What about a PCI / ISA 486 motherboard? I see a few currently on eBay for not that much. That way you have a much cheaper option for faster video cards as well.

I think part of the crazy prices right now are due to the whole pandemic thing going on right now.

It depends.
Do you want a period correct 486 computer
Or
Do you want the best game playback of modern DOS games and Multimedia ?

If you go with a 486 then this is a good build.
486dx2-66
256kb cache or more
16mb ram
410mb harddrive
Cirrus logic 5428 or 29 is good. 2mb
Or Tseng ET4000 2mb
Sound Blaster 16 with Yamaha OPL3
4x CDROM drive or faster
DOS/Win3x

If you want a Pentium then
Pentium 75 thru 233
32mb or 64mb of ram
512kb cache or more.
2mb PCI video card at least
Sound Blaster live 5.1 ( PCI ) or Sound Blaster 16 with Yamaha OPL3
4x CDROM or faster
540mb hard drive or larger.
Win95 or DOS

I'd ask if anyone here played some of those FMV games with an ISA card. I would imagine your point and click adventure games would be fine.

Intel486dx33 wrote on 2020-04-27, 16:53:

It depends. Do you want a period correct 486 computer Or Do you want the best game playback of modern DOS games and Multimedia ? […]
Show full quote

It depends.
Do you want a period correct 486 computer
Or
Do you want the best game playback of modern DOS games and Multimedia ?

I'd like to stay period correct for 1993/1994. I have a complete Pentium 100 build right now, and while I could save myself a ton of time, where is the fun in that 😁
When you say 5429 in your list, which is what I have, are you referring to VLB or the ISA?

For 486 Systems in 1994, I don't remember knowing anyone who had a DX2, let alone even a Pentium. Most of my friends had late 386, or early 486 class systems in 1993/94 and it wasn't until 1996 that I even knew a kid that got a Pentium. Tex Murphy Under a Killing Moon, came out in 1994, and although it's FMV, how many people actually had 486/DX2 66 systems then, I can't imagine many until the cost came down in 95. I guess my primary concern is the ISA Bus, but guess I'll build it and find out 😀

cyclone3d wrote on 2020-04-27, 16:02:

What about a PCI / ISA 486 motherboard? I see a few currently on eBay for not that much. That way you have a much cheaper option for faster video cards as well.

I think part of the crazy prices right now are due to the whole pandemic thing going on right now.

I've been checking eBay, but they are still fairly expensive, more that I was looking to pay. RE-PC in Seattle had a special with a 486/PCI board, AMD 5x86/133 chip, and 16mb ram for $100 but I skipped it, guess I'll have to wait until they re-open to see if he still has it.

I think I'll just build the system with the parts I have, give the games a try. I'm not looking to run anything past 1995 or Gabriel Knight 2, but I think even the Cirrus Logic 5429 I have, as good of a ISA card as it was might not be up to the task. I'll report back with my findings 😀

dave343 wrote on 2020-04-27, 18:50:

I'd like to stay period correct for 1993/1994. I have a complete Pentium 100 build right now, and while I could save myself a to […]
Show full quote

Intel486dx33 wrote on 2020-04-27, 16:53:

It depends. Do you want a period correct 486 computer Or Do you want the best game playback of modern DOS games and Multimedia ? […]
Show full quote

It depends.
Do you want a period correct 486 computer
Or
Do you want the best game playback of modern DOS games and Multimedia ?

I'd like to stay period correct for 1993/1994. I have a complete Pentium 100 build right now, and while I could save myself a ton of time, where is the fun in that 😁
When you say 5429 in your list, which is what I have, are you referring to VLB or the ISA?

For 486 Systems in 1994, I don't remember knowing anyone who had a DX2, let alone even a Pentium. Most of my friends had late 386, or early 486 class systems in 1993/94 and it wasn't until 1996 that I even knew a kid that got a Pentium. Tex Murphy Under a Killing Moon, came out in 1994, and although it's FMV, how many people actually had 486/DX2 66 systems then, I can't imagine many until the cost came down in 95. I guess my primary concern is the ISA Bus, but guess I'll build it and find out 😀

cyclone3d wrote on 2020-04-27, 16:02:

What about a PCI / ISA 486 motherboard? I see a few currently on eBay for not that much. That way you have a much cheaper option for faster video cards as well.

