Very nice system 😀

You can get CF readers that go in the back. Maybe there is something similar for your adapter? But it looks like you have used all the slots already.

The case is very good looking and I like the 40 MHz display.

Yes the DX-40 is indeed very special.

Out the box full of IDE controllers, I only have one UMC with primary and secondary channels. This must have been the exception for 386 computers...

An awesome project! and the case is SOOOOOO perfect! 😮
/me envy

The SD adapter you see on the pic can already go to a slot and i still have one available, but other problems arise, like the IDE cable isn't long enough to reach the adapter and the CDROM... An IDE controller with 2 channels would help on that case... But to find them is another story.

However, i ordered a SATA to IDE converter, which i can connect the IDE cable to wherever inside the case, and then a SATA cable from the converter to a SATA SD card adapter. 🤣

keropi wrote:

An awesome project! and the case is SOOOOOO perfect! 😮
/me envy

For a Retro look and feel yest it is, but.... man it's so cramped and hard to work with, so that kinda lowers the perfection for me. But i still love it!

Very very nice build, grats! 😁
I like sooo much the case! If only I had a similar one to make a 486 build...!

A little update:

I ordered a couple of these:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/280548774109?ssPageNa … 984.m1439.l2649

It will allow me to extend the IDE cable and i will most probably place the adapter on a backplate. The extension cable already does the pin inversion, so it's pretty much the best solution. 😎

^ external IDE? what's the plan?

keropi wrote:

^ external IDE? what's the plan?

If you look in the picture you'll see one of those SD to IDE adapters which have a backplate to use close to your ISA cards. What i did with mine was to drill the backplate into a plastic 5.25"inch bay cover, like you see on my picture on first post. This was fine on my Baby AT tower. The problem is that for this build i wanted a 5.25"inch floppy drive and have a CDROM so i don't have anymore room to place the adapter.

Of course i can go back and place the SD to IDE adapter into the back like it is itended, but the problem was that the ribbon cable isn't long enough to connect between adapter, CDROM and IDE controller. But with that extension i ordered it will be possible to connect everything, and since the cable i ordered will alredy take care of the pin inversion i think i will be settled with this.

The insides of the machine will be a massive load of cables and stuff, but it will be worth it!!! 😎

ah, I missed the sd part 😁 seems like a good plan!

I'm really excited about this and feeling the anxiety for the new motherboard to arrive. The good thing about it is that the board sports the UMC82C481 and 482 chipsets. These were common chipsets in early 486 boards, and i had a chance at looking at the datasheet for these and they do indeed support the 50MHz FSB for the 486.

Now this doesn't mean it's all gonna be a walk in the park, nor i am expecting a big performance improvement. In fact i am supposing that the performance increase from 40MHz to 50MHz might be slightly smaller than the jump from the DX-33 to a DX-40 that happened back in the days. But, with the stuff i am planning to do, including 10ns cache, heatsinking, the CPU chipsets and even the ET4000AX i am hoping that i can tune this system in for a stable 386 DX-50. I have my fingers cross to achieve 19+ score on 3DBench... 😁

maybe you also need some fast simms as well?
I am very curious what the 50mhz scores will be... what model mobo you ordered? any preview pics? 😁

I will be using 60ns simms, but the ideal would be 50ns. 50ns are almost impossible to find, i don't even know if there were any available and used for 30pin simms.

I'm hoping that RAM will work OK with 1 wait state at 50MHz. The SRAM at 10ns will run pretty well.

As for pics of the board itself:

I'm pretty sure I've seen 50ns 30pin simms at some point
that looks a very nice mobo, even has a CR2032 battery , should be very stable since it's one of the newer 386DX mobos 😀

keropi wrote:

I'm pretty sure I've seen 50ns 30pin simms at some point
that looks a very nice mobo, even has a CR2032 battery , should be very stable since it's one of the newer 386DX mobos 😀

Let me know if you come across such simms. I could potentially run the system with 0 wait states.

carlostex wrote:

Not only to mention and rant about nostalgia, but the 386 is a landmark in computing history. For a long time Intel was a single source of their 386 CPU's, which led to their market success and huge profit margins, but also led to keep the cost of the machines very high. This is where enters AMD and their pushing of the 386 just a small step above, which being a very reliable system brought IBM PC compatible computing to the masses, contributing for the reduced cost of buying a system. Believe it or not today's CPU are pretty much just very fast 386's!

