Confused UngaBunga wrote on 2023-04-05, 22:30:

1. Purely ms-dos 6.22
2. Strong focus on late 80s ans 90s, mainly 1989-1993.

486DX2-66 with 8 or 16MB RAM, CL-GD542x or comparable VLB video card, SoundBlaster-compatible sound card, and CD-ROM.

The easiest build for me to assemble quickly and effortlessly, taking into account the parts laying around would be indeed a dx2 50 with a cirrus logic vlb and 8MB ram.
Is this from intuition, what you have observed by experience, or are you thinking of specific reasons for the choice of dx2 66 and vlb combo?

I will add a sound blaster 16 and a 4x cd-rom to whichever final configuration. Thank you.

If you will only be playing late 80's early 90's games I would probably go for the 386DX-40. Although, full disclaimer, that is my personal build for that exact era. I only have one 386 motherboard and it is that one. With that being said, I have a few 486 33 class systems without VLB to swap to when the 386DX-40 dies. The 386DX-40, or a 486 20 - 33 would be the period correct system for that era. Technically a 50MHz 486 would also be period correct, but I think you would have speed issues.

Why that speed target? As you probably know, games of that era are CPU sensitive. I would like to refer you to this think:

https://www.vogonswiki.com/index.php/List_of_ … sensitive_games

If you notice, games of that era, based off that chart, call for a 386 class system. Otherwise they run to fast.

With that being said, the DX2 50 would probably serve you well, but I feel as though you would have the turbo disabled nearly all the time.

You could consider using a Pentium and turning off the chip cache and the motherboard cache to give three speeds, covering a broad range of games….

Pentium would be the most flexible, Way more power then a game from 89-93 would ever need and as mentioned above you have options to slow down the CPU if needed.
Only problem with that I have is can you be bothered? I much prefer simply turning on a PC and start playing.

As pico1180 said even a 486 is pretty fast for this era.

Final choice comes down to if you have any games on that speed sensitive list.

Again keeping in mind the 89-93 time period video card isn't going to make a big difference. 386's were pure ISA, if you do go with a 486 a VLB card won't hurt anything and is kind of special but wouldn't say its required. likewise a 486 or Pentium board with PCI opens up a lot of cheap options like S3 Trio.

If the 486 50 is a quick build I'd go with that and judge if you need to go slower or can get away with something quicker which is always a benifit

Thanks for all your nice recommendations.
My nostalgia goes for a 386.
On the other hand with the pentium, don't really mind to turn cache off in the bios.
Come to think of it the pentoum 75 mboard does the crtl alt minus and crtl alt plus thing...
I must restrict myself to one machine.

Confused UngaBunga wrote on 2023-04-05, 23:15:

The easiest build for me to assemble quickly and effortlessly, taking into account the parts laying around would be indeed a dx2 50 with a cirrus logic vlb and 8MB ram.
Is this from intuition, what you have observed by experience, or are you thinking of specific reasons for the choice of dx2 66 and vlb combo?

I will add a sound blaster 16 and a 4x cd-rom to whichever final configuration. Thank you.

It came to mind as the quintessential 486 thinking back to all the hand me down machines I had back in the late 90s. 486DX2-66 is also the last time a 486 CPU ruled the x86 world. The DX4, etc. were all budget alternatives to the flagship Pentium.

Back in the day uou had what you had. Today you are spoilt for choice and I will have to make a decision knowing that it will never be optimal.

I opted for a 486 DX-33 for this era of gaming.

I originally had a 486 DX2-66. But I found that anything that really needed the 66 MHz (e.g. Doom), I'd rather play on a Pentium anyway. Whereas the 33 MHz of the DX-33 seems to be a sweet spot for anything more speed sensitive of that era.

If I need to throttle it, I can just use the turbo button and/or SETMUL to get down to 386 speeds.

My second choice for this era would be a 386 DX-40.

1993 calls for a 486+VLB, and not the slowest either. If I were to stop at 1992 I'd go for a 386/40.

Since MS-DOS 6.22 was released only on June 1994 and was actually a "fixed" version of MS-DOS 6.2 that was released on September 1993 I guess it was released with i486DX2-66 (released on August 1992) and Pentium 66 (released on March 1993) in mind as the top CPUs it is designed to work with.

So, I guess those are your two options actually.

