For me its the journey - for sure you can buy an outright system but I've pumped countless amounts of cash at systems despite having a much better/easier specification up in the loft.

You have finally found a 486! Now go build it! 😀

foey wrote:

For me its the journey - for sure you can buy an outright system but I've pumped countless amounts of cash at systems despite having a much better/easier specification up in the loft.

You have finally found a 486! Now go build it! 😀

Ya know. That's a really good point. And I am with you on the journey part. Thanks!
... can i borrow like 200 bucks? 🤣 😉

I'd strongly recommend you go for the Pentium build.

1) late 486 (particularly the Evergreen upgrade chip) does not offer any practical advantages over Pentium. There aren't any games that can only run on a 486, but not a Pentium;
2) VLB stuff is rare, expensive and often tricky to get working. Socket 7 gives you a lot of options because you can use PCI for pretty much everything (except for sound cards);
3) 486 era is not too well documented. Much easier to find PDF manuals for late 90s stuff.

In most cases, people build 486 machines for nostalgic reasons, not practical.

jheronimus wrote:

In most cases, people build 486 machines for nostalgic reasons, not practical.

That is partly what I am building for tho. I have many found memories of my packard bell 486. Even the limitations. Or creating boot disks to kill the cdrom so id have enough memory to run doom.

... Maybe I should build both? 🤣

I wish i could find some el cheapo retro cases.

You can use an AT motherboard in an ATX case. Much easier that way.

Where are you located?

And as far as eBay prices go.. you just have to be patient and keep an eye out for stuff. A lot of times, people will post stuff for really good prices because they don't really know what they have.

With those things, you have to jump on them immediately or else they will be gone within a couple minutes.

If you don't need/want a sound card with onboard wavetable, there are plenty of cheap options. You don't have to get a Creative Labs branded card. In fact, other cards such as ones that are OPTi, ESS, Yamaha, Crystal based are going to work just as well. If you get a Crystal or OPTi based card, make sure they have a dedicated genuine or knockoff OPL3 chip (LS-212 is the most common knockoff).

As for VLB video cards, just keep an eye out. Going straight ISA for video is a waste on a 486 board with VLB slots. You will also want a VLB I/O controller.

I would say you would need maybe $60-$80 + power supply and case to get the 486 going IF you buy all the parts separately.

cyclone3d wrote:

I would say you would need maybe $60-$80 + power supply and case to get the 486 going IF you buy all the parts separately.

Thanks for the info. I def want to get a nice sound card. And from what i understand, ISA is the way to go. That I dont mind dropping a lil bit of money on.

I ordered a cheap PSU adapter for board testing. Eventually Ill buy an AT PSU for everyday use.
I found a Multi IO card on ebay, 24 hours left, high bidder at 6 bucks. Fingers Crossed. That will have IDE and Serial And Stuff.
I also orderes a PS2 to Serial Adapter for the mouse. Already have a keyboard that will work right with this board.

Mainly, its gonna be finding the Video card and case thats gonna be hard for me.
TBH, i dont want to spend 150 on a case. (even my main computer i think i spent 40 on it) So im tinkering with the idea of either like you said using an ATX case, or Possibly building one. I really enjoy the cases that the monitor sits on vs a tower. Its the look im going for.

We shall See!!

Thanks for the info all!! 😀

For me, the 486 build was mandatory because it was the first PC I built from scratch. I have so many fond memories of that computer. But, the Pentium is just a much much MUCH more capable system. FPS games don't usually run very well on a 486. I wouldn't advise using Windows 95 either (although it will run well enough on a DX2 or better.)

P1s usually have onboard I/O, floppy, IDE, PS/2 ports, PCI slots... that's just too useful to ignore. Even memory is easier to come by on a Pentium, since they're often able to handle FPM, EDO, and even SDRAM. Don't get me wrong -- I enjoyed hunting down VLB parts and selecting every piece individually. But, it definitely takes time and money to get a 486 system off the ground. With a Pentium, you can almost shake a box of parts out onto your desk and boot the pile straight into DOS.

My 2 cents: play the long game.

The 486 is likely to be more rewarding, precisely because it will take more effort. However as you point out, buying all required bits at inflated auction-site prices is expensive. But... >90% of old stuff never hits those sites. Most gets dumped at recycling centers or occasionally gets advertised online as part of big lots. You can frequently get a box (if not a car!) full of parts for less than the price of one VLB VGA card on eBay. You just need patience and perseverence.

While you're doing that, get some PCI stuff and have fun with the Pentium.

Good Points. I think im gonna look for the dinkiest ISA video card. Basically to verify the board even works. Then move up to the VLB,

90skidJohnny wrote:

Good Points. I think im gonna look for the dinkiest ISA video card. Basically to verify the board even works. Then move up to the VLB,

Yep great idea. the VLB card may take years but doesn't make sense not to use the PC during that time.

Honestly the Pentium is a better PC all round, and thats coming form someone who doesn't own one but owes 2 486's!
I'd definitely keep both, the Pentium for gaming and the 486 is for tinkering 😀

Build the Pentium and start a 486 side project.

a Pentium is much better if you want a allround machine for msdos

matze79 wrote:

a Pentium is much better if you want a allround machine for msdos

Depends on the board and what you want to do. I find later Pentium motherboards a pain in the rear end when it comes to non-PnP hardware (or rather: the combination of non-PnP and PnP). But if it's a nice simple generic i430FX board or similar, then yes, it beats almost any 486 in terms of simplicity and performance. But not necessarily in soul 😉

Yeah just keep your hands away from OPTI Chipsets 😉

matze79 wrote:

Yeah just keep your hands away from OPTI Chipsets 😉

OPTI are good 486 chipsets though?

matze79 wrote:

Yeah just keep your hands away from OPTI Chipsets 😉

Now they have soul. A dark impractical one perhaps, but vastly more fun - assuming you're not just looking for a stable, fast-performing PC : 😵

Depends on what OS you want to run.
If you are just going to run DOS and Win3x then a 486dx2-66 is fine.
If you plan on running Win95 then an AMD 5x86-P75-133 should be the minimum CPU.
If you plan on running DOS / Win98se then get a AMD K6 or Pentium 233mhz.