Some nitpicking: Current CPUs are still using the same instruction set as the 386, although with several extensions and the added 64-bit mode. In the same sense you could claim that current CPUs are very fast 8086's.
It would be better to say that current Intel CPUs are very fast Pentium Pros since they are still based on the same architecture. Only the Pentium 4's and the Atoms weren't.

And the AMD 386-40 was more of a competition to slower Intel-486's than to Intel-386's.

Congratulations on your build though! I can totally relate on your feelings toward the 386.

....

idspispopd wrote:

Some nitpicking: Current CPUs are still using the same instruction set as the 386, although with several extensions and the added 64-bit mode. In the same sense you could claim that current CPUs are very fast 8086's.
It would be better to say that current Intel CPUs are very fast Pentium Pros since they are still based on the same architecture. Only the Pentium 4's and the Atoms weren't.

Only from a x86 point of view. 386 allowed for switching between processor modes without reseting the CPU itself. The only mode added through the years was Long mode with the inception of AMD64 extension. While in Long mode, you won't be able to switch back to real mode or V86 mode.
What i really meant to say is that from an architectural point of view (as opposed to micro architectural) today's CPU's are still very very close to 386's, since they still rely on that same 32-bit architecture. The 8086 and 80286 still belong to the family, but they can't do what a 386 and today CPU's do.

idspispopd wrote:

It would be better to say that current Intel CPUs are very fast Pentium Pros since they are still based on the same architecture. Only the Pentium 4's and the Atoms weren't.

On a micro-architectural level yes, since you can trace down stuff back to P6 micro-arch. I was talking on a architectural level.

I'll probably have some more news about this build this week, as i'm waiting for the final motherboard to arrive. 😎

carlostex wrote:

For a long time i decided that i should have a 386DX-40 again, ready and able for my retro needs. Since last year i spend some time gathering retro stuff, restoring my old 386 baby AT tower, which unfortunately became a bit "bent". I never had an horizontal type desktop case, so i grabbed one a few weeks ago off eBay. Some money spent yes, but worth it for what i want. It's a bit of a pain to work on because of lack of space and i'm using an ATX PSU with CDROM, floppy emulator, 3.5 and 5.25 inch floppy drives which deny me any slot for a SD to IDE adapter. Anyway i'm gonna make this all work out, one way or another.

I like where you're going with this build. A retro computer collection is not complete without a 386dx.
Just a questions and comment about your at case you have pictured. I was looking at (what appears to be) the same one on ebay last week and now the guy that had it listed is sold out, and I wanted one for my old 486sx vtech laser board that requires a riser card. My question is, how will you make this case work for your build since that case is designed for horiZontal isa expansion cards and for motherboards neeing a riser card? I can't see what you've done with the back of your case in the photo. I'd love to see your mods if you made any.

I love those "pizza box style" cases...my first pc had one.

Did your case come with the riser card and 200w at power supply like the one I saw on ebay?

It looks like the case from eBay cause i got it from there.

I was planning on buying one but not for now. Beginning of last december the guy had more than 10 cases still available, and then comes some guy who buys 6 of them all at once. Only 4 remained so i decided to get one. In good time i did, cause another guy bought one as well, and the buyer who bought 6 at once bought again the remaining ones.

Yes it has a riser card. I was kinda disappointed that the riser card only has 16bit slots on one side, and the other side is 8 bit only. I might find a better riser card in the future.

I'm not modding the case at all, it is very cramped because it's a low profile horizontal case, i've been considering buying a SFX PSU to save some space, although i would have to build a backplate to fasten the PSU in the case since these are smaller.