I think part of the crazy prices right now are due to the whole pandemic thing going on right now.

I've been checking eBay, but they are still fairly expensive, more that I was looking to pay. RE-PC in Seattle had a special with a 486/PCI board, AMD 5x86/133 chip, and 16mb ram for $100 but I skipped it, guess I'll have to wait until they re-open to see if he still has it.

I think I'll just build the system with the parts I have, give the games a try. I'm not looking to run anything past 1995 or Gabriel Knight 2, but I think even the Cirrus Logic 5429 I have, as good of a ISA card as it was might not be up to the task. I'll report back with my findings 😀

In 1994 Intel released the famous 486 DX4/100!
It was very expensive when it came out, but now it would not be a problem anymore 😁
when you say 1993 then it would be 486 DX/66 or Pentium 60/66 (when you want high end, but not so easy to get now)

CoffeeOne wrote on 2020-04-27, 20:04:

In 1994 Intel released the famous 486 DX4/100!
It was very expensive when it came out, but now it would not be a problem anymore 😁
when you say 1993 then it would be 486 DX/66 or Pentium 60/66 (when you want high end, but not so easy to get now)

Period correct to me isn't what was necessarily available due to release date, but what was actually being used in a given year by the majority of people, and more so what was the affordable norm!

I received my ATX to AT adapter cable today... finally, thank you Canada Post 😁 (just took a month) But I’m curious about it’s 3 AT plugs, the ATX splits into 3 Cables for the AT board... but what’s with the Half Orange / Half Black cable? Don’t remember seeing that before, unless it’s just been a very long time.

dave343 wrote on 2020-04-27, 23:45:

but what’s with the Half Orange / Half Black cable?

That is for boards such as the ASUS PCI/I-P54NP4 that need +3.3 volts.

P10 is there to provide 3.3V that is not included in the regular P8/P9 connections, some boards had it.

red-ray wrote on 2020-04-27, 23:55:

dave343 wrote on 2020-04-27, 23:45:

but what’s with the Half Orange / Half Black cable?

That is for boards such as the ASUS PCI/I-P54NP4 that need +3.3 volts.

Ok thanks.

Interesting review I found on Under a Killing Moon, written back in 1995... who knew blogs existed 😁 But it answers my question somewhat, since I haven’t tried it myself. Author mentions a few interesting key points:

“It comes on four CD's and seemingly delights in telling you that your video card is not fast enough and your 486DX2 66 with 8 Mb RAM is under-powered!”

“Though the game designers recommend 16 Mb RAM don't panic. I played it with 8 and a slow 1Mb video card. It was fine. But this doesn't mean you can relax if all you have is 8 Mb RAM - it's not going to be very long at all before nearly every game is screaming out for you to upgrade.”

Review link here -> http://www.metzomagic.com/showArticle.php?index=66

Blogs didn't exist. They were called Home Pages 😁

dave343 wrote on 2020-04-28, 04:34:

Interesting review I found on Under a Killing Moon, written back in 1995... who knew blogs existed :D But it answers my question […]
Show full quote

Interesting review I found on Under a Killing Moon, written back in 1995... who knew blogs existed 😁 But it answers my question somewhat, since I haven’t tried it myself. Author mentions a few interesting key points:

“It comes on four CD's and seemingly delights in telling you that your video card is not fast enough and your 486DX2 66 with 8 Mb RAM is under-powered!”

“Though the game designers recommend 16 Mb RAM don't panic. I played it with 8 and a slow 1Mb video card. It was fine. But this doesn't mean you can relax if all you have is 8 Mb RAM - it's not going to be very long at all before nearly every game is screaming out for you to upgrade.”

Review link here -> http://www.metzomagic.com/showArticle.php?index=66

I played it on an IBM PS ValuePoint 6384 F20 (486 SX 25 , ISA Tseng ET4000, 5MB of RAM ) and a 1/2 speed or so Magnavox CDD-461 . It was painful, but I enjoyed playing it nonetheless .

