The multinational 386 build, a tale of many countries. \ VOGONS

The multinational 386 build, a tale of many countries.

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First post, by BSA Starfire

Posted on 2018-02-11, 13:32

BSA Starfire Offline

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Joined: 2014-03-22, 05:20
Location: UK

Thought I'd show you folks the project I've been working on for the last 5 or 6 months. My intention was to replicate the original x86 machine I purchased in 1992, a amd386sx 40, with 2MB RAM, trident ISA, 120 MB HD & Dos 6. before that I was an Amiga, ST & CP/M user, and even before that the 8-bit home micro's. To gather the parts together took a fair while, and while not being identical it's pretty close and offers the same feel as the machine from 25 years ago.
First part located & purchased was the case, a pretty standard AT-mini tower of good quality and sturdy build made by enlight , this one came to me from Portugal, along with it's PSU & the 3.5 floppy drive, so that's country number 1.

Next was the motherboard/CPU, i was originally looking for a 386sx40 to replicate my original but this bundle was too good a deal to miss and came with the correct I/O card and Trident 512K VGA card & 4MB RAM. So we have a AMD 386sx 33 instead but it's close enough, I'm using an external 3X AAA battery pack for the CMOS, this lot came to me from the Ukraine, country number 2.

I wanted also the same sound card I had when I went "multimedia" in 1993 so I was very lucky to track down this Soundblaster 2 CT1350B, I didn't want the hassle of plug n play or drivers and the card is the perfect match for the machine. This one came from Poland, country number 3.

The CD-ROM is a dual speed SONY unit, not the same type I had in 1993(that was a proprietary interface Panasonic 2x), but same era and performance. so I'm happy with that.
Next is the hard disk drive, my original machine had a 120MB drive, and this is what i wanted for my build, this lovely and perfectly working Seagate ST1144a came to me from Slovenia, country number 4. I have a thing for period correct HD's, I just like the sounds they make and general feel of a machine with one.For me the HD is the heart of the machine.

*continued next post*

Last edited by BSA Starfire on 2018-02-11, 14:59. Edited 2 times in total.

286 20MHz,1MB RAM,Trident 8900B 1MB, Conner CFA-170A.SB 1350B
386SX 33MHz,ULSI 387,4MB Ram,OAK OTI077 1MB. Seagate ST1144A, MS WSS audio
Amstrad PC 9486i, DX/2 66, 16 MB RAM, Cirrus SVGA,Win 95,SB 16
Cyrix MII 333,128MB,SiS 6326 H0 rev,ESS 1869,Win ME

Reply 1 of 3, by BSA Starfire

Posted on 2018-02-11, 13:42

BSA Starfire Offline

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Location: UK

*continued from above post*

Apart from the slower clock speed of the CPU this is pretty much the PC I had in 1993 when I added the soundcard, CD-ROM and the extra 2MB RAM to make 4 MB. The only change I have made since then is to change the VGA card, I just wasn't happy with the Trident 9000B card, it was okay-ish in DOS but the win 3.1 performance was none too clever and the image wasn't great either so I replaced it with this OAK OTI-077 1MB card, it's a lot better than the Trident, lovely clean bright image and nice windows speed. while not the fastest VGA by a long shot it's just fine for this speed of machine and offers a nice upgrade from the Trident 9000. This one came from Bulgaria, country number 5.

Since completing this build I have been playing a lot of the games I did on that original machine, Gremlin's Lotus Turbo, Indianapolis 500, the commander Keen series, the Kyrandia adventures and a few other little shareware titles. The build was a lot of fun, and cost wasn't too bad either as i was in no hurry to buy parts. I think this one is my most satisfying build to date to be honest. A really nice usable, trouble free little machine that does all I ask of it. And I communicated with a lot of people in many different countries to achieve it too, that was interesting and insightful and made this build so much more for me.
Anyhow, there we go, the story of my little 386 😀

Best,
Chris

Reply 2 of 3, by Anonymous Coward

Posted on 2018-02-12, 08:09

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Joined: 2008-03-20, 05:37
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I would guess if you wanted to run the CPU at 40MHz, you could just change the crystal oscillator for an 80MHz part. AMD had pretty good yields on their 386s, so I would guess most run at 40 regardless of the markings. The fact that it's on a late model board only helps your case.

"Will the highways on the internets become more few?" -Gee Dubya
V'Ger XT|Upgraded AT|Ultimate 386|Super VL/EISA 486|SMP VL/EISA Pentium

Reply 3 of 3, by Radical Vision

Posted on 2018-02-12, 08:50

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Nice i have the same Mobo, but is not the best one i have, other PCchips is better one...
Put a LED on the case, as all 386/486 need LED and turbo button is must have...

Well as for the SIMM modules, most i can find for cheap are only 1MB, and is not enough for me, as i know there are 4MB modules, and i think even 16MB ?!?!?...
At lest the MB have 8 SIMM slots so even 1MB modules will make total of 8MB. I will try to find 4MB modules that will make the system monster...

Mah systems retro, old, newer (Radical stuff)
W3680 4.5/ GA-x58 UD7/ R9 280x
K7 2.6/ NF7-S/ HD3850
IBM x2 P3 933/ GA-6VXD7/ Voodoo V 5.5K
Cmq P2 450/ GA-BX2000/ V2 SLI
IBM PC365
Cmq DeskPRO 486/33
IBM PS/2 Model 56
SPS IntelleXT 8088

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