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First post, by Intel486dx33

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I had an Lucky star LS-486 motherboard in the garage that I thought I ruined a while back but it turns out it was just a bad battery. So I have it working now.
It has an Intel 486dx4-100 CPU installed and 32mb of ram.
256kb of cache.
3 PCI slots and 4 ISA slots.

What should I do with this build ?
What OS do you recommend ?
I can install DOS / Win311 / Win95 ?
What graphics card ? S3 / Nvidia FX5500 / GeForce MX4400
I also have an AMD 5x86 133 P75 CPU available.

Open to suggestions.

I am benchmarking and regression testing this build right now. Currently it is very stable
And performs optimal.

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Reply 1 of 16, by jesolo

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This is one of the later 486 motherboards that were released with PCI slots instead of VESA Local Bus.
I have one myself and it's a very stable motherboard and supports all the later generation 486 CPU's (like your AMD 5x86 & Cyrix 5x86).

With an Intel 486DX4-100 or AMD 5x86, you can install Windows 95 but, I normally use this to copy files, create folders, etc.
I prefer to use my 486 PC's for DOS games (by setting up a Boot menu configuration under Windows 95).

If you want to be period correct, then the S3 is probably more correct with a Sound Blaster AWE64.
You can play practically all DOS games on this setup, except for your very late DOS games (mostly those based on the Build engine and Quake).

Reply 2 of 16, by Intel486dx33

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Yeah, I have selected an S3 vision64 2mb. PCI Video card and A Sound Blaster Vibra-s with Yamaha OPL3 chip.
For right now. Do you think the AWE32 or AWE64 is better ? I have those too.
What about using the AMD 5x86 133 ? Should I use this instead of the Intel DX4-100 for playing games in DOS and Win95 ?

I think I am going to go with a DOS622/WIn95 installation.

Reply 3 of 16, by jesolo

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With this PC, an AWE32 or AWE64 should do (depending on your likes and dislikes around real OPL3 versus CQM synthesis).
The AMD 5x86 is a bit faster (comparable to a Pentium 75 MHz ito integer performance). Easily overclockable to 160 MHz (40 MHz FSB x4) which will give you comparable integer performance of a Pentium 90 MHz.

Why both DOS 6.22 and Windows 95? Just install Windows 95 and create a boot (startup) menu configuration. Windows 95 comes with MS-DOS built-in.

Reply 6 of 16, by JSO

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Very good motherboard for 486Dx4+ machines. I think that they are more stable than the VLB 486 motherboards.

I have one with the ALi m1489/m1487 chipset (I didn't noticed that it's slower than other chipsets of its era) and a AM486DX4 120 MHz and 32MB RAM installed, S3 Virge Dx 4 MB PCI with Windows 95B installed and runs very fast! But I'm using compact flash instead of mechanic HDD.
I'm using it for testing DOS games. I've just modified the autoexec.bat and config.sys for himem and emm386 drivers, no pure DOS installation, just the Windows\Command folder for DOS utilities.

DOS IS THE POWER OF OUR CHILDHOOD MEMORIES!

Reply 7 of 16, by mpe

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Surprised by relatively low l2 and memory scores in the speedtest screenshot. My VIA486A base motherboard does quite a bit more even with DX-33 or DX2-66. Perhaps you could try a bit of BIOS tuning?

Blog|NexGen 586|S4

Reply 8 of 16, by brostenen

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My LS-486e board have the following stuff installed on and in it.

- AMD 5x86-133
- 16mb Ram.
- Cirrus Logic CL5446 PCI 2mb
- Audician32 soundcard with a DreamBlasterS1

For storage I am using a 512mb CF card, DVD drive and Floppy disk drive.
For operating system, I am running MS-Dos 6.22 (No Windows 3.11)

Don't eat stuff off a 15 year old never cleaned cpu cooler.
Those cakes make you sick....

My blog: http://to9xct.blogspot.dk
My YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/brostenen

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Reply 9 of 16, by brostenen

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JSO wrote:

AM486DX4 120 MHz

That is a sweet CPU, and a somewhat rare one. Most people settle with a 100 and clock it to 120.
I have one real 120 in my collection.

Don't eat stuff off a 15 year old never cleaned cpu cooler.
Those cakes make you sick....

