First post, by AmbraSprintaII
Hi! First time poster here (be gentle).
I just thought I'd share a little something about my first PC, an Ambra Sprinta II, that I bought in 1994.
Original specs
- MB: Acer A1 93113-1, LPX
- CPU: Intel A80486SX-33
- RAM: 4MB on-board, 80ns
- Cache: 0kB
- BIOS: Acer 486SX/DX BIOS (A01) V1.2R1.3
- Chipset: ALI M1429 A1
- GFX: Cirrus Logic CL-GD5424 512kB DRAM VLB
- PSU: HiPro HP-125WPF1
- HDD: IBM-H3171-A2 (984C, 10H, 34 SEC/T), 171MB
- FDD: Ye data yd-702b 6036b c
Me playing Wolfenstein 3D (May 1994).
Originally, it had a branded keyboard (Model-M, I think), 14" SVGA CRT and an atrocious mouse. Sadly, I got rid of pretty much everything that came with it and only kept the actual unit itself (I don't blame myself to much, as at least I kept the unit, and I still have more old computers and parts than what is really healthy for a marriage).
Anyway, so these are the upgrades I've done:
- SoundBlaster 16 CT2230 (added in 1994)
- Mitsumi FX240S 12-24X CD-ROM (closest match I had at hand)
- Upgraded RAM to 16MB
- Replaced flat CR2032
- Replaced CPU with a 486DX2-66
- Cleaned heads and lubricated FDD (reads disks mostly error free again)
- Replaced HDD with an SD to IDE adapter
- Added 3COM 3C509-TPO ethernet
- XTIDE 8kB boot ROM (added to the ethernet card)
- Lucked out, found an exact matching keyboard, that cleaned up really nice
- Added 256kB L2 cache
- Added 512kB VRAM
- DreamBlaster S2 (added to the SB16)
This is what the setup looks like today (the table is actually the same as in 1994).
Here she is, showing everything (the observant will notice the photo was taken before, or rather during some of the upgrades).
I think I'm having as much fun tinkering with it now as I had back then!