Building a kickbutt 486 system

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PhyberOptik

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
Apr 25, 2000
Messages
1,526
Yeah...32Mb... although I'm not sure whether it was the historical vaporware equivalent of the Voodoo5 6000. I do know for a fact you could buy the Artist Winsprint 1000i VLB with 8Mb...a shitload of VRAM in those days. It also cost a shitload of green.
 
No-one has mentioned those FujiTech DynamiCache mobo's - those were the fastest 486 motherboards around - the RAM was dedicated SRAM running at Level 2 cache speed, and was expensive as hell, as well. Also dunno where you'd find any :D
 
I had a couple 486's back in the day. i think the one had a mach 64 . Daggerfall ran like crap lol.

Daggerfall and arena rocked, so did pool of radiance, pirates!, doom ... ahh the memories.

Old sk00l!
 
I've got a working AWE64! I think....is that right? Because I owned an AWE32 and then the next one up....is that an AWE64? Whatever it is....I still have it.
 
Originally posted by Laforge
Man.. things were simpler back then.
Click to expand...

Oh, man, simpler? I don't think so... IRQ mapping/IRQ jumpers, DMA, I/O ranges, autoexec.bat/config.sys tweaks, Himem.sys and what to loadhigh when and where, COM1. 99% of these things are gone with decent PnP.

Remember matching memory sticks, similar metals? how about chip density (this is still somewhat of an issue)?

Turbo anyone?

Simplier... meh...
 
Ive got MULTIPLE AMD, Intel and Cyrix 486 DX series processors, i keep every one i find. i also have this interesting original Pentium proc that has this big green PCB stickin out the bottom. #s on top are A80501-60 SX948

so i am assuming its an SX chip. I thik it still works too
 
Ahh reminiscing, I remember my first 3d card, it was a Creative 3dBlaster or VideoBlaster or something like that, a Voodoo2 12MB card. It was the SHIT. I blew like 300 dollars on that bad boy, wish I still had it. If I could have afforded 2 of em I wanted to do SLI, but I barely had the cash for one.

Just imagine in 10 years when we want to play "oldschool" games again (a la Half-Life 2 and the like) and we're trying to find these old 3GHz systems, trying to remember the difference between Intel and AMD and the differing clock speeds, and putting it all together with only a gig of ram... I can hear it now: "What video card only had 128MB on ram on it?" Oh yeah, that will be the day.
 
ahhh yes.....I did the 3Dfx Voodoo2 SLI (12MB x 2) - Unreal ran like MAD! I loved that machine/game....the memories...I think I'm gonna cry. Long live 3Dfx!!!!!!
 
I've got 3 pentium 120's and a pentium 200 sitting here in my basement networked together. We play Doom and nascar 2 on them. All I did was ask around and people couldn't throw the parts at me fast enough. It was a good way to learn about networking and building PC's. And when noobs come over they are realy impressed.
 
wow, thats a trip down memory lane (just found this thread). I got shitwads of old 486 stuff in a box in a closet, including a working motherboard, 3 5x86 133 chips, a baggie full of 72 pin, 1 or 2 vlb video boards (one s3 and one diamond stealth 32 or 64, can't remember), + tons of isa cards and a few vlb hdd controller cards. was thinking of throwing it out but i'll let it go for shipping, only condition is that you take the whole effing box lol.
 
Am I being daft or are you guys missing the point completely! :D

The aim of old-skool hardware is not to "max your meal" and to
out-perform P4's, it's exactly the opposite. Try to find the lowest
spec machine you can still use to play games worth playing.
Personally I would opt for a reincarnation of my first true
[H]ard|Core computer, well my dad's to be perfectly honest.

SCR: An old TVM 15" with a mindnumbing .28 dot pitch.
MS: Original Microsoft Serial Mouse (Yes, with a DB9 plug).
K/B: Original 101-key non-Win95 keyboard.
CPU: Intel 386DX-40.
M/B: Opti 495SLC Vesa Local Bus.
RAM: 32MB (I'd guess it was 70ns 32-pin SIMMs).
VGA: OakVGA 1MB VLB.
SND: Creative SB16ASP ISA.
NET: Some porno NE2000 compatible junk.
MOD: USR 14400bps data/9600fax.
HDD: Conner 520MB.
ODD: Creative 4x CD-ROM.

Now that ... gentlemen ... will bring tears to my eyes! :( Anyone
know where I can get those for some hard-earned green? ;)

PS: PhyberOptik and I both underperformed hideously at school
because of machines like these! :D
 
Yeah, Hyperion, I remember that thing :D

I bought the mobo, ram (16Mb) and processor (it was built onto the board - it was an AMD (Not *ntel)! WHOOOHOOO!) from your old man, and later that 520 Connor...JEBUS! FIVE HUNDERED AND TWENTY MEGABYTES! It was like, THE FUCKING UNIVERSE OF STORAGE! Ah those WERE the days. I still had my old Hercules/CGA combo ISA graphics card back then, it was only later that I bought a Cirrus Logic 1Mb VLB VGA card from our pal Ernst...heh - still had to wait two whole months for the monitor...

Ah, Man! The nostalgia is killing me! Doom, Betrayal at Krondor, X-Com, Comanche I, King's/Hero's/Space quest 1 thru 10 billion, Larry, Future Crew demos, Dune II, Test Drive II, Stunt Track Racer, Turbo Pascal, Central Point PC Tools, Lotus 123, etc, etc....man those were the days.

