ryulian wrote on 2023-01-18, 08:51:

I'm going to make a DOS gaming box that includes 486DX100 and VLB graphics card. […]
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I'm going to make a DOS gaming box that includes 486DX100 and VLB graphics card.

I've been searching for information here for months, and finally I'm signing up today and posting my first question.

ASUS 486SV2GX4 was recommended as a good board. But this board seems to have several revisions.

I think 2.1 is the last revision.

May I ask you tell me what's the difference between rev 2.0 and 2.1?

And if you have a better motherboard than this one, please recommend to me.

I want to build a DOS machine that can reliably(rather than fastly) run DOS games from the 3~486 era.

And then, sorry for my bad English. 😅

I'm not sure about the difference between the different revisions but the board itself is reliable and runs stable. This was my first 486 board (on which I ran i486 DX/2 and then i486 DX/4). I still have it and it runs perfectly. It even has a header for PS/2 mice which is an important factor to consider when building your retro machine.

I don't think there was a large difference between rev 2.0 and 2.1. I suspect the only major difference might have been a newer revision of the SIS chipset on the motherboard.

I think that motherboard revision 2.0 originally came with BIOS revision 0305 whereas motherboard revision 2.1 came with BIOS revision 0306.
The former is easily obtainable but, I'm struggling to find a copy of BIOS revision 0306.

It's not really a big issue, since both motherboard revisions can be updated to the latest BIOS revision (040x) and thus giving you exactly the same functionality. Unfortunately, the BIOS ROM chip is not electrically erasable which means you need to physically remove the chip and then flash a new BIOS revision on (preferably) another EEPROM chip (W27C512 should work).

I actually have both motherboard revisions but, my motherboard revision 2.1's BIOS seems to be corrupt.
I haven't yet had the time to compare the physical layout of the two motherboard revisions but, I might actually do that in the near future.

BlackLinus24 wrote on 2023-01-18, 09:54:

I'm not sure about the difference between the different revisions but the board itself is reliable and runs stable. This was my first 486 board (on which I ran i486 DX/2 and then i486 DX/4). I still have it and it runs perfectly. It even has a header for PS/2 mice which is an important factor to consider when building your retro machine.

Thank you for your kindness.
May I ask the revision of the board you have?

jesolo wrote on 2023-01-18, 11:27:

I don't think there was a large difference between rev 2.0 and 2.1. I suspect the only major difference might have been a newer […]
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I don't think there was a large difference between rev 2.0 and 2.1. I suspect the only major difference might have been a newer revision of the SIS chipset on the motherboard.

I think that motherboard revision 2.0 originally came with BIOS revision 0305 whereas motherboard revision 2.1 came with BIOS revision 0306.
The former is easily obtainable but, I'm struggling to find a copy of BIOS revision 0306.

It's not really a big issue, since both motherboard revisions can be updated to the latest BIOS revision (040x) and thus giving you exactly the same functionality. Unfortunately, the BIOS ROM chip is not electrically erasable which means you need to physically remove the chip and then flash a new BIOS revision on (preferably) another EEPROM chip (W27C512 should work).

I actually have both motherboard revisions but, my motherboard revision 2.1's BIOS seems to be corrupt.
I haven't yet had the time to compare the physical layout of the two motherboard revisions but, I might actually do that in the near future.

Thank you for your kind reply.
I would appreciate it if you could share the information with me if you could compare it anytime.

Please no selling/buying requests on Vogons.

Dominus wrote on 2023-01-19, 14:06:

Please no selling/buying requests on Vogons.

I'm so sorry. I will read the regulations again carefully and not repeat the same mistake. Thank you for your teaching.