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Another Hot Rod in family - 486

K

Kabull

New Member
Joined
May 28, 2003
Messages
4
Location
United Kingdom
Hi,
Some time ago I've made a decision to build another Hot Rod PC . I want to use as many modern and still available in shops components as possible. The choice isn't that big- 4 PCI slots on MB. The Mb is a Soyo SY-4SAW with 486DX4 120MHz CPU on board and 256MB of RAM in FPM sticks. Hard drive I plan to put into this machine is a 320GB Maxtor Maxline 2 (Bios supports only 8GB but Maxblast should do the job as it does on 386 with 20GB HDD). Now the main question- What should I put into the PCI slots.
Into the first one- Graphic Card- I'm thinking about GeForce 6200 or Radeon 9200 (the PCI ones). I'm a bit worried about the voltage as on the older PCI slots it is a 5V
Second slot- USB card
Third- LAN
Fourth- Sound Card. Which one should I choose?
 
I'm a bit confused here. How can one make any decisions about hardware without knowing the OS :confused:. The same would apply regarding what the machine is to be used for and the subsequent software you wish to run. :)
 
Seems you are going overboard, why bother with a fast 3D card on a 486? What OS do you expect to use with this and what kinds of apps or games?

My 486 PCI boards are on the shelf, I prefer to use VLB or EISA ones for more of a challenge. Don't think I bothered with more then 64MB of RAM because I use DOS, OS/2 and Windows for Workgroups that cannot use more then that anyway. For HDs I am stuck with 2GB partitions because of the OS so I stick with 1-4GB HDs and partition as needed (caching IDE controllers, caching SCSI controllers for speed).

I do have some nice early PCI video cards but they go into Pentium machines, where 3D video is actually usefull.
 
I plan to use this machine for a word processing, backup, old games (DOS) and audio library in a later stage (Windows 9x). First of all I want to have a "play" with embaded operating systems (Windows 9x/NT, Linux) . I know that it is a bit pointless to put 256MB of RAM and a graphic card with a GPU nearly 4 times faster than CPU when ordinary PCI card would do but the point is to build machine with the spec. set to the manufacturers limit and prove that it is possible.
I had no problems with my last project (386DX@40MHz 128MB RAM 20GB 2MB Mach 32) but this time just don't know what components to choose...
 
I've got an ATI Radeon 9250 PCI 256MB in my P233MMX DOS gaming machine. Never saw Duke3d run so smooth :p

I think the 320gb drive is a waste tho.
 
How did you get 128mb on a 386? Did you use 16mb 30pin SIMMs, or did you use an old AST with CUPID memory?

I recommend TSENG ET6100 for your 486 if you can find one. 3D on the 486 is almost a waste of time. I have heard that the Voodoo3 2000 PCI has good VESA support, but as far as I know there are no video drivers for Windows 3.1.
 
Duke Nukem is 2d. Duke3d is 3d... a first person shooter by 3d Realms.

I have (4) 32mb 30pin SIMMS that I had in my 386. Not easy to come by!
 
aaron7 said:
Duke Nukem is 2d. Duke3d is 3d... a first person shooter by 3d Realms.

I have (4) 32mb 30pin SIMMS that I had in my 386. Not easy to come by!
Click to expand...


It is impossible to have 32MB 30 pin SIMMs, 16MB is it. Are you talking 72 pin?
 
No, not impossible. I have 4 literally right in front of me.
 
Unknown_K said:
It is impossible to have 32MB 30 pin SIMMs, 16MB is it. Are you talking 72 pin?
Click to expand...


Unknown K is correct !! there are no 30 pin 32mb simms!!!

30-pin SIMM: 256 KB, 1 MB, 4 MB, 16 MB

72-pin SIMM: 1 MB, 2 MB, 4 MB, 8 MB, 16 MB, 32 MB, 64 MB, 128 MB, 256 MB


Who manufactered those modules? maybe someone double stacked chips on a after market version or custom version!!1
 
Sorry guys, you're wrong. I have FOUR 32mb 30 pin SIMMS, and I've tested them in my Mac SE and a 486.

