That CX4235, sound wise, is still too good for a trash build. Get an IBM MWave or something, if you wanna ride the pain train that's your ticket. At least sound wise, because on the video front you nailed it. This is interesting cause a few months ago i had the idea to build a PC with the absolute worst parts i have around, but ideally would need to shop for even worse parts 😀

carlostex wrote on Yesterday, 12:52:

That CX4235, sound wise, is still too good for a trash build. Get an IBM MWave or something, if you wanna ride the pain train that's your ticket. At least sound wise, because on the video front you nailed it. This is interesting cause a few months ago i had the idea to build a PC with the absolute worst parts i have around, but ideally would need to shop for even worse parts 😀

I think IBM MWave is just plain cruel mate 😁 Just making those work, especially the modem combo ones, is an ordeal in itself.

songoffall wrote on Yesterday, 11:32:

So... here's what I came up with. […]
Show full quote

So... here's what I came up with.

I currently have my terrible sound card and my terrible graphics card.

So imagine a build like this:

Motherboard: PCChips M747
CPU: Intel Celeron 266 MHz (Covington)
Graphics: Realtek RTG3105iEH ISA
Sound: Crystal CS4235 ISA

This has to be the system everybody would hate. It's too fast for PC XT era games. It's too slow for everything else. It has great sound and video compatibility. Except the sound is bugged and terrible, and the video is glacial. I would expect it to struggle with Doom and Duke3D. And the cherry on top - the BIOS is the stuff of nightmares. And while the board has onboard audio and video that might be better than the two ISA cards I selected, we'll leave those headers unpopulated.

Believe it or not, both of my Realtek RTG3105iEH ISA cards came with computers they had no business being in - Pentium III and 400MHz Mendocino Celeron. This gave me the idea.

The SiS6326 on those is the "good" version, discrete, 8MB of dedicated video RAM and you have FAR too many expansion slots to correct it's onboard deficiencies.

Therefore I propose that ...
M741 M748
are worse, with integrated/shared RAM graphics, and a PCI/ISA shared slot, plus you have the thrilling possibility of filling the s370 with the lowest Cyrix III series chip. Which I think at 400, has only 3/4 the FPU grunt of a covington. If you get lucky, you may get one with less than 3 DIMMs populated, only 2, or even 1.

The PCB is also delightfully thin, letting it curl like a sheet of parchment.

There is maybe only one significant upgrade that will do anything for this board, a Powerleap Rennaisance.

BitWrangler wrote on Yesterday, 14:58:

The SiS6326 on those is the "good" version, discrete, 8MB of dedicated video RAM and you have FAR too many expansion slots to co […]
Show full quote

songoffall wrote on Yesterday, 11:32:

So... here's what I came up with. […]
Show full quote

So... here's what I came up with.

I currently have my terrible sound card and my terrible graphics card.

So imagine a build like this:

Motherboard: PCChips M747
CPU: Intel Celeron 266 MHz (Covington)
Graphics: Realtek RTG3105iEH ISA
Sound: Crystal CS4235 ISA

This has to be the system everybody would hate. It's too fast for PC XT era games. It's too slow for everything else. It has great sound and video compatibility. Except the sound is bugged and terrible, and the video is glacial. I would expect it to struggle with Doom and Duke3D. And the cherry on top - the BIOS is the stuff of nightmares. And while the board has onboard audio and video that might be better than the two ISA cards I selected, we'll leave those headers unpopulated.

Believe it or not, both of my Realtek RTG3105iEH ISA cards came with computers they had no business being in - Pentium III and 400MHz Mendocino Celeron. This gave me the idea.

The SiS6326 on those is the "good" version, discrete, 8MB of dedicated video RAM and you have FAR too many expansion slots to correct it's onboard deficiencies.

Therefore I propose that ...
M741 M748
are worse, with integrated/shared RAM graphics, and a PCI/ISA shared slot, plus you have the thrilling possibility of filling the s370 with the lowest Cyrix III series chip. Which I think at 400, has only 3/4 the FPU grunt of a covington. If you get lucky, you may get one with less than 3 DIMMs populated, only 2, or even 1.

The PCB is also delightfully thin, letting it curl like a sheet of parchment.

There is maybe only one significant upgrade that will do anything for this board, a Powerleap Rennaisance.

