SodaSuccubus wrote on 2020-05-23, 22:32:

Im only seeing around 34FPS in Doom, and that's with the ram optimized as much as low as i could get it in the bios. Im no AMI Winbios expert though, my previous boards have been AWARD so maybe im missing something?

Arent' the original Doom games for DOS all caped at 30 FPS or so ?

They are, but I believe he's talking about the timedemo for Doom to see how quick it is for the hardware. I get between 42.4 and 46.5 FPS when I run doom -timedemo demo3 on both of my 486 machines. 1 of which allows me to change the timings for the cache and RAM, whereas the other one does not, but runs pretty well.

46.5 FPS is when I run Doom without EMS and 42.4 with EMS/XMS.

Caluser2000 wrote on 2020-05-24, 04:38:

mastergamma12 wrote on 2020-05-24, 04:26:

bjwil1991 wrote on 2020-05-24, 04:23:

Does it have PCI? If so, a dual IDE controller card would suffice, however, you would need to install the drivers first on another computer to play it safe.

It was one of those low profile systems with limited expansion slots.

You didn't answer bjwils question.

Yeah the backplane board has 2 pci slots and an isa slot.

Only issue with using an ide controller card is I lose one of the slots that I'd need.

Maybe if I find a full tower VLI8 that's missing a board will I try this board again.

xcomcmdr wrote on 2020-05-24, 04:41:

SodaSuccubus wrote on 2020-05-23, 22:32:

Im only seeing around 34FPS in Doom, and that's with the ram optimized as much as low as i could get it in the bios. Im no AMI Winbios expert though, my previous boards have been AWARD so maybe im missing something?

Arent' the original Doom games for DOS all caped at 30 FPS or so ?

Something like that, so its fair to say this build is a fine Doom machine.
Still, im absolutely curious how Nocito87 managed to get such high scores on his DX4-100 machine.

mR_Slug wrote on 2020-05-23, 21:41:

I can't believe it's been 20 years. I've been telling my self PSP7 is just a few years old for way too long. Tried all sorts of other things, always go back to PSP7.

I still have PSP5 (!) installed on my machine as well, even thought I legally own Adobe CS. PSP is better in some things than any modern graphics tool. Everything to do with color palettes for example, or support for some really old but important image formats (Amiga stuff like .LBM). Also, the user interface is just great.

I never cared about how old a piece of software is, as long as it gets the job done.

derSammler wrote on 2020-05-24, 08:12:

I still have PSP5 (!) installed on my machine as well, even thought I legally own Adobe CS. PSP is better in some things than any modern graphics tool. Everything to do with color palettes for example, or support for some really old but important image formats (Amiga stuff like .LBM). Also, the user interface is just great.

I never cared about how old a piece of software is, as long as it gets the job done.

I bought my copy of PSP 7 at Office Depot when they were clearing out a lot of their inventory. Got it for $50. I still have the GIGANTIC manual, quickstart book, and the CD, which is miraculously not scratched. I had to pull it out a couple days ago to properly install it on my Win95 system, as Win95 doesn't have all of the files PSP 7 needed to run, making a portable copy not want to play ball. I'd like to have been able to buy other versions, but I never saw them in stores, and I didn't have a card to buy them online. Pity that to this day, no one seems to have a retail version of Paint Shop Pro 3. I recall not much caring for 8 or 9, and I have 10 because it was briefly given away as nagware (easy to remove the nagging), but the UI is too different from PSP 7 for my liking. 😒

-blows trumpet-

Well, pour one out for her, ladies and gentlemen. My LS486 has bit the dust.

Was tryna OC it a bit more today, came to the realization 160 nor 150 is happening. I finally figured out how to clear the CMOS so inbetween my attempts id do so just incase.
I guess i cleared CMOS one too many times and "Cleared" away whatever life was left in this thing because now it refuses to POST. Even with the jumpers set for normal CMOS operation.

Tried with a 5x86 and a 486ODPR, double checked their respective jumpers, did a board examination, nothing. No beeps out the speaker either.

