Re: Modern graphics on a 486

Posted on 2014-10-16, 04:12

by

by feipoa

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Here are some charts of the results thus far. I still have one mystery card to try out. With these three socket 3 systems, I am wondering which 3dfx, openGL, and Direct3D games would now be considered playable when using GPU acceleration. My target frame rate is 23 fps+ GLQuake_Cyrix5x86-133.png …

---

Re: AMD DX4 100 and IBM Microdrive

Posted on 2014-10-14, 23:52

by

by feipoa

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I have found that SiS 496/497 and UMC 8881/8886 PCI-based motherboards tend to yield the numbers I noted with optimal stable timings. SiS 496/497 might yield 1-2 MB/s faster for the memory test. I, unfortunately, do not have any data for non-PCI 486 motherboards.

---

Re: AMD DX4 100 and IBM Microdrive

Posted on 2014-10-14, 22:41

by

by feipoa

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

You should start by comparing your Speedsys scores with those found in spreadsheet contained within the Ultimate 486 Benchmark Comparison pdf document. For an AMD DX4-100 with 8 KB of write-through L1 cache, as you have, you should be targeting Speedsys numbers in this [stable] range, L1: 73 MB/s L2 …

---

Re: RIVA TNT & signal quality

Posted on 2014-10-13, 18:53

by

by feipoa

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

swaaye wrote: I've seen scrolling diagonal line interference patterns from some cards. Yup, that is the effect I was referencing.

---

Re: RIVA TNT & signal quality

Posted on 2014-10-12, 20:11

by

by feipoa

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I have noticed the same effect with ATI Rage 128 cards. The ATI Rage 128 VR has noisy signal quality at 640x480 with 60 Hz compared to the ATI Rage 128 Pro. When I increased the refresh rate on the ATI Rage 128 VR to 75 Hz, the signal was clean. The ATI Rage 128 Pro was clean at all refresh …

---

Re: RIVA TNT & signal quality

Posted on 2014-10-12, 18:46

by

by feipoa

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I noticed that the Diamond TNT had better signal quality than the Creative TNT at 60 Hz refresh, however the quality improved for 70 Hz +. I was using an LCD screen.

---

Re: Gainberry Cyrix 5x86

Posted on 2014-10-12, 18:35

by

by feipoa

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

The official Gainberry manual is 19 pages of novicile gibberish to ensure the user inserts the CPU in the correct orientation. I painfully skimmed through it and did not see any mention of AMD2X.

---

Re: DS12887 drop-in replacement

Posted on 2014-10-09, 16:38

by

by feipoa

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Wouldn't removing the battery clear the CMOS?

---

Re: Another 486 build.... with EISA!

Posted on 2014-10-07, 02:33

by

by feipoa

in Marvin \ System Specs

in Marvin \ System Specs

The Windbond W83C42 keyboard controllers found on some [many?] 486 boards will not work with PS/2 mice.

---

Re: Another 486 build.... with EISA!

Posted on 2014-10-06, 07:39

by

by feipoa

in Marvin \ System Specs

in Marvin \ System Specs

Seems write-back cache had a much greater impact with L1 cache instead of L2 cache. I've yet to see an example of L2 cache in write-back mode having much improvement over write-through. I think GLQuake scored 19.3 fps with L2 WB and 19.1 fps with L2 WT.

---

Re: Biostar MB-8433UUD-A

Posted on 2014-10-05, 20:03

by

by feipoa

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Some v3.0 boards have a RTC socket. I suspect all v3.1 boards have the RTC socket. If you are attempting to desolder, use approx 435 C for no more than about 5 sec. at a time and use a solder sucker. Do not try to pry the RTC off as this will pull out the through hole conductor.

---

Re: Biostar MB-8433UUD-A

Posted on 2014-10-05, 19:37

by

by feipoa

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I have not noticed any benchmark improvements. I like to think of this setting as reducing wear and tear on your DRAM. I wouldn't think of DRAM refreshes from significantly affecting its life. I mean it probably does but DRAM is still cheap and it lasts generally lasts a loong time but wouldn't …

---

Re: Biostar MB-8433UUD-A

Posted on 2014-10-05, 19:36

by

by feipoa

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

The ODIN/DALLAS is not just a battery, it contains a real-time clock (RTC) module. So you if you double-up the module, you also double-up the RTC. Even if you are to just add a coin battery to the bottom of the motherboard, I still think you need to cut the lines which connect the battery inside the …

---

Re: Biostar MB-8433UUD-A

Posted on 2014-10-05, 19:12

by

by feipoa

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Drill? No. I am not sure if connecting two RTC's in parallel will yield the desired functionality, but you could try.

---

Re: Another 486 build.... with EISA!

Posted on 2014-10-05, 17:46

by

by feipoa

in Marvin \ System Specs

in Marvin \ System Specs

Seems like Tyan was a little sloppy with their PCB design. If you are wanting to use the AWARD BIOS to add PS/2 mouse support, perhaps see if you are successful with this before bothering with changing the BIOS code to accept 1024K. There could be some other instabilities associated with the 486SV1 …

---

Re: Biostar MB-8433UUD-A

Posted on 2014-10-05, 17:42

by

by feipoa

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I do not beleive there is sufficient clearance on this board to clip off the RTC pins. The ODIN on this board is the same as the Dallas 12887.

---

Re: my socket7 cpu benchmark results

Posted on 2014-10-03, 07:34

by

by feipoa

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

i have read you reports of 3d cards on 486 rigs, and you said that while some nvidia drivers managed to run with amd486, they still failed with cyrix5x86, i think thats how it goes. The outcome has a high probability to be the same with 6x86, but it is still not certain. It could be that the NVIDIA …

---

Re: Repository for old ATI drivers

Posted on 2014-09-30, 03:27

by

by feipoa

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

With your guys help, I now have the following NT4 Rage128 drivers: 4.3.20 4.3.24 4.3.40 4.3.72 4.3.107 4.3.143 4.3.192 4.3.3276 Unfortunately, none of them work with a Cyrix 5x86 chip. They only function with an Am5x86 or POD. Driver versions 4.3.40 and 4.3.72 claim they are not compatible with my …

---

Re: What retro computing gadget that doesn't exist would you like to have?

Posted on 2014-09-30, 03:08

by

by feipoa

in Milliways

in Milliways

Anonymous Coward wrote: What I would like to see if an adapter that lets you use a Cyrix 6x86 or a MediaGX in a socket3 486 (or a Cyrix 5x86 running at higher speeds). I second that.

---

Re: Modern graphics on a 486

Posted on 2014-09-29, 23:28

by

by feipoa

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Yes, I think something related to all the testing and off/on cycles have upset one of the boards. I have several MB-8433UUD boards. The PCB revision numbers do not always agree with which PCB changes have been made to the board though. My inventory of this board is as follows, MB-8433UUD v1 - 1 unit …

---