But if your intention is to play games of that era, I would choose an emulator. I see no point in reliving once again pains of hardware not keeping up with demands of software.

ThinkpadIL wrote on 2023-04-07, 16:52:

I see no point in reliving once again pains of hardware not keeping up with demands of software.

Isn't that the whole point of building retro systems though? To relive the experience of using those systems for better or for worse.

Shponglefan wrote on 2023-04-07, 17:06:

ThinkpadIL wrote on 2023-04-07, 16:52:

I see no point in reliving once again pains of hardware not keeping up with demands of software.

Isn't that the whole point of building retro systems though? To relive the experience of using those systems for better or for worse.

Well, It is very individual. For me it is a joy of playing and tinkering with the real hardware. Besides that I'm also not into gaming at all. And if to play some old computer game, I'll definitely prefer an emulator. To build $500 worth IBM PC XT system only to play Digger for half an hour? Nooo.

Hmm ok. 486DX33 then, and not, to my great sorrow, a beautiful 386. This is because I will not let go off 1993, together with 91 and 92 it is possibly my favorite.

Hardware precise launching dates are a useful curiosity to me and I prefer to be aware of how they relate to the budget, mainstream and top market historically.

Emulation is a second tier experience, something I will do when there is no other option. I'd rather say building a $500 worth IBM PC XT for the sake of it. With the added bonus that you can play dig dug.

Confused UngaBunga wrote on 2023-04-07, 17:45:

Hmm ok. 486DX33 then, and not, to my great sorrow, a beautiful 386. This is because I will not let go off 1993, together with 91 and 92 it is possibly my favorite.

Hardware precise launching dates are a useful curiosity to me and I prefer to be aware of how they relate to the budget, mainstream and top market historically.

Emulation is a second tier experience, something I will do when there is no other option. I'd rather say building a $500 worth IBM PC XT for the sake of it. With the added bonus that you can play dig dug.

Why not to build what you really want? I'm sure MS-DOS 6.22 was built with low-end 386 machines in mind also.

Shponglefan wrote on 2023-04-07, 15:55:

I opted for a 486 DX-33 for this era of gaming. […]
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I opted for a 486 DX-33 for this era of gaming.

I originally had a 486 DX2-66. But I found that anything that really needed the 66 MHz (e.g. Doom), I'd rather play on a Pentium anyway. Whereas the 33 MHz of the DX-33 seems to be a sweet spot for anything more speed sensitive of that era.

If I need to throttle it, I can just use the turbo button and/or SETMUL to get down to 386 speeds.

My second choice for this era would be a 386 DX-40.

This is my exact sentiment as well. when my 386DX-40 dies it will be replaced by a 486DX-33. Only because I don't have any other 386 boards, and I have a ton of VLBless 486 boards that are perfect for the 33 and lower CPUs.

ThinkpadIL wrote on 2023-04-07, 17:48:

Confused UngaBunga wrote on 2023-04-07, 17:45:

Hmm ok. 486DX33 then, and not, to my great sorrow, a beautiful 386. This is because I will not let go off 1993, together with 91 and 92 it is possibly my favorite.

Hardware precise launching dates are a useful curiosity to me and I prefer to be aware of how they relate to the budget, mainstream and top market historically.

Emulation is a second tier experience, something I will do when there is no other option. I'd rather say building a $500 worth IBM PC XT for the sake of it. With the added bonus that you can play dig dug.

Why not to build what you really want? I'm sure MS-DOS 6.22 was built with low-end 386 machines in mind also.

I will build the 386dx 40 to following my heart. Who need logic reasoning when dealing with computers anyway! Lol thanks. My mind is set. 386. I can only have one assemblée at a time, but that doesn't mean it has to be the same one all the time, right? Thank you guys. You have helped me make my mind.
Cheers and happy building/tinkering ( and some gaming as well ).

Confused UngaBunga wrote on 2023-04-07, 18:03:

I will build the 386dx 40 to following my heart. Who need logic reasoning when dealing with computers anyway! Lol thanks. My mind is set. 386. I can only have one assemblée at a time, but that doesn't mean it has to be the same one all the time, right? Thank you guys. You have helped me make my mind.
Cheers and happy building/tinkering ( and some gaming as well ).

386 DX-40 is a good choice for that era of gaming and should serve you well!