Well that was an expensive loss. What is it with most 486 boards biting the dust so easy that makes Socket 7 boards so bullet proof in comparison.
Maybe this is just the excuse i need to return to Pentium town ;-;

got my 6800gt agp working properly after being in storage. ziptied the side of cooler not making contact with memory.
ann01602 opening screen only works with dxdiag video settings disabled. so for that reason trusty ati radeon 9800 pro will stay in the system. Now I only need to iron out the sound niggles

If you have a programmer you can remove the bios chip and reflash it.

SodaSuccubus wrote on 2020-05-24, 10:52:

-blows trumpet- […]
Show full quote

-blows trumpet-

Well, pour one out for her, ladies and gentlemen. My LS486 has bit the dust.

Was tryna OC it a bit more today, came to the realization 160 nor 150 is happening. I finally figured out how to clear the CMOS so inbetween my attempts id do so just incase.
I guess i cleared CMOS one too many times and "Cleared" away whatever life was left in this thing because now it refuses to POST. Even with the jumpers set for normal CMOS operation.

Tried with a 5x86 and a 486ODPR, double checked their respective jumpers, did a board examination, nothing. No beeps out the speaker either.

Well that was an expensive loss. What is it with most 486 boards biting the dust so easy that makes Socket 7 boards so bullet proof in comparison.
Maybe this is just the excuse i need to return to Pentium town ;-;

Do you have a multimeter? I'd check the voltage regulator above the CPU socket, those seem to like to die on LS486E boards. In any case, don't throw it away if you do give up on it, there aren't many parts boards available, which can be useful to some (like me and my dead LS486E 🤣).

SodaSuccubus wrote on 2020-05-24, 10:52:

What is it with most 486 boards biting the dust so easy that makes Socket 7 boards so bullet proof in comparison.

Overclocking attempts? But people don't listen, no matter how often you warn them that overclocking can cause permanent damage. Might not be a direct result of overclocking, but from all the fiddling that would not have happened otherwise.

SodaSuccubus wrote on 2020-05-24, 10:52:

-blows trumpet- […]
Show full quote

-blows trumpet-

Well, pour one out for her, ladies and gentlemen. My LS486 has bit the dust.

Was tryna OC it a bit more today, came to the realization 160 nor 150 is happening. I finally figured out how to clear the CMOS so inbetween my attempts id do so just incase.
I guess i cleared CMOS one too many times and "Cleared" away whatever life was left in this thing because now it refuses to POST. Even with the jumpers set for normal CMOS operation.

Tried with a 5x86 and a 486ODPR, double checked their respective jumpers, did a board examination, nothing. No beeps out the speaker either.

Well that was an expensive loss. What is it with most 486 boards biting the dust so easy that makes Socket 7 boards so bullet proof in comparison.
Maybe this is just the excuse i need to return to Pentium town ;-;

Can you get another bios for it? Or hotflash that one?

Just be careful with these 486 boards. Mine had a one time PROM on it, I was trying to add XT-IDE to the bios image and I eventually worked out that you can't erase them.

Since I saved the BIOS before I tried to reflash it, I scavenged an actual flash chip off a flakey Socket 7 board and used it to replace the one time flash chip that I more or less ruined by trying to flash it again.

As for what I did today, it was playing with my 386DX40, comparing 2 ISA cards in particular, my ET4000 cards vs a CL5424.

I have found that the ET4000 is faster in DOS by a small but measurable margin.
Then I found out that the CL5424 was much better in Windows 3.1. While it doesn't have an actual BitBlt engine on it, it does have hardware cursor and excellent windows 3.1 drivers, proving significantly faster and nicer than the ET4000 in WIndows 3.1.

I accidentaly bought 2 terrible dramless 120gb SSD's on sale for a great price (WD Green). So now I think Im going to use them in my P4 in Raid 0 on a pci sata card as a game and media drive. The write speeds are absolutely terrible according to threads I read after the purchase (37mb/s bad) but the reads are in the 400 range.

ODwilly wrote on 2020-05-24, 14:09:

I accidentaly bought 2 terrible dramless 120gb SSD's on sale for a great price (WD Green). So now I think Im going to use them in my P4 in Raid 0 on a pci sata card as a game and media drive. The write speeds are absolutely terrible according to threads I read after the purchase (37mb/s bad) but the reads are in the 400 range.

