Thank you for posting this! This is the exact machine that was my first machine. You're the first to document that this model exists. With the 486SX33 soldered to the main board and the NON-ZIF upgrade slot and the alkaline batteries, those things I haven't seen on any other old PC's. But that's it, once I saw your photos, it all came back to me. The Novell sticker and all.
I originally got a 486-SX-33, 4mb ram and a 100MB hard drive. It originally came with Windows 3.11 on 5.25" discs. I still have my original Black with red accents DOS 5.0 installation 3.5 floppy. Single disk. Stamped by V-Tech. PC Partner, by V-Tech. The budget line at Best Buy when Packard Bell was the more flashy option. I was pretty young at the time, but I want to say the system was a couple grand when my parents bought it. I still have (and use) the Memorex 'Power Center' that orange lights sometimes flicker on after 35 years of duty.
The first upgrade was a 2400 baud modem (IBM MOD531) which was the first foray into jumper settings. It was a little IBM modem from Circuit City and didn't work out of the box because COM 1 was already used by the mobo. I was fortunate enough to have the salesperson at CC give me a copy of Shareware Telix and a list of about 15 local BBS'. It was all downhill from there as I eventually stumbled into the warez scene. It was admittedly behind the times, as 14.4 was already out, but since it was the first modem had to check it out before dumping tons of cash. I think that was around $40 at the time. It wasn't too-too much later I think I had upgraded in that machine to a Zoom v.fast (before v.34) 28.8 that was $200 and worth every cent. I also became extemely good with the AT command set and the 30-page document of all the registers...As that was a very tempermental modem, and I typically could only connect at 24000, 26.400 on a good day, and I think 28800 was unobtanium. I still have my Zoom modem, box and all the documentation. Even the swapped out ram chip that Zoom sent as an upgrade. Lots of memories with that one.
Upgraded the stock 100mb Seagate hard drive with a 540mb WD Caviar from Egghead software. That one was all my savings. I remember that the drive cost about a dollar a meg and I thought that was a deal.
Last upgrade (I'm not sure if I have the sequence of these mixed up) was a single speed CDROM. A Mitsumi CRMC-LU005S. I don't specifically remember getting a Soundcard, but I'm pretty sure I had to have had a Soundblaster Pro or something. The CDROM card had two RCA jacks, but I remember thinking 'I don't need these' as I must have had a soundblaster. That CD-Rom while slow was very interesting as the whole 5-1/4" drive insides came out rather than just a tray. It fit nicely under that 5-1/4" drive.
Many memories with that machine. Fresh re-installs of the OS and Windows almost monthly when something didn't work out. Learning how to maximize the memory on it as games like Simcity 2000 required a boot disk until I acquired a copy of QEMM 386 to free up conventional memory. Lots of Wolfenstein, but I don't remember doom on that machine, although I must have played it on there. One of the first games I finished to completion was Dune on CDROM as my friends highly recommeded it and also getting stumped on The 7th Guest which I'm pretty sure was the CDROM pack-in game.
Lots of good memories. It was later replaced by a Packard Bell 133/16mb designer tower with Win95 and a 4x CDrom. So I think your build has a little newer CD drive for the times.
Funny how I can remember so many specifics about machines from long ago and the new ones I still use I can barely remember. Must be because when you have so many constraints, you have to learn to work with them. Thanks for the trip down memory lane.
I may have to buy that machine off you down the line...as it was my first PC, it holds a special place in my heart. And was a heck of an upgrade from a C64.