One thing that I really miss about those days in particular, and this is really a reflection on how much the industry has changed, was that back then the focus was on software - even if you had a shit slow computer, you could still play the games of the time on them and really enjoy them - these days it's all about the hardware and the framerates you get out of them.... You used to either have cool software or not - nowadays you either have cool hardware or you don't. The focus was more on what came out the box than what went into it.

Sadly, that motherboard is no longer with me (I can't remember what ever happened to it), and the HDD died a horrible death with ESD or something.

I remember still being pissed your dad for "cheating me out of ram" (I didn't realise that 384Kb were being reserved for shadow) :D

EDIT: I still have my SB16 ISA! Whhhhoooot! You will separate me from that card when you pry it from my cold, dead fingers. Hmm.m...I just realised that my 7NNXP doesn't have an ISA slot.... :( I'm going to HAVE to find an old computer to play Star Control II and Terror from the Deep on)
 
I actually still have a 486DX2-50, unfortunately, I was "poking around" inside "my first machine" when a spark shot and fried the socket and cpu, it also actually cracked it on the corner so I glued it back together, the good ol days
:p

486DX2-50
32MB RAM
4MB gcard (dunno what it was) wasnt as uber leet as i am now
:D
4x cdrom
15' monitor
soundblaster card

And it actualy ran win95 good, agh wolfstien 3d, doom hehe
 
I of course still wanna find an original IBM 4.77Mhz XT with 2
360K 5.25" floppy drives, a 5 MB MFM HDD, 512KB of RAM and of
course ... the sweetness that is an Amber screen! :p

PS: And an 84-key keyboard! :D
 
Hyperion, I've got one! It's an ORIGINAL OEM IBM PS/1 w/ Intel 4.77Mhz with 640Kb of RAM - I shit you not! It's got on-board 256K VGA and a 720KB stiffy drive. It POSTS, but won't boot, though (HDD and FDD controller is busted, I think), but just looking at the innards is a great lesson in history.

All the connecters are solid gold, and EVERYTHING inside is proprietary and fits into slotted and pinned frames (there are NO wires or ribbon cables whatsoever, not even for the status LED's) - it's an OEM machine through and through (even today when you look at an OEM dell or gateway box you can still see the familiar AT/ATX origins of the layout).

Its seems to have Microchannel slots (there is no bus slot architecture I can recognise), and it also seems to have some sort of networking controller, but I can't be sure. The thing seems to have been manufactured from one big piece of cheese board, maybe I'll post a picture of it. Every slotted pice of hardware has got a blue moulded plastic "push/pull" handle on it with "IBM" on it.

The thing is both revolutionary and serves as a warning to OEM manufacturers (cough *APPLE* cough) - IBM made great machines (just note the pure gold connectors), but IBM's innertia in the face of the clone market meant its downfall in the personal computer market. Proprietary, monolithic designes like these don't live long. Flexibility and upgradability is key.

I can only imagine what this beast must have cost in the early 80's
 
Well the PS/1 is cheating, that isn't the original PC. The original PC is the original PC. I will have to get you a picture. I have one with the dual floppies, no hard drive, 256k ram, the original CGA monitor (which works) and the original keyboard. I think the CGA card is bad though, I still haven't gotten the time to troubleshoot why I have no video.

The PS/1 had the un-leet EISA slots. Mine has the original 8-bit ISA slots.
 
Its a bit off topic, someone gave me a commodore 386 LT laptop, there was no battery but i hooked it up to my bench power supply and it still works! it even has someones "stuff" still on there :)
 
Originally posted by Lord Hyperion
32MB (I'd guess it was 70ns 32-pin SIMMs).[/size]
Click to expand...
pin counts of ram:
30
72
168
184

my guess is 72 pin but i might be wrong seeing as its a 386 (/me looks at the 386 mobo, with 30 pin ram, sitting next to me)
 
Don't forget to run memmaker and configure expanded memory, those were the days. I remember going to Future Shop with my dad in 1992 and dropping $2G for a 486/25SUCKS AST Advantage Pro! 4mb slow ass ram, 300mb (slow ass doubled drive), 1.44 and 5.25 drives, '14 AST monitor, no sound. I thought it was the greatest thing on earth and now its not worth the value of a happy meal.
 
I remember Kingston provided a Turbochip processor upgrade of 133MHz
 
Originally posted by ImaRootofALLEVIL
pin counts of ram:
my guess is 72 pin but i might be wrong seeing as its a 386 (/me looks at the 386 mobo, with 30 pin ram, sitting next to me)
Click to expand...

Generally 386s used 30 pin simms. My first used DIPPs and 30 pin SIPPs (chips themselves and simms with pins instead of contacts). I have a 486 board that used both (4) 30 pin SIMMs and (2) 72 pin SIMMS.
 
Heh. The memories. I used towork for computerland, right after i graduated college. We were still selling the original IBM-PC. Dual full height 360K floppies, no hard drive, black and white monochrome monitor. Old school.

I remember when the XT, AT, and 386 were introduced. Compaq actually beat IBM to market with the first 386 desktop. Of course, this was back when compaq was good, and not evil... ;)

As it is, i have a pentium 133 that i run as a dos machine. I'm not even sure what's in there anymore. But it runs MOO and X-Com, so i don't care. Never tried to puit Doom on there.... I think i still have the floppies for that... :D
 
Originally posted by valve1138
I still have one :)
Click to expand...

I can't remember what manufacturs they all are but I've got 3 laying around here someplace. as for the SX, I hammered one into the wall once. It's still sitting there.
 
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