Great pc!
If I remember correctly after many many years..:
- it should have an internal psu that switch on both the monitor/motherboard through internal socket connector that fit inside the end of the case and get power from the psu (and video connection).
-replacing the floppy was possible but the button to eject the floppy ended up being too far from the external plastic button, anyway it probably depends from the floppy drive model
-there should be different revision with soldered cpu or socketed version and it -should- support Overdrive version 66Mhz or maybe more but ram not more of 4 + 2x8MB = 20MB.

386SX wrote:

- it should have an internal psu that switch on both the monitor/motherboard that through a socket connector that fit in the end of the case and get power from the psu (and also video connection).

Yep, here it is in the top right corner. Weird that it passes both video and power, though.

Damn, I really hoped it's an external powerbrick 🤣

Edit: I just noticed a small picture of a cyclops near the CPU, it's so cool! I wonder if it's factory made.

-

A pal of mine had one of these back in the day, as I recall it had a 486 SX/2 50mhz CPU. Eventually the monitor failed, or maybe PSU. Was OK while it lasted tho.

jheronimus wrote:

Edit: I just noticed a small picture of a cyclops near the CPU, it's so cool! I wonder if it's factory made.

Fun fact: In those days, Compaq loved putting little pictures as easter eggs on the motherboards of their systems. 😀 Here's a better view: https://youtu.be/Qt-0lqkJUKE?t=2m54s

jheronimus wrote:

Yep, here it is in the top right corner. Weird that it passes both video and power, though. […]
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386SX wrote:

- it should have an internal psu that switch on both the monitor/motherboard that through a socket connector that fit in the end of the case and get power from the psu (and also video connection).

cp433-large-01.jpg

Yep, here it is in the top right corner. Weird that it passes both video and power, though.

Damn, I really hoped it's an external powerbrick 🤣

Edit: I just noticed a small picture of a cyclops near the CPU, it's so cool! I wonder if it's factory made.

Yeah I remember that on the mainboard.😀
I remember was hard to find the correct 72pin simms also cause to test them you have to open it and close it so many times. The speed was nice also cause the onboard vga was a VLB S3 based.

386SX wrote:

jheronimus wrote:

Yep, here it is in the top right corner. Weird that it passes both video and power, though. […]
Show full quote

386SX wrote:

- it should have an internal psu that switch on both the monitor/motherboard that through a socket connector that fit in the end of the case and get power from the psu (and also video connection).

cp433-large-01.jpg

Yep, here it is in the top right corner. Weird that it passes both video and power, though.

Damn, I really hoped it's an external powerbrick 🤣

Edit: I just noticed a small picture of a cyclops near the CPU, it's so cool! I wonder if it's factory made.

Yeah I remember that on the mainboard.😀
I remember was hard to find the correct 72pin simms also cause to test them you have to open it and close it so many times. The speed was nice also cause the onboard vga was a VLB S3 based.

Cirrus Logic 5420 as far as the above motherboad photo shows.

Cirrus Logic 5420 as far as the above motherboad photo shows.

Maybe there was different revision or I am wrong but I thought it had an S3 805.

Cirrus and S3 were pretty much equal at that stage I reckon.

BSA Starfire wrote:

Cirrus and S3 were pretty much equal at that stage I reckon.

I wonder if 512K Cirrus is enough for gaming? I also have a Socket 7 machine, so my criteria for Compaq would be "games that were shipped on floppies". So, Ultima VII, Wing Commander, Secret of Monkey Island, Space Quest, obligatory Doom II, Hexen/Heretic, Rise of the Triad.

Quick update:

1) turns out it has an FDD;
2) the PSU is internal, the seller confirmed it;
3) he keeps telling me that the unit worked right until they stripped it. He says he couldn't sell it whole, so he sold the CPU and RAM separately. Anyways, tomorrow he'll try to find another 486 for it.

All in all, if I get the CPU, I'm good to go — it would be just a 6,5 dollars bet + another 6,5 dollars for an Uber.