Sounds like a "fun" board 😁 do you have a link on TheRetroWeb, bcs I'm ashamed to admit I failed to find it.

songoffall wrote on Yesterday, 15:26:

BitWrangler wrote on Yesterday, 14:58:

The SiS6326 on those is the "good" version, discrete, 8MB of dedicated video RAM and you have FAR too many expansion slots to co […]
Show full quote

songoffall wrote on Yesterday, 11:32:

So... here's what I came up with. […]
Show full quote

So... here's what I came up with.

I currently have my terrible sound card and my terrible graphics card.

So imagine a build like this:

Motherboard: PCChips M747
CPU: Intel Celeron 266 MHz (Covington)
Graphics: Realtek RTG3105iEH ISA
Sound: Crystal CS4235 ISA

This has to be the system everybody would hate. It's too fast for PC XT era games. It's too slow for everything else. It has great sound and video compatibility. Except the sound is bugged and terrible, and the video is glacial. I would expect it to struggle with Doom and Duke3D. And the cherry on top - the BIOS is the stuff of nightmares. And while the board has onboard audio and video that might be better than the two ISA cards I selected, we'll leave those headers unpopulated.

Believe it or not, both of my Realtek RTG3105iEH ISA cards came with computers they had no business being in - Pentium III and 400MHz Mendocino Celeron. This gave me the idea.

The SiS6326 on those is the "good" version, discrete, 8MB of dedicated video RAM and you have FAR too many expansion slots to correct it's onboard deficiencies.

Therefore I propose that ...
M741 M748
are worse, with integrated/shared RAM graphics, and a PCI/ISA shared slot, plus you have the thrilling possibility of filling the s370 with the lowest Cyrix III series chip. Which I think at 400, has only 3/4 the FPU grunt of a covington. If you get lucky, you may get one with less than 3 DIMMs populated, only 2, or even 1.

The PCB is also delightfully thin, letting it curl like a sheet of parchment.

There is maybe only one significant upgrade that will do anything for this board, a Powerleap Rennaisance.

Sounds like a "fun" board 😁 do you have a link on TheRetroWeb, bcs I'm ashamed to admit I failed to find it.

I should have put a comma or "and" in there to indicate I was talking about a couple of similar boards, and noted they came in some different versions...

https://theretroweb.com/motherboards/s/pcchips-m741lmrt
https://theretroweb.com/motherboards/s/pcchips-m741mrt
https://theretroweb.com/motherboards/s/pcchips-m748lmrt
https://theretroweb.com/motherboards/s/pcchip … -m748lmrt-v3-3b

BitWrangler wrote on Today, 01:19:

I should have put a comma or "and" in there to indicate I was talking about a couple of similar boards, and noted they came in s […]
Show full quote

songoffall wrote on Yesterday, 15:26:

BitWrangler wrote on Yesterday, 14:58:

The SiS6326 on those is the "good" version, discrete, 8MB of dedicated video RAM and you have FAR too many expansion slots to co […]
Show full quote

The SiS6326 on those is the "good" version, discrete, 8MB of dedicated video RAM and you have FAR too many expansion slots to correct it's onboard deficiencies.

Therefore I propose that ...
M741 M748
are worse, with integrated/shared RAM graphics, and a PCI/ISA shared slot, plus you have the thrilling possibility of filling the s370 with the lowest Cyrix III series chip. Which I think at 400, has only 3/4 the FPU grunt of a covington. If you get lucky, you may get one with less than 3 DIMMs populated, only 2, or even 1.

The PCB is also delightfully thin, letting it curl like a sheet of parchment.

There is maybe only one significant upgrade that will do anything for this board, a Powerleap Rennaisance.

Sounds like a "fun" board 😁 do you have a link on TheRetroWeb, bcs I'm ashamed to admit I failed to find it.

I should have put a comma or "and" in there to indicate I was talking about a couple of similar boards, and noted they came in some different versions...

https://theretroweb.com/motherboards/s/pcchips-m741lmrt
https://theretroweb.com/motherboards/s/pcchips-m741mrt
https://theretroweb.com/motherboards/s/pcchips-m748lmrt
https://theretroweb.com/motherboards/s/pcchip … -m748lmrt-v3-3b

Oh boy. I've seen some terrible budget S370 boards, but these are just plain diabolic 😁 And I'm not surprised almost every motherboard that has come up has been PCChips.

My 486 was intended to be a troll build, as in "how unstable can you make it": a DX50 processor, multiple VLB cards, BIOS settings crispy. Turns out this thing is perfectly stable, so a troll build became a really nice build. the sound card picks up interference from anything and everything going on in the PC, but that might improve once I mount the HDD back in the case and close the case.