I'll get the info for you later. They are not double stacked BTW.
 
I like to build, top of the line systems with the max at the time, Lets say 486 DX2 66Mhz with 32 MB of ram and a 1.7gb drive 2X CD Win 95, that would be enough system for anyone playing pre 3d games..

What you are doing is totaly insane, why in the world would you want to do that and go though all that, Whats the point?









Kabull said:
Hi,
Some time ago I've made a decision to build another Hot Rod PC . I want to use as many modern and still available in shops components as possible. The choice isn't that big- 4 PCI slots on MB. The Mb is a Soyo SY-4SAW with 486DX4 120MHz CPU on board and 256MB of RAM in FPM sticks. Hard drive I plan to put into this machine is a 320GB Maxtor Maxline 2 (Bios supports only 8GB but Maxblast should do the job as it does on 386 with 20GB HDD). Now the main question- What should I put into the PCI slots.
Into the first one- Graphic Card- I'm thinking about GeForce 6200 or Radeon 9200 (the PCI ones). I'm a bit worried about the voltage as on the older PCI slots it is a 5V
Second slot- USB card
Third- LAN
Fourth- Sound Card. Which one should I choose?
Click to expand...
 
Last edited:
aaron7 said:
Sorry guys, you're wrong. I have FOUR 32mb 30 pin SIMMS, and I've tested them in my Mac SE and a 486.

I'll get the info for you later. They are not double stacked BTW.
Click to expand...
Considering the address lines cannot do more then 16MB on a 30 pin SIMM I would like to see how you get 32MB without photoshopping a screen.

A Mac SE is limited to 4MB RAM total. An SE/30 can do 128MB (8 x 16MB 30 pin SIMM).

There are 2MB 30 pin SIMMs I think, along with 8MB they are rare.
 
frozenfire75i said:
I like to build, top of the line systems with the max at the time, Lets say 486 DX2 66Mhz with 32 MB of ram and a 1.7gb drive 2X CD Win 95, that would be enough system for anyone playing pre 3d games..

What you are doing is totaly insane, why in the world would you want to do that and go though all that, Whats the point?
Click to expand...

I have to agree. I'm building a machine similar to this one using some of my old upgrade-ware including an Octek Hippo 15 Board. (Baby AT, UMC chipset 3 PCI 4 ISA 4 72 Pin SIMM) a Cyrix 5x86 chip and a 4 MB PCI Matrox Mystique 220. With a PCI Soundblaster, 24X CD-ROM and an 8GB hard drive It should perform identically to the hyper-specced one.

I'll dual boot DOS 6.22 and probably Win 98 so I can easily get online.

My one concession to modernity is 4 64 Meg SIMMS for the board max of 256. I may cut that back to 64 MB because the memory takes so damn long to count up.

A 320 GB drive and a 256 Mb video card is just waaay over the top.
 
The board has four memory banks with each bank accepting 30 pin modules which will only support 16mb max per bank.

I have searched and found nothing on a 30 pin mod exceeding 16mb due to abbility of it address line..


Hey UNKNOWN_K what photoshopping a screen mean?
 
computer_recovery said:
The board has four memory banks with each bank accepting 30 pin modules which will only support 16mb max per bank.

I have searched and found nothing on a 30 pin mod exceeding 16mb due to abbility of it address line..


Hey UNKNOWN_K what photoshopping a screen mean?
Click to expand...
It means using Photoshop paint program to fake a screen showing 128MB of RAM using 4 30 pin SIMMs.
 
Druid6900 said:
If you do a search, you will see that there are still some 32MB {4 x 8} 30-pin SIMMs mentioned and I believe I have a set of 4 around here somewhere as well.
Click to expand...

I mentioned 8MB sticks in a previous post, the original poster said he had 256MB of RAM using 32MB 30 pin SIMMs (8x 32MB). A 486 could not even cache most of that even if it did exist.
 
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