VivienM wrote on 2023-09-08, 20:14:

jakethompson1 wrote on 2023-09-08, 14:31:

CL-GD5428 VLB + 486DX2-66 is a pretty archetypal 486
Another nice thing about the 486DX2-66 is that it is the last CPU where the 486 was at the top of the x86 world as opposed to being a budget Pentium alternative

The 486DX2/66 is just one of those processors that i) it seems like everybody had, ii) if somehow you didn't have one, your friends all did and you kinda wanted one and iii) if you got it early enough in its lifecycle, would last you a fairly long time (e.g. isn't a DX2/66 half-usable in Win98?). Kinda like, say, a C2Q Q6600 15+ years later...

Doesn't mean that it's anything particularly significant for retro purposes, just... that it was a marker in the sand for a certain era of computing.

This is a great comment. I'm just starting out with my 486 build and I see the same 486 DX2/66 sentiment echoed in a lot of places. My current 486 build has a plain DX/60 and I kind of appreciate its speed. It's relaxing.

My advice to OP would be not to seek the highest performance right away. Start with ordinary hardware and work your way up so you can learn and enjoy the platform. To me, running a DX4 or 586 CPU is more "how fast can I push the platform" and less "what was the 486 back in the day". Definitely OK if that is your goal, but I guess I am starting to appreciate the slowness the 486 has to offer.

Regarding the Cirrus Logic 542x discussion, I have such a board in my 486 and it's fine for me for now. I play some DOS games, Win 3.1, and tested Win NT 4 and Windows 95 and had no issues. It's not blazing fast but it's been very stable with no issues. I ran Windows 95 at 640x480x24 with it. My build has a CL-GD5426 chip with 2MB of VRAM.

However, I can resonate a lot with the Core2Quad Q6600 part - that was the first CPU I bought with my own money and it lasted me from summer 2008 to summer 2015 (nearly 7 years) when I finally upgraded to Haswell and still use it as my main box today (8 years). The Q6600 cost $184.99 from Newegg. It could probably still run Windows 10/11 and do some useful work if I asked it, but for now, it's in a box for the future. :)

Flameboi420 wrote on 2023-09-08, 02:59:

I am looking to build a 486 VLB system and can't quite decide on a CPU, I'm torn between a Pentium overdrive 83, a 486 DX4 100, AMDs 5x86

sounds like in reality you want a Pentium PCI system 😀

rasz_pl wrote on 2023-09-09, 01:36:

Flameboi420 wrote on 2023-09-08, 02:59:

I am looking to build a 486 VLB system and can't quite decide on a CPU, I'm torn between a Pentium overdrive 83, a 486 DX4 100, AMDs 5x86

sounds like in reality you want a Pentium PCI system 😀

The first retro machine I built was a 486 but yeah, I quickly remembered why I was so desperate to upgrade to socket 7 back in the day 😁

rasz_pl wrote on 2023-09-09, 01:36:

Flameboi420 wrote on 2023-09-08, 02:59:

I am looking to build a 486 VLB system and can't quite decide on a CPU, I'm torn between a Pentium overdrive 83, a 486 DX4 100, AMDs 5x86

sounds like in reality you want a Pentium PCI system 😀

Hehe, there is something fun about getting to the end of an architecture and pushing it as far as it can go - I upgraded a 486 dx 66 I had to an amd 5x86 for that reason - just to see 😀

Have done the same with the 440bx pentium 3 (eventually got tualitin working).
For me, it's more about the challenge of getting there and see if that next step will *just* work.

(FWIW, my 486 wont overclock stably to 140MHz 😉)

ps. re earlier cirus logic debate - warcraft 2 runs fine with my cirus logic vlb card and 486 133