VOGONS


1988-1990 386 build

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First post, by n0m4d

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Hello. Its time to start with my 386 build this all i have for now, looking foward for YouR help with this build.

Reply 1 of 18, by n0m4d

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Are this thing Good for by build or should i look for something else?

Reply 2 of 18, by jheronimus

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I would argue that you need a different sound card. AWE64 Gold is of course a great card, but it's too new for this otherwise excellent (and definitely high-end) build.

AWE64 is mostly about General MIDI. You simply won't be able to use all of its capabilities on a 386 (or any machine that doesn't run Windows 95/Windows 98). It also doesn't have real OPL3 which you're going to use a lot on this machine. So the only reason to keep it would be if you want to use its MT-32 emulation mode which is definitely not perfect but useable.

So, ideally, I would look for an SoundBlaster Pro 2 CT1600 or any of its clones that has a true OPL3 chip.

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Reply 3 of 18, by n0m4d

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Thanks for your advice. How about Tseng ET3000AX? Is it good for my build? I have also Cirrus Logic CL-GD5424-80QC-C and Trident 8900D.

About sound card is CT2290 good for my build?

Reply 4 of 18, by jheronimus

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n0m4d wrote:

Thanks for your advice. How about Tseng ET3000AX? Is it good for my build? I have also Cirrus Logic CL-GD5424-80QC-C and Trident 8900D.

About sound card is CT2290 good for my build?

Tseng looks okay, but Cirrus Logic should be a much faster card. I wouldn't consider Trident, though.

CT2290 is better than AWE64 because it has true OPL3, but it's still an SB16-compatible card, no an SB Pro-compatible one. Still, an upgrade.

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Reply 5 of 18, by n0m4d

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I think I need to look for older card, SB is around 1991/92 its to new to my build, what do you think?

update. also I/O controller is too new, baby this one is better?

Reply 6 of 18, by jheronimus

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n0m4d wrote:

I think I need to look for older card, SB is around 1991/92 its to new to my build, what do you think?

update. also I/O controller is too new, baby this one is better?

Honestly I've never seen a controller like that so I'd use it just because it looks insanely cool and unique!

Edit: on second thought it looks like it's an MFM controller. I know some of them support IDE too, but I'd double check.

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Reply 7 of 18, by n0m4d

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yes its MFM Western Digital WD12C00A-JU

Reply 8 of 18, by Murugan

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Why no ISA controller card? MFM is XT-era

My retro collection: too much...

Reply 9 of 18, by appiah4

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Following this thread closely; I will also eventually do a 386 SX-40 build for this same period myself. 😎

Reply 10 of 18, by Murugan

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Doing a DX-40 and SX-16 soon 😀

My retro collection: too much...

Reply 11 of 18, by n0m4d

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Murugan wrote:

Why no ISA controller card? MFM is XT-era

Its not ISA?

Reply 12 of 18, by n0m4d

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Guys, i need to decide which GPU I can use in my build I have few options:

Reply 13 of 18, by dkarguth

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I just want to point this out because nobody else has; your pictures of your hardware are excellent! How do you get such clear and well-lighted pictures with such a nice background without any glare?

"And remember, this fix is only temporary, unless it works." -Red Green

Reply 15 of 18, by dkarguth

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That's neat, I don't think I've seen one of those before. I've always wondered how they did that. Also, is that Western DIgital card just a dual output VGA and EGA/CGA card, or does it actually support dual monitors?

"And remember, this fix is only temporary, unless it works." -Red Green

Reply 16 of 18, by n0m4d

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4 of them support EGA/VGA

Reply 17 of 18, by n0m4d

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My Vote is for Theng ET3000, Good choice?

Reply 18 of 18, by canthearu

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For speed, the ATI VGA wonder 16 is probably best.

But you should use vidspeed 4.0 to check that out!