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First post, by Machine_1760

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Hi! i have a 486 DX2 66 in a board that will accept a 486 DX4 100 that i've gotten hold of. This board unfortunately has no extra cache memory. As this effectively cripples the computer's performance is the processor upgrade worth it? If so what kind of benefit would it bring?

For extra information the computer is a siemens Nixdorf PCD-4H.

Thanks in advance for your help!

Reply 1 of 14, by leileilol

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Going from DX2 66 to DX4 100 was a world of difference to me, so yes. There will be the speed benefit (being able to run Build games over 25+ fps is nice) and Windows 3.1 won't be as much of a slug. You'll also be able to play Warcraft II, Diablo and even Starcraft without annoying page flipping.

From my experience, the cache memory on my 486 board was phony, but didn't stop me from playing Battlezone.

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Reply 2 of 14, by Machine_1760

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thanks, you've convinced me!

Reply 3 of 14, by swaaye

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Intel DX4 has 16KB L1 cache in addition to more clock speed (compared to 8KB in older chips). I imagine that will help considerably on boards with no L2.

Are there any sockets for L2 cache chips?

Reply 4 of 14, by Machine_1760

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Thanks, that info is good to know! Yes the board does have sockets available, apparently it can take up to 256K. The sockets themselves are shaped oddly, I've not seen any like this before except on old video cards.

Any idea if its still possible to get hold of cache chips?

(please excuse the poor image quality!)

Reply 5 of 14, by Anonymous Coward

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I think these are what you need, but you should look up the datasheet to be sure:

http://cgi.ebay.com/IS61C256AH-12J-IC-SRAM-32 … =item45eeab964a

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V'Ger XT|Upgraded AT|Ultimate 386|Super VL/EISA 486|SMP VL/EISA Pentium

Reply 6 of 14, by PowerPie5000

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Is it an Intel or AMD DX4? Going from an Intel DX2-66 to an AMD DX4-100 might not show too much of an improvement.

Reply 7 of 14, by Jo22

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I thought the DX4 is no true 80486 anymore. Some games might crash.
Also keep in mind that the i486DX2 66 supports both 5V and 3,3V.

Reply 8 of 14, by fjk61011

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I know this is an old thread but here goes. I'm looking for the manual for Siemens Nixdorf PCD-4H.

Reply 9 of 14, by Machine_1760

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A really old thread! Luckily I still get email updates for it!

The closest I ever found was a manual for the PCD H with system board 2. The layout appears pretty close. The support for these machines somehow ended up being hosted on the Fujitsu support webpages. i guess we're lucky some companies can be bothered to still provide downloads from 1994! I'll try and attach the manual.

Try here:

http://support.ts.fujitsu.com/manuals/ShowMan … als.asp?LNG=COM

Reply 10 of 14, by fjk61011

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Thanks for the link. Downloaded the manuals. Have to find one for the monitor now

Reply 11 of 14, by sliderider

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Sigh. Didn't notice how old the original post in the thread was.

Last edited by sliderider on 2013-03-28, 21:06. Edited 1 time in total.

Reply 13 of 14, by sliderider

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vetz wrote:
sliderider wrote:

if you get a magic chip and magic motherboard 200mhz is even possible.

Just as it is magic if you get the Pentium Overdrive and overclock it to 100mhz 😀

Well, I deleted my original post because I didn't check to see if it was a necro but Pentium Overdrive and Cyrix/IBM/ST 5x86 are harder to get and more expensive. Getting either of those for under $15 is difficult these days.

Reply 14 of 14, by Jed118

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Anonymous Coward wrote:

I think these are what you need, but you should look up the datasheet to be sure:

http://cgi.ebay.com/IS61C256AH-12J-IC-SRAM-32 … =item45eeab964a

Damn, this link still works and the chips are cheaper than the ones I just bought by about $7. Should have checked here first...

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