VOGONS


First post, by Ariakos

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  • Motherboard: MG 38606
    Cache: 128k
    CPU: Am386 DX-40 (choked to a DX-33 because of motherboard's restrictions)
    GPU: VFI VG-5000 512kt ISA (Tseng Labs ET4000AX)
    RAM: 8mb
    HDD: Western Digital Caviar 1.6Gb (with EZ-drive software)
    Floppies: 3.5" 1.44mb (Panasonic) and 5.25" 1.2mb (TEAC)
    Optical: DVD-R/RW (LG)
    Sound cards: Creative Labs Sound Blaster Pro 2 (CT1600), Roland LAPC-I
    OS: MS-DOS 6.22

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Something new, something old. I received this motherboard from a trade deal and I just had to build up my "Dream Machine 1991" for games roughly from era 1989-1993 (Sierra, Lucasfilm, Origin...). I removed my 486 build from this great looking chassis so I could use it for a proper 386 build. Unfortunately for some reason the motherboard doesn't support full 40mhz of the CPU I bought so it's capped at 33mhz speed. Not a big deal actually (I don't mind as long as borderline MHz-snobby games like Wing Commander 1 work fine). The barrel battery was replaced by previous owner with a simple macgyvered CR2032 battery holder. It's ugly but it works. I'll just hide that inside the case. 🤣

The hard drive itself was actually a compromise between authenticity and user ergonomics. At first I wanted to use two 512mb Compact Flash cards as drives C and D (since I need at least 800mb for my games). But then I ran into trouble trying to get the D drive working. For some reason the motherboard just couldn't recognize any CF adapter as a secondary drive even with jumpers set as master and slave for both adapters respectfully. But there were no problems if a single CF card was configured as drive C. Eventually I just gave up and installed (a bit-too-modern) WD Caviar 1.6gb and used EZ-drive to free up the whole HDD capacity for DOS to use. Works like a charm.

That DVD burner is too modern to be periodically correct, I know. But I needed it for bigger data transfers through CD-RW discs since I still have not received my USB-2-IDE transfer adapter from eBay that would do majority of the data transfer work. With VGA and sound cards I think I hit the sweet spot: ET4000 is pretty much The Best ISA Card Ever IMHO (even with only 512kt memory) and LA-synth combined with OPL-3 FM-synth gives me everything I need for the games from mentioned era. I'm satisfied. Nay, I'm happy. 😁

Reply 2 of 8, by Jolaes76

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Pretty much the essence of the 386 era and a damn nice case... congrats on this great build!

(I put my LAPC-I in a K6-III build, thus loosing the LA synth... But it could be compensated by the external route: Music Quest MPU clone to CM-32L)

One might also consider an MCB-1 connection to a GM synth for the odd GM game that runs well on a 386, but that is probably out of scope and "period- incorrect".

"Ita in vita ut in lusu alae pessima iactura arte corrigenda est."

Reply 3 of 8, by raymangold

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Those old caviar drives are actually quite nice to listen to. As far as I'm concerned, the best HDDs that've come out of WD to this day :p

Some are sought after now since they're less common and many want the authentic sound.
Bearing hum (check)
Crazy startup sound with the plunk (check)
Hollow seek clicking (check)

Reply 7 of 8, by 386_junkie

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I love the case and came very close to buying one similar.

It almost has an essence of an Imperial Storm-trooper about it.

Compaq Systempro; EISA Dual 386 ¦ Compaq Junkiepro; EISA Dual 386 ¦ ALR Powerpro; EISA Dual 386

EISA Graphic Cards ¦ EISA Graphic Card Benchmarks