95 We got our first PC DX2/66 8MB Ram, Onboard VLB Mach64 1MB , SB16, 2x CD-ROM
It was a "multimedia PC" so your looking at about the right hardware. It came with Return to Zork which is FMV and played ok from memory, playing off the CD would have been the bottleneck. If you can no-cd the games in your list and play them off the HDD you'll get a very nice performance boost I'd think.

I wouldn't get that upset about lack of VLB, It's just now people that want 486's are representing an era. 486's are pretty pointless as a gaming PC (too fast for early games, too slow for late dos games)

The fact is you want a 486 and thats all that matters. Build it, enjoy it , and if a game doesn't run well enough then you already have the Pentiums.

kolderman wrote on 2020-04-28, 04:36:

Blogs didn't exist. They were called Home Pages 😁

Yeah, as a teen throughout the entire 90’s I definitely remember haha, I was just kidding 😁

dave343 wrote on 2020-04-27, 20:17:

[...]

Period correct to me isn't what was necessarily available due to release date, but what was actually being used in a given year by the majority of people, and more so what was the affordable norm!

In that case, go with your ISA-only 486 board as it's far more representative of what most people had then - albeit still faster than average. I had to make do with my mother's i386-16 from 1988 and my best friend had a 286-12 bought in 1990.

chinny22 wrote on 2020-04-28, 09:12:

95 We got our first PC DX2/66 8MB Ram, Onboard VLB Mach64 1MB , SB16, 2x CD-ROM It was a "multimedia PC" so your looking at abou […]
Show full quote

95 We got our first PC DX2/66 8MB Ram, Onboard VLB Mach64 1MB , SB16, 2x CD-ROM
It was a "multimedia PC" so your looking at about the right hardware. It came with Return to Zork which is FMV and played ok from memory, playing off the CD would have been the bottleneck. If you can no-cd the games in your list and play them off the HDD you'll get a very nice performance boost I'd think.

I wouldn't get that upset about lack of VLB, It's just now people that want 486's are representing an era. 486's are pretty pointless as a gaming PC (too fast for early games, too slow for late dos games)

The fact is you want a 486 and thats all that matters. Build it, enjoy it , and if a game doesn't run well enough then you already have the Pentiums.

Yeah, thanks.
What you got in 1995 sounds like a norm heh, because even in 1995 (when Pentium’s where widely available) I bet your system still cost over $1-1.5k .

As for the 486 being a gaming PC, I would agree they aren’t the best, because you still can’t play those very early dos games, but you’re also limited when it comes to anything in or past 1995. That’s why I’ve always felt the best system is a nice Pentium 75 / 100. Let’s you enjoy all those late Dos games, Quake, Doom, all the FMV games as they were meant to be enjoyed, and you can slow down the Pentium to run those very early 90’s dos games that were speed sensitive.

I never did own a 486 in the 90’s, which is why I like messing around with them now. In 1992 my Dad bought AMD 386/40 which also had a Cyrix math-co and 8mb ram. I don’t even remember us having a sound card. Then it wasn’t until April 1997 that he bought a NEC Ready 9712, or 9716 with a 166MMX, with 32mb ram. So, that period between 92 and 1997 was painful.... haha. I only remember being able to play Sierra adventure games on that 386, forget about any FMV games on the 386 😀
We also didn’t get a modem and the internet until 1997 in the NEC PC, so I missed the entire BBS era 🙁

A friend of mine had an ISA 386DX-40 with 128kb cache and 8mb RAM. He put the Creative 2X SB16 discovery kit into that PC, and believe it or not he did play FMV games on it in 1994. I specifically remember the 7th Guest and "The Magic Death" being tolerable. I don't know if Inca II counts as FMV, but I remember that one on the 386 as well. The 386DX-40 was actually pretty good value during the 486 era, and not nearly as painful as the last poster remembers. It was only during the 1995-97 period that 386s and 486s became intolerable. Once Windows 95 came out it was Pentium or nothing.

So I think the hardware specs listed by the original poster are pretty decent for what he wants to play. 1995 might be pushing it for some titles though. FMV is probably fine at 640x480x256 provided the video is not full screen. But if you want to play "3D" games or software that does high bandwidth video then you'll want VLB...but at that point you'd probably want a Pentium anyway.

And so the build begins...