It is likely they will be fine on any computer unless you are asking for a lot of write performance. Western digital wouldn't put their name to an actually unusable SSD product.

SodaSuccubus wrote on 2020-05-24, 10:52:

-blows trumpet- […]
Show full quote

-blows trumpet-

Well, pour one out for her, ladies and gentlemen. My LS486 has bit the dust.

Was tryna OC it a bit more today, came to the realization 160 nor 150 is happening. I finally figured out how to clear the CMOS so inbetween my attempts id do so just incase.
I guess i cleared CMOS one too many times and "Cleared" away whatever life was left in this thing because now it refuses to POST. Even with the jumpers set for normal CMOS operation.

Tried with a 5x86 and a 486ODPR, double checked their respective jumpers, did a board examination, nothing. No beeps out the speaker either.

Well that was an expensive loss. What is it with most 486 boards biting the dust so easy that makes Socket 7 boards so bullet proof in comparison.
Maybe this is just the excuse i need to return to Pentium town ;-;

Many things that may or may not happen with Socket 7 boards sooner or later, like BIOS chip failing, or just the BIOS being overwritten with junk, capacitors going bad, chipsets heating and cooling one too many times, some of their pins not actually making contact with the board etc. Could also be your RAM going bad or just the contacts of the SIMMs being a bit dirty and not making proper contact. Try cleaning them with an eraser just in case.

derSammler wrote on 2020-05-24, 12:44:

Overclocking attempts? But people don't listen, no matter how often you warn them that overclocking can cause permanent damage. Might not be a direct result of overclocking, but from all the fiddling that would not have happened otherwise.

No need to be a jerk 🙄

TechieDude wrote on 2020-05-24, 14:24:

No need to be a jerk 🙄

That has nothing to do with being a jerk. He did overclocking and I don't feel sorry about anyone killing hardware by doing this. People should learn to stop overclocking retro hardware. All this stuff is rare enough already and there's no need for such silly experiments. I said this many times in the past: if a system is not fast enough, get a faster one instead of overclocking. Overclocking is actually for jerks who want others to applaud for a 200 MHz 486. That's just lame.

I'm repairing and restoring old hardware for over two decades now and it just pisses me off seeing people killing old hardware just because they think they must overclock everything, have no clue about ESD protection, and what not.

@SodaSuccubus: time for a hotflash of the EEPROM or maybe another EEPROM indeed. If clearing the CMOS made it silent, the problem is bound to be in there. Oh you tried a fresh CMOS battery ofcourse.

EDIT: on-topic, I cleared out a bucketload of dark brown dust from a 2003-era Cisco 2950 24-port switch I got for 10 euro. Fan needs replacement too (another 5 euro). Still decent value for money I'd say. Once it's alive and kicking I'll post a picture.

TechieDude wrote on 2020-05-24, 14:24:

derSammler wrote on 2020-05-24, 12:44:

Overclocking attempts? But people don't listen, no matter how often you warn them that overclocking can cause permanent damage. Might not be a direct result of overclocking, but from all the fiddling that would not have happened otherwise.

No need to be a jerk 🙄

I don't think he is being a jerk. He is right in that it is a bad idea to overclock retro or even vintage hardware.
These things are too rare, and if you destroy them by overclocking, you will set yourself back a lot of money.
And what about the next person, that want to get into this hobby? Supply and demand drives up the prices.
I never overclock. I even go as far as cooling 486dx33 CPU's or 486sx25 CPU's. Better cool than sorry.

You can think he is a jerk all you want. Yet he only gave a good advice.

I did some more solder work today. Soldered in all the components that I have at this moment. Everything in the picture is brand new components, except for the two joystick ports. As they are reused from a different, yet broken, Commodore64 board. The bracket/shield that goes on top of the cartridge port, that I have not soldered in yet, are salvaged from that board as well.

Sorry for the bad picture.... Too little sunlight, for a decent photo. 🙁 Anyway... This is the result from soldering, day two.