Advice on RAM/external cache for IBM Valuepoint? \ VOGONS

Advice on RAM/external cache for IBM Valuepoint?

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First post, by gladders

Posted on 2016-06-25, 23:12

gladders Offline

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Hi all, in my quest to build a middle machine between my 8086 DOS 3.3 machine and my PIII W98 machine, I have settled upon the motherboard attached: an IBM Valuepoint 6384/D. It comes with a 486SX 33MHz, plus a slot for an Overdrive processor.

Specs in link:

http://ps-2.kev009.com/eprmhtml/eprm/f336.htm

I understand these things are pretty picky regarding what RAM they use, and what kind of external L2 cache they use. Would these be promising?

External L2 cache:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/172236058189?_trksi … K%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

RAM:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/182168432969?_trksi … K%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

Also, I notice the machines these motherboards came with did not sport a Turbo button. Can you hook a turbo-buttoned AT case to it regardless, would it work? Or is there some other way to underclock it to 386 level? I presume this applies to the Overdrive processor too - what would be the best to get to maintain best compatibility spread over the three machines?

Reply 1 of 8, by candle_86

Posted on 2016-06-25, 23:25

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Why an IBM motherboard, if your building it it would make more sense to go standard Baby AT socket 3 wouldnt it?

Reply 2 of 8, by nforce4max

Posted on 2016-06-26, 01:23

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Just a bare board like that I wouldn't touch with a barge poll and you can get a ready to use 386/486 board of different performance levels complete with ram, cpu, and cache for $60 (like 40 something pounds I guess) usd or less shipped from Ukraine.

On a far away planet reading your posts in the year 10,191.

Reply 3 of 8, by gladders

Posted on 2016-06-26, 14:53

gladders Offline

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candle_86 wrote:
Why an IBM motherboard, if your building it it would make more sense to go standard Baby AT socket 3 wouldnt it?

Would it? I thought for a standard PC of the time you need regular AT.

Reply 4 of 8, by gladders

Posted on 2016-06-26, 14:54

gladders Offline

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nforce4max wrote:
Just a bare board like that I wouldn't touch with a barge poll and you can get a ready to use 386/486 board of different performance levels complete with ram, cpu, and cache for $60 (like 40 something pounds I guess) usd or less shipped from Ukraine.

I couldn't find any that were anything like that - try nearer £100. Can you recommend any?

Reply 5 of 8, by nforce4max

Posted on 2016-06-26, 15:36

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gladders wrote:
nforce4max wrote:
Just a bare board like that I wouldn't touch with a barge poll and you can get a ready to use 386/486 board of different performance levels complete with ram, cpu, and cache for $60 (like 40 something pounds I guess) usd or less shipped from Ukraine.

I couldn't find any that were anything like that - try nearer £100. Can you recommend any?

Checked the Ukrainian sellers page and looks like he either sold out or stopped doing the combo sales.

You can try buying this or the other board from the states.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Green-PC-System-Board … pMAAOSwKIpV~iFD

http://www.ebay.com/itm/486-Motherboard-Gener … OEAAOSwBahVOrXC

The barrel of cancer on the second board leaked so there is a mess and no cpu.

This seller has a lot of tested 386 and 486 boards that are tested but the shipping is a bit steep but still more fair than what many resellers in the rest of Europe and the states charge. http://www.ebay.com/sch/m.html?item=131837532 … t_systems&rt=nc

If you buy a 486 board that has 72 pin simm slots look for FPM ram not EDO.

On a far away planet reading your posts in the year 10,191.

Reply 6 of 8, by gladders

Posted on 2016-06-28, 09:15

gladders Offline

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Thanks, I'll take a look.

If there's a 486 motherboard without a CPU, do I need to solder the CPU on? 😢

Reply 7 of 8, by nforce4max

Posted on 2016-06-28, 12:12

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gladders wrote:
Thanks, I'll take a look.

If there's a 486 motherboard without a CPU, do I need to solder the CPU on? 😢

Not offense but that is dumb and hardware wasn't that backward back then, almost everything had a socket in some form and only the cheap junk had the cpu soldered to the board.

On a far away planet reading your posts in the year 10,191.

Reply 8 of 8, by gladders

Posted on 2016-06-28, 15:30

gladders Offline

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I honestly did not know, a lot of the motherboards I browsed seem to have solder-on CPUs, not sockets. Sorry.

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