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Some questions about 2 386DX-40 mobos

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Reply 20 of 69, by keropi

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@feipoa:

I can only get one from eBay and I see they are on the 50+ eur area which I am not prepared to pay .... 🙁

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Reply 21 of 69, by feipoa

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If my memory doesn't deceive me, it seems like I saw a 486DLC on cpu-world within the past few months for less than $15. I've also noticed that a lot of cpu-world sellers don't always list what they have for sale, so you may try messaging a few of them.

Plan your life wisely, you'll be dead before you know it.

Reply 23 of 69, by feipoa

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http://www.cpu-world.com/forum/

You'll want to look in:
For Sale/Trade (collectable items)
For Sale (auctions and auction links for collectable items)

I've also PM'ed you the name of a seller who has one for sale.

Last edited by feipoa on 2012-04-19, 23:49. Edited 1 time in total.

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Reply 26 of 69, by feipoa

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I was able to run some tests on my 486DLC with and without cache enabled. Bus set at 8 MHz, and RAM set at 3 WS. Slow, but safe settings. Resuts before and after as follows.

Cyrix 486DLC L1 disabled ---> L1 enabled

Landmark
ALU, 86 ---> 129 (50% improvement)
FPU, 174 --->185 (6% improvement)

Speedsys

9.64 ---> 10.52 (9% improvement)

3Dbench
15.6 ---> 17.5 (12% improvement)

I suspect that the L1 cache isn't being utilised to its full ability. When I plugged in a Ti486SXL w/8KB of cache, these scores stayed the same. I probably need one of those cache enabling Cyrix interposer boards.

By the way, the autoexec.bat command I use with the program I attached is:
C:\cyrix.exe -e -i1 -f -r

I should probably also run some AMD 386-40 tests to see where the scores come in at.... Edit, and I have done just that. Here are the scores for an AMD 386DX-40 in the same computer.

AMD 386DX-40 ---> Cyrix 486DLC-40 w/1KB L1 enabled

Landmark
ALU, 61 ---> 129 (111% improvement)
FPU, 140 ---> 185 (32% improvement)

Speedsys
6.84 ---> 10.52 (54% improvement)

3Dbench
13.5 ---> 17.5 (30% improvement)

There is an average improvement of 65% when using a Cyrix 486DLC-40 compared to an AMD 386DX-40. If you were getting a Speedsys score of 9.31 with an AMD 386DX-40, imagine what score you'll get with a 486DLC (~14.3)! Expect the 3Dbench score to improve another 20% if using a graphics card better than a Trident, i.e. a Mach64, Cirrus, or Tseng.

@Keropi
Can you upload a screenshot of your Speedsys which indicated a score of 9.31 on an AMD 386DX-40? I've never seen this high of a score on an AMD 386. Be sure to also have a 40 MHz FPU installed as this will alter the score.

Plan your life wisely, you'll be dead before you know it.

Reply 27 of 69, by keropi

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@feipoa: I have posted a couple of screens in the thread were I ask help to setup the machine: Need some help setiing up a Biotec 82C3491 386DX-40 system (also ISA nic advice) , the cpu scores 9.30 and because I had problems (related to 0ws on vram that was a no-go) I did test the 2nd mobo too and got the same score... sadly I don't own a 387DX fpu...
If you have any comments on the help thread by all means post! 😀

edit: here is a pic from said thread after tweaking the memory waitstates in bios:

p6d5y.jpg

the cirus memory is slower now after I jumpered it to 1WS to avoid problems

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Reply 28 of 69, by feipoa

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I just can't figure how a 386DX-40 is getting a 9.30 unless speedsys is artificually raising the score when no FPU is installed. What result do you get in the Landmark Benchmark?

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Reply 29 of 69, by keropi

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didn't run Landmark feipoa , can you post your version here?

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Reply 30 of 69, by feipoa

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Unfortunately I did not find a license agreement and cannot publically upload it. It is just the very common Landmark v2.0. The file is speed.exe.

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Reply 31 of 69, by DonutKing

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See a few posts down in this thread:
386DX40 build

Speedsys on my 386DX40 gives me 5.85 with an i387DX installed, and this goes up to 9.2 when the 387 is removed.

I can only presume that speedsys performs different tests when it detects an FPU .

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Reply 32 of 69, by feipoa

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DonutKing, thanks for verifying this theory.

Keropi, you should probably source and put in an FPU to yield more comparable Speedsys results.

Plan your life wisely, you'll be dead before you know it.

Reply 33 of 69, by keropi

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so speedsys is not a great comparison tool after all, right?

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Reply 34 of 69, by feipoa

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Like most other software, it has not been 100% perfected. I think you should just source a 40 MHz Cyrix FasMath FPU. I recently scored one on eBay for $0.99 + $5 shipping, which is better than CPU-world prices.

Plan your life wisely, you'll be dead before you know it.

Reply 35 of 69, by Seaside

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6.39 on DX40 with Cyrix 83D8740GP 40MHz FPU. 9.31 when removed.

I saw some Cyrix + versions FPU with 8KB cache. I wonder if those would give any speed boost.

Reply 37 of 69, by kixs

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Hello!

Can someone help identify this motherboard from this not good partial picture?

It seems it has support for 30 and 72-pin SIMMs - never seen this before on 386 mobo. The CPU is 486DLC-40 and I'm wondering if there is a FPU in the lower left corner?

It isn't much to go on... but this is all I got for now. I'm thinking on buying this PC. The seller is really slow with pictures and not really good with the camera 😵

280sdwx.jpg

Thanks

Reply 38 of 69, by Anonymous Coward

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I think I've seen this one on TH99 before. From what I recall it can support an obscene amount of memory for a 386...128MB if memory is correct. Of course you only have 128kb cache, so I don't know how useful having all that memory would be. You are correct about the FPU being present. It appears to be one made by IIT.

I've never used a 386 board with a UMC chipset, but I'm sure it's pretty decent as far as late model 386 boards go. By the way, 72-pin SIMM slots on a 386 board is very rare...but good!

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