Changes

:: One aspect commonly used to compare PCem and 86Box is the emulation performance. PCem v15 introduced a rewritten dynamic recompiler, which was primarily aimed at improving emulation performance in games; however, it also caused minor to severe performance regressions in other applications. 86Box uses the previous recompiler from PCem versions before v15, with optimizations performed by devs, as they have determined that the new one causes too many regressions to be adopted as a sensible default. There is a way for you to try out the new recompiler on 86Box, though. PCem’s emulation of some core system components, such as the Programmable Interval Timer (PIT), takes a few shortcuts to improve performance. These shortcuts are perfectly fine for games, which is what PCem targets; although, they have caused issues with the software preservation side of things. In addition to taking fewer shortcuts, 86Box also tries to follow the specifications of these components, rather than implement the minimum viable feature set, which is - once again - good enough for games, but not good enough for some other applications. Generally speaking, the more accurate a component’s emulation is made, the more host CPU horsepower it will require. In addition to taking fewer shortcuts, 86Box also tries to follow the specifications of these components, rather than implement the minimum viable feature set, which is - once again - good enough for games, but not good enough for some other applications.<ref>https://86box.net/2022/01/07/pcem-migration-guide.html</ref>

;[[DOSBox#Forks|DOSBox-X]]/[[DOSBox#Forks|DOSBox Pure]]/[[DOSBox#Forks|DOSBox Staging]]/[[DOSBox#Forks|DOSBox ECE]]:

::'''[[DOSBox#Forks|DOSBox-X]]''' is vastly different from other DOSBox forks in that it aims to be a complete emulation package that covers all pre-2000 DOS and Windows 9x based hardware scenarios. It features more flexibility by way of config options and an accompanying frontend to customize the DOS VM further, and beyond games it also supports standard software for DOS, as well as DOS-based Windows including Windows 3.x and 9x/ME with 3D acceleration via 3dfx emulation just like [[DOSBox#Forks|DOSBox Pure]]. The project also has its own [https://dosbox-x.com/wiki wiki] which contains extensive documentation on DOSBox-X, and a summary of notable added features can be seen [https://dosbox-x.com/wiki/DOSBox%E2%80%90X%E2%80%99s-Feature-Highlights here]. While DOSBox-X currently supports emulation of [[#Intel_CPUs|IBM PC/XT/AT]], Toshiba AX/J3100, IBM PCjr/Tandy, and [https://emulation.gametechwiki.com/index.php/NEC_PC-9800_series NEC PC-9800 series] architecture, the maintainer, Jonathan Campbell, does not plan to add any other MS-DOS system. This limitation is mainly done to prevent bloating of the codebase, keeping it at a manageable level for himself while also staying organized. However, the codebase does contain stubbed source files for [https://emulation.gametechwiki.com/index.php/FM_Towns_emulators FM Towns] emulation in the event that other programmers want to add that functionality.<br/>

::'''[[DOSBox#Forks|DOSBox Pure]]''' is a new DOSBox fork specifically built for RetroArch/Libretro. According to its project description it aims for simplicity and ease of use just like [[DOSBox#Forks|DOSBox Staging]]. On top of that it has an advantage over other [[DOSBox#Forks|DOSBox forks]] because of libretro features ([https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W8zCEf9prmQ EmuVR support], [https://emulation.gametechwiki.com/index.php/Talk:Shaders_and_filters#Section_for_presets.3F Shader presets/Overlays and configs] etc.), with [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fA5SaT9uDa4 version 0.9.5] 3dfx emulation supported.<br/>