This system will run some of the newer games, but not others. |
| Pentium-100 | 16meg | 1meg | This is not a bad system, but overall it's probably going to be slower than a 486 with 32megs RAM and 2meg video. The processor is faster, but it is limited by the speed of the hard drive and the video card. The more RAM you give to Win95, the more it will eat up. This enhances the speed of some tasks, but you really need 24megs or more RAM before you begin to see the benefit of having a fast processor. Of course, there are things you can do to limit the amount of RAM that is used by windows 95, such as using a small, tiled desktop background and avoiding installation of applications that increase the number of system fonts, and use 256 color instead of 16-bit or higher video modes. Anything you do to make your system prettier is likely to gobble up more available RAM and slow things down. The video card may be somewhat stressed, but this system should run just about any new game available today. |
| Pentium-100 | 32meg | 2megs | This system is capable of handling 16-bit video mode, and running several system enhancements without slowing things down too much. It will be stressed only if used to open several applications simultaneously, some of which are RAM and processor intensive, such as Adobe Photoshop or other graphics applications. This system is not quite sufficient to be used as a network server, although it *could* do the job. I don't know of any new PC computer game that wouldn't run perfectly on this system. |
| Pentium-100 | 48meg | 2megs | This is my home system. I use the 48megs of EDO RAM to load lots of system enhancements and fonts. I feel the current weakest point on my computer is the 2meg video card. Still, I can run 16-bit 1280x1024 graphics mode on my 17-inch monitor and view full-screen video without any noticeable jerkiness. I keep adobe photoshop, netscape, wordpad, LView Pro, gif animator, and instant 3-D open simultaneously when I'm doing heavy HTML and graphics work. The computer that this web page resides on is a Pentium-200 with 64megs RAM, 4megs video and a large SCSI hard drive. I really don't notice much of a speed difference between this system and my home system. |
| Pentium-200 | 32meg | 2megs | A typical new system being sold in stores today for around $1500. This system is equipped to run today's applications efficiently. It isn't going to be much faster than the P-100 system described above, however. Although the 200mHz processor is faster, this only comes into play for a few seconds when running most applications. It may require 2.5 seconds to open an application on a 100mHz machine, while it required just 1.5 seconds on a 200mHz machine. You save 1 second. Of course, faster is better, and the difference in cost between 100mHz and 200mHz processors isn't usually a lot. |
| Pentium-266 | 64meg | 8megs | This system is suitable for use as a network server or for doing heavy graphics editing work, or just about anything you want to use it for. It's not a mainframe or dual pentium-pro machine and there are some things it's not capable of doing, but it's definitely a top-notch system even for the high-end user. |
