1. no you will need to install 30-pin SIMMs in groups of 4. The reason being each SIMM is 8-bit and they are seen by the CPU in parallel as a 32-bit memory bank. 3 of them won't work.

2. depends on the board's BIOS and on the OS you want to use, as well as which cards you want to use.

3. Several factors, most importantly if the motherboard can generate the appropriate FSB, i.e. if it has an appropriate oscillator and if it can be configured to generate 40MHz FSB. Also, if the motherboard supports DX 386 chips (which have a 32-bit external bus, as opposed to SX which are 16-bit externally; some cheap motherboards were made to only support the latter)

Won't repead what stamasd said...

2. controllers are not Plug and Play but usually you just install it and it will work. If it doesn't you should check the jumpers.

3. what kind of cpu is installed at the moment? Usually the oscillator has to be changed to match the frequency (speed) of cpu. In this case you should use 80MHz oscillator for 40MHz cpu operation.

Is this the motherboard you bought? http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-MB-1325-33VT- … =p2047675.l2557

I can't see what the oscillator is, as it's covered by a ziptie in the pictures. But based on the fact that a 25MHz CPU is installed, I assume it's 50MHz.

I don't see much in terms of jumpers, so I don't think there's much to configure. And the chipset is VL82C330 "Topcat" which AFAIK only goes up to 33MHz anyway. Thus, even if you were to unsolder the oscillator and solder an new one for a higher frequency, I doubt you'd be able to overclock the chipset successfully all the way to 40MHz.

Here's a very brief datasheet of the chipset http://www.datasheetarchive.com/dl/Scans-091/ … HI000173545.pdf

The cpu that is in it is a amd dxl25

And yes, It is that exact board. Im trying to get everything together for it. So for right now Ill have to buy more ram for it to even boot up. Ill need a new controller as my old one picks up the ide drive I will be using, It fails to see any floppy drives. The jumpers are configured properly on it, and I used multiple drives with the same result. The dx40 sounds like a no go, might try a faster oscillator for 33mhz operation.

With a 66MHz oscillator you should be able to use a 386DX40 CPU underclocked to 33MHz.

Yea, then I would at least have l1 cache (If Im correct) And what about a 387?

The 387 is not very useful.

stamasd wrote:

With a 66MHz oscillator you should be able to use a 386DX40 CPU underclocked to 33MHz.

Affirmative... I do it all the time.

Besides, downgrading can be just as much fun as upgrading... I've reduced many a system designed to run 486's... to a 386. 😁