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486 Mainboard check - Which board should I get - Need some advice from the Gurus

M

Mau1wurf1977

Experienced Member
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Aug 21, 2010
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Looking at these 2 boards:

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Comes with a DX2-50 and 16MB ram.

and this one:

!B3UrQewBGk~$(KGrHqYOKnEE)5WKgsLtBMlzYp)zsw~~_12.JPG


Comes with a DX2-66 and 8MB ram.

Any comments / which one to go for / good or bad / bring it :happyhappy:
 
Tough to say which one is better. I would want to see how thick the motherboard is and whether it has real cache on board. Socket information would also be useful. If you have manufacturers and model numbers, you certainly should provide that information.

The lower one claims to have a OPTI chipset and for the most part motherboards with OPTI chipsets tended to be super reliable. But if you intend on running programs needing a lot of memory (for a 486), you have no choice but to use the upper one. The upper one also seems to be newer and with a more flexible socket should changing the CPU be part of your desire.
 
Thanks for the info!

How come one board looks newer to you? They both have button batteries and 3 VLB slots.

I am leaning toweards the bottom one, simply because of the layout. Having the video and controller card at the bottom and soundcard at the top seems a bit akward to me. Speed isn't an issue it's just for "mucking around" and having fun.
 
I think I might have both... at least the top one.
Important point is that on the pic, at least the top one has the voltage regulator installed, meaning you can use 3,3V chips.
 
The bottom board is made by QDI and has also a voltage regulator.
For this board exists an updated bios, supporting Am5x86 CPU's and large hard disk drives.
 
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>The Soyo board supports P24D, which the QDI doesn't seem to have. That's likely the main difference right?
Looks like it, the extra row of pins around the cpu.

I think you need to flash an eprom externally to update the bios, not by software

I still have a Cyrix 5x86.. it was a lot quicker that a 486, although an AMD 486DX4-100 SV16 (16 kb cache) was fast too and easier to get to work...
 
Thanks! So it looks like the Soyo is my pick :)

However the seller tells me he has a PCI 486 board. Haven't got a model number yet though...

Can I assume that PCI boards are the way to go? Is there such a thing as a bad PCI board? Not looking for speed, just something that works.
 
if you can get a pci board, I would grab it.
Too many advantages- all cpu's supported, you can add for instance a USB PCI add in card, etc.

(don't forget our nice IRC channel on irc.gimp.net #vc) :D
 
Yea I think I will go for it.

Googling the FIC PIO-2 got me positive results!

Thanks guys!
 
Mau1wurf1977 said:
Thanks! So it looks like the Soyo is my pick :)

However the seller tells me he has a PCI 486 board. Haven't got a model number yet though...

Can I assume that PCI boards are the way to go? Is there such a thing as a bad PCI board? Not looking for speed, just something that works.
Click to expand...

The second set of PCI boards from quality manufacturers were very reliable. Basically, if the board dates from 1996 and was not made by PC-Chips, it should be great. Check planned PCI cards though; not all PCI cards work with the earliest PCI defined slots.

One of the few websites that discusses various PCI 486 motherboards is Red Hill. Since their comments match my recollections, I will link to them though models I saw differed from those available in Australia.
http://www.redhill.net.au/b/b-95.html
http://www.redhill.net.au/b/b-96.html

Edited comment: Noted the update after posting message. Yup, that motherboard with VIA chipset looks like a winner.
 
Redhill is awesome! That's where I checked this board.

It's a FIC PIO-2 and I have been told it's a good board. So I will go with that. It will come with a DX4-100 cpu but I will also get a DX-33. As for PCI I only need a video card but that should be hard or expensive at all. Seller tells me he also has the manual.
 
Hey, good to see you found this place. :)

Anyway yea, it's very obvious on why you should go that pci board. As well as having onboard IO as well, it just makes it so much easier to play around with things.

I've got a m919 v3 pci/isa/vlb 486 board, pretty much the ultimate 486 platform. Runs every card and also every cpu from a lowly sx25 to the fast 586 133. :)

EDIT: I just noticed they gave it a bad rap, but mine runs perfect, even overclocks the 586 133 to 160 just fine, and runs solid still all day. But I do have real cache on mine too in the brown slot. :)
 
Thanks for the info!

He will list the item soon, so I will take my chances with the auction!
 
Things to have on a 486 board:

-256kb cache memory (more than this is pretty much useless)
-DRAM interleaving (this effectively doubles memory throughput)
-32-bit expansion bus (I like VLB and EISA, I've never seen a 486 that properly implemented PCI)
-Removable battery
-Support for writeback cache (many boards support L2 WB, but L1 writeback is good too except with certain VLB cards)
-Working PS/2 mouse header (So you can hook up an optical mouse)

Unnecessary: (build a pentium if you want these things)

-3.3V CPU support (can use a separate VRM instead)
-Large drive support (use XT BIOS [AT version] or get a SCSI controller)
-PCI (implementation broken on 486 boards, though does allow for better choice of graphics adapters)
-Pentive Overdrive support (very few [if any] boards really support POD83 properly)

If I were to put together a 486 on the cheap, I would get a late model SiS based VLB board, 16-32mb DRAM, 256k cache with an ET4000W32P or S3 DRAM card.
 
I refrained from chiming in on this one, because I didn't understand the question.

Quality-wise, the two boards are very close. After that consideration, the only thing to say is "it depends on what you're going to do with it". If you want a 486 "experience" and have the necessary ISA or VLB cards, any is fine. OTOH, if you're going to load the box up with ISA cards, the PCI model shouldn't be your first choice. VLB's interesting, but of no use if you don't have any VLB cards.

If you're trying to squeeze the most performance out of a 486, why? Get a more modern motherboard.

So I'm still not sure I understand the question.
 
I'm with Chuck. I've two primary 486's, both for gaming, though for different setups. First is my old trusty Packard Bell 486sx 25mhz that's been maxed out with the full 8mb of RAM and an Overdrive chip I bought back in the day, taking it to a DX-50mhz (this was my first computer). Second is an IBM 6581 486DX4-100 that's also been maxed out (128mb of RAM - practical? nah... but soooo cool. I get a grin every time it boots just seeing a 486 count that high!!)

The Packard Bell is great for older DOS gaming as it has a handy-dandy Turbo button taking it down to 8mhz, while the IBM is great for mid-90's gaming, Windows 3.x gaming, etc.

If I had to choose between the two for space constraints, I would keep the Packard Bell - primarily for sentimental reasons, but also because any software requiring such a fast 486 to run will also run just fine on my old Pentium-90 Laptop, or even in DOSBox on my modern laptop.
 
Speed isn't an issue. I have Super Socker 7, Slot 1 and Socket 370 stuff for that.

I was just checking if any of these boards should be avoided for some reason / general comments about these boards. I got a ton of feedback, so thanks for everyone who helped me out!

Anonymous Coward said:
I've never seen a 486 that properly implemented PCI)
Click to expand...

And how would that manifest itself? Is a PCI system in any way inferior to a VLB board? I like PCI because video cards are easier to source and I can get cards which amazing image Quality (Like a Matrox card). Having IDE onboard is another item I don't need to hunt down.

If I were to put together a 486 on the cheap, I would get a late model SiS based VLB board, 16-32mb DRAM, 256k cache with an ET4000W32P or S3 DRAM card
Click to expand...

Like that Soyo board? What's your take on that one?
 
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