snorg wrote:

So I recently picked up a 386DX-40 motherboard and 286-20 chip that I am planning on using with a motherboard that I had on hand […]
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So I recently picked up a 386DX-40 motherboard and 286-20 chip that I am planning on using with a motherboard that I had on hand.

Here is what I am thinking for the 386DX-40:

8X-CDROM or maybe a CDRW (would a DVD-RW even work??)
8mb or maybe 32MB of RAM (8 30 pin sockets!! Yay!)
SCSI Floptical drive
3.5" floppy disk
Gotek emulator
Soundblaster AWE32
ATI VGA Ultra
2GB or 4GB compact flash HD
80387
OS: some flavor of OS/2 or maybe just DOS

286-20 system
4MB RAM in 30 pin simms
3.5" floppy
5.25" floppy (at some point)
Gotek emulator
Soundblaster of some type
Trident VGA (not sure if it has 256k or 512k)
1-2GB compact flash HD
DOS 5 and GEM or Geoworks
80287-10 (wish I could find a 20 but I doubt that's possible)
Not sure if I want to bother with an optical drive on this one...

I can't say anything regarding the 286 that you wish to build. The 386, now that I have some comment's on.

First up. This sounds like a nice build on the paper. And yes. You can build it with a DVD drive as long as it's compatible.
Here I am thinking in terms of SATA/PATA converters and stuff. Any PATA DVD drive should work.
The old cdrom drives are hard to find in working condition, and if you can get a hold on a PATA DVD drive. Go for it.
Regarding Os/2. Then track down a copy of Os/2 2.1 as Warp 4 might be too demanding.
It came out during the years of 1993/94 or something, and back then, it was all 486 anyway.
Try the Os/2 2.1 and Dos 5.0/6.22 on that 386. Or have them both installed.

For CF cards. I have had some issues with a 4gb card on a 386. A 512mb and lower was issue free on my 386.
You might consider a +4gb SCSI solution instead, no bigger than 6 or 8gb.
Just keep in mind, that in the times of the 386, even 512mb HDD was for the rich people.
120mb was what people had in the days of late-386 and early-486. Some had 250mb.
512mb was just too large, and it was only by 1995 that 800mb/1GB became common to buy as an upgrade drive.
My 486dx2-66 was treated with a nice 800mb drive in 1995. (Quantum). Shure I wanted 1gb, I just had not enough
money to buy that large one. I just wanted a large drive, and so, 800mb was the limit for me at that time.

Speaking of large sizes. It was common to have 2mb of ram in a 386. 486 was common with 4mb.
8mb in a 386 will let it fly. Yeah... Good choice.

32mb of ram in a 386? Can anything the 386 can run even benefit from such a large amount of ram?

candle_86 wrote:

32mb of ram in a 386? Can anything the 386 can run even benefit from such a large amount of ram?

All I can think of that would benefit from the RAM, which technically can run on a 386 of this speed, is Windows 95. I've actually seen it run very good on a 386DX-33, in the past. On this particular system, which had all top-brand hardware rather than cheaper, lesser-known brands, it ran better than some 486's we had loaded with Windows 95.

Edit: If I recall correctly, this 386 I am reminiscing about did in fact have 32MB of RAM. It also had VLB.

Snorg, what "help" are you after?

Phil,

That's a good question...I guess I am just trying to best decide on a configuration for Either OS/2 2.11 or Warp 3, although I'd rather use Warp 3 since I already have a license of that. I think if I could get 32MB of RAM in there it might just run, I am not sure though if it would be noticeably slower than a 486 or not. I can probably set it up with 16 or 20MB of RAM fairly easily, as I have some 4MB 30 pin simms laying around, I think one bank of 1MB simms and the other bank of 4MB would work ( I don't think all 8 have to be the same, not sure).

I realize such massive amounts of RAM are overkill for DOS games, I was planning on making a dedicated 3d Studio v3 DOS machine, although I realize the 486 I have might work better for this. I suppose you could say I'm trying to make a high-end 386 of the early 90s, assuming money were no object (well, with what I have to work with---I mean that the components I have now would have broken the bank at the time, not cost-wise now).

I suppose you could say I have a similar goal with the 286, sort of a over-the-top 286 (but without any expectation that it will run 3DS, it can't).