My blog: http://to9xct.blogspot.dk
My YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/brostenen

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Reply 10 of 16, by brostenen

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Intel486dx33 wrote:

Do you have an example of boot startup menu for DOS/Win95 ?

I like to keep operating systems seperated completely, when using more than one.
Seperated as in they can not see each other at any point, not even the partition they are installed on.
Not saying that you have to do it like this. It is just how I have always done this. A good bootmanager.
That is why I am using extended fdisk whenever I dual or tripple boot.

Don't eat stuff off a 15 year old never cleaned cpu cooler.
Those cakes make you sick....

My blog: http://to9xct.blogspot.dk
My YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/brostenen

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Reply 11 of 16, by Intel486dx33

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brostenen wrote:
My LS-486e board have the following stuff installed on and in it. […]
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My LS-486e board have the following stuff installed on and in it.

- AMD 5x86-133
- 16mb Ram.
- Cirrus Logic CL5446 PCI 2mb
- Audician32 soundcard with a DreamBlasterS1

For storage I am using a 512mb CF card, DVD drive and Floppy disk drive.
For operating system, I am running MS-Dos 6.22 (No Windows 3.11)

Can you provide a photo of your bios settings for Clk/timing
Also, I want to use the Amd5X86-133@160mhz. But I don't see any setting options in the manual.
What setting in the manual are you using for your AMD5x86-133 ?

Reply 12 of 16, by Dragon Caesar

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If you do decide to use something like a AWE32, try out Win95. The benefit there is you can play around with the midi emulation and have it work with games that use protected mode such as Doom. For more info, this post by Ampera was super helpful.

Reply 13 of 16, by jesolo

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Intel486dx33 wrote:

Also, I want to use the Amd5X86-133@160mhz. But I don't see any setting options in the manual.
What setting in the manual are you using for your AMD5x86-133 ?

If your motherboard doesn't have a setting for a 4x multiplier, try the 2x setting (or jumper it for a 80486DX2).

Reply 14 of 16, by JSO

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brostenen wrote:
JSO wrote:

AM486DX4 120 MHz

That is a sweet CPU, and a somewhat rare one. Most people settle with a 100 and clock it to 120.
I have one real 120 in my collection.

Yes I know that! Just bought it two years ago along with the motherboard, RAM and an S3 Trio64 PCI for only 50.00 €!

I was thinking it to downclock it to 66 Mhz because I've always back on the day wanted to have a 486DX2! But isn't appropriate for his era so I bought an entire 486 (i486sx33 installed) VLB system with desktop case for a few euros to put the DX2 there to cover the 1992 and early 1995 486 period..

DOS IS THE POWER OF OUR CHILDHOOD MEMORIES!

Reply 15 of 16, by brostenen

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Intel486dx33 wrote:
Can you provide a photo of your bios settings for Clk/timing Also, I want to use the Amd5X86-133@160mhz. But I don't see any set […]
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brostenen wrote:
My LS-486e board have the following stuff installed on and in it. […]
Show full quote

My LS-486e board have the following stuff installed on and in it.

- AMD 5x86-133
- 16mb Ram.
- Cirrus Logic CL5446 PCI 2mb
- Audician32 soundcard with a DreamBlasterS1

For storage I am using a 512mb CF card, DVD drive and Floppy disk drive.
For operating system, I am running MS-Dos 6.22 (No Windows 3.11)

Can you provide a photo of your bios settings for Clk/timing
Also, I want to use the Amd5X86-133@160mhz. But I don't see any setting options in the manual.
What setting in the manual are you using for your AMD5x86-133 ?

Not at the moment. I have no time digging out the machine before some times in the next month or so.

Don't eat stuff off a 15 year old never cleaned cpu cooler.
Those cakes make you sick....

My blog: http://to9xct.blogspot.dk
My YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/brostenen

001100 010010 011110 100001 101101 110011

Reply 16 of 16, by chinny22

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Yep, AWE and Win95 is perfect for this.
It's fast enough for "launch titles" for Win95, Doom95, Return Fire, Diablo at a push but its more about the dos games and being in Win95 allows you use the awe at its full potential.
That's what I did with my 486 PCI and I've got all 3 CPU's mentioned DX4120, POD 75, 586 133 but settled on the POD for "coolness"