Hi there,

I have a very similar model - a Prolinea net1/33s. It is very flexible in terms of CPU - I have tested mine with a 66MHz DX2, 75MHz Overdrive and even a PODP5V83 (yes, I know it's socket 3, but believe me that it works just fine). As long as your CPU is 5V (or can step down from 5V) it should be fine. You can PM me if you need a CPU, I know a nice guy who happens to have a ton of them, nice prices too. I think that a 100MHz Overdrive is a good choice and it comes with a stock heatsink too.

The one thing I don't like about my Compaq is that it's actually very picky about RAM. The mainboard is equipped with 4MB onboard RAM and you can install additional 16MB to max it out.

It works just fine with all keyboards I have.

jheronimus wrote:

I wonder if 512K Cirrus is enough for gaming? I also have a Socket 7 machine, so my criteria for Compaq would be "games that were shipped on floppies". So, Ultima VII, Wing Commander, Secret of Monkey Island, Space Quest, obligatory Doom II, Hexen/Heretic, Rise of the Triad.

Cirrus Logic 5420 is one of the fastest ISA VGA chips.
Cirrus Logic chips are also very compatible for DOS games.
512kB should be plenty for DOS games since you won't run high resolutions with a 486 and an ISA card. (Even 640x400x8bpp would work with double buffering.) More memory would only be useful for Windows, 512kB will restrict you to 800x600x8bpp.

I think this is a good match for the system.

This is one of the computers i have been looking for a long time. Remembers it fondly from my first years as a computer tech in the 90's

Just bought one from interwebs and i need to know how much it weighs. Does anyone know?

After seeing everyone talking about this i had to pull my 425 out has a 50mhz 20mb of ram and i think 80 or 125mb 250mb hdd forgot to check that. But Yep powered right on and booted to win 3.11 🤣 And wow had some good games on it that i forgot about. rooms of doom catacombs and others. Think i paid like 20 or 50$ for it back in 2000-2001 at a computer thift store they had it on display running screen savers:) Screen looks like brand new still i guess cause it didn't get used much.

Now i might need to add a sound card to it sense its perfect for dos games. Funny thing the on board beep speaker really isn't that bad compare to others old pcs i herd.

Anyone know how to remove the password after it counts the ram? Lucky i still remember it which is compaqm 🤣

Just to bad that store closed down couple years later sense they had alot of rare stuff on display.. Did get a ibm ps/2 l40sx laptop for 20$ there too which still works but yea not that great playing on the black and white ghosting screen but you can hook a monitor up to it. More of a collectible. And couple other desktops.

This pc is awesome for me cause it was the first x86 pc I played on when it was new and a friend had it. Probably the 425 or 433 version. Only later I bought my own cheap 386SX-20 but first time I've seen this pc it was running Stunts game. 😊 Great old times.

gordesky1 wrote:

Anyone know how to remove the password after it counts the ram? Lucky i still remember it which is compaqm 🤣

I haven't really played with BIOS a lot, so I could be wrong. But AFAIK the machine has some sort of basic BIOS in CMOS and a more advanced one installed on the HDD. So in theory, you can just reinstall the BIOS using this archive. It's from a CDS but is compatible with 425/433, too.

gordesky1 wrote:

Anyone know how to remove the password after it counts the ram? Lucky i still remember it which is compaqm 🤣

There should be a jumper on the motherboard, P6 that you can use to clear the password. The instructions say: "P6 Password Erase: Remove and replace jumper P6 to clear password."

angelripper wrote:

Hi there, […]
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Hi there,

I have a very similar model - a Prolinea net1/33s. It is very flexible in terms of CPU - I have tested mine with a 66MHz DX2, 75MHz Overdrive and even a PODP5V83 (yes, I know it's socket 3, but believe me that it works just fine). As long as your CPU is 5V (or can step down from 5V) it should be fine. You can PM me if you need a CPU, I know a nice guy who happens to have a ton of them, nice prices too. I think that a 100MHz Overdrive is a good choice and it comes with a stock heatsink too.

The one thing I don't like about my Compaq is that it's actually very picky about RAM. The mainboard is equipped with 4MB onboard RAM and you can install additional 16MB to max it out.

It works just fine with all keyboards I have.

Hi angelripper!

Do you think I can also use the PODP5V83 on a Compaq Presario CDS 520? Currently it has a Amd 486sx2 66mhz (33mhz bus), I believe it's a socket 1 motherboard.