6 years? WOW 😳

That's the main reason I would only go for complete 486 machines, especially OEM machines like my Acer.

I love your case. I've seen this type of case all over the place when I was a kid.

Cheers on your new rig!
I know from experience it's hardly possible to get 486 parts these days in The Netherlands 😉

I see you're using a "z" type mounting clip for your heatsink. Maybe it's safer to add a fan to it? Or at least direct a fan to it? The CPU might get a bit hot after prolonged use

@ Mau1wurf1977
One of the reasons it took so long is that i got discouraged a few times and put the project on hold , the other reason is that it is REALLY hard to find 486 parts here in the The Netherlands .

@ Tetrium
Yea it would be better if i did add a fan the problem is that i only have one fan that would fit (from the 486 that died as it had a different cooler) but that one is attached to my voodoo 3 3000 . you know i'll look if i have another fan that will fit the 486 or the voodoo .

This looks VERY comparable to a DOS machine I just finished - except I used a pentium 233. 😁

A few comments,

1) I hadn't seen a case that was factory drilled for the onboard mini-DIN of the PS/2 mouse port on the MB8433-UUD. Nice find.

2) I have the same front-view case for my MB8433 except I have the 133/33 LCD and a "586" badge. I haven't actually seen this case without the LCD before.

3) You'd probably want to upgrade your cache to 512 KB when using 64 MB of RAM so that all the RAM is cacheable (if you plan on using Windows).

4) Your RTC will die soon. Since you've got a v3.1 board, I'd give your RTC another 2-3 years max before you'd need to replace it. With a v3.1 board, you probably have a socket RTC, so this shouldn't be an issue.

5) I've always had a thing for white (not beige) 5 1/4" drives.

6) You'll probably want to run that AMD at 160 MHz if you add a heatsink fan. I've had good luck with 3.0 and 3.1 boards being able to handle a 40 MHz FSB with still a 2-1-1-1 cache setting, however best results were obtained with FPM RAM (not EDO).

Congrats on the build; it is nice to see another member with the same board/case combo. You can see my rig on page 3 of this post,
www.vogons.org/viewtopic.php?t=28748

The fun thing is that the case has all the holes and mounting points for the LCD so if i had a LCD that would fit i could mount it on the case .

Well about the cache , that is not something i am comfortable with (as i do not have the massive amount of experience and electronic skills that most of you probably have) and i have no idea on how and where to search for the cache chips .
Does the amount of cache affect performance under dos ?

Thanks for telling me about the RTC . When it dies what kind brand and type number should i replace it with ?

the 5 1/4" drive is pretty yellow but it is barely visible on the picture .

I am not going to overclock my CPU as the extra stress is likely to shorten it's lifespan besides if i need more power i have a few more powerful systems

You can replace that Odin RTC, with a Dallas DS12887A RTC. These Dallas ICs are much more common on ebay. I've done this replacement on exactly the same model and revision of mainboard that you are using, and it was successful.

feipoa wrote:

3) You'd probably want to upgrade your cache to 512 KB when using 64 MB of RAM so that all the RAM is cacheable (if you plan on using Windows).

Just a quick question feipoa...if you keep the 256kb cache and set it to write-through instead of write-back, wouldn't that also double the amount of cacheable area?

Tetrium wrote:

Just a quick question feipoa...if you keep the 256kb cache and set it to write-through instead of write-back, wouldn't that also double the amount of cacheable area?

Yes, but

1) This motherboard's BIOS doesn't support L2 write-through cache, only write-back cache.

2) Theoretically, write-back cache may be twice as fast as write-through cache. The larger read/write request, the more evident this speed difference will be.

3) On the other hand, using 256 KB double-banked cache (as opposed to 512 KB single-banked) allows for interleving, which if I understand it correctly, and if logic supports it, will allows for reading one bank while writing the other bank simultaneously. Don't quote me on that. And I'm not sure if this simultaneous read/write will only work when the direct-mapped cache is not maxed out, that is, 32 MB is the max 256 KB cache will cache. Will this only work if using 16 MB? I don't know. I haven't seen a cache benchmark program sophisticated enough to seperate the various caching features and display it to the user.

I am generalising, but I think the ability to write-through cache was eliminated in the socket 7 platforms on account of the slower speeds. For 486's, I stick to write-back L2 cache only. But for using a 486 with webpages in Windows, it is sure tempting to plop in 128 MB of RAM and set the L2 cache to write-through (if your BIOS supports it). As it is, I'm using NT 4.0 with IE6 (64 MB RAM and 512 KB cache), running some services and other programs, and my RAM usage is already at 90 MB. Having the Ultra2 SCSI in the system really helps with the page-file speeds so it really isn't so bad. If I start using more than about 128 MB of RAM (according to task manager, when I have only 64 MB physical), then adding 128 MB physical (with not all of it cacheable) feels slightly faster than paging with 64 MB physical. Such a configuration would suffer if you usually spend most of your time in the 64-128 MB usage range though. For this reason, I just try to keep my RAM usage less than 128 MB and stick with 64 MB physical w/512 KB WB cache.

memsys wrote:

In the end it took me more then 6 years to finish this build and i think it cost me about 60€ to 90€ .

😳 That's some fantastic determination! Looks damn good BTW... I couldn't imagine building one myself...wouldn't even know where to start!

sgt76 wrote:

memsys wrote:

In the end it took me more then 6 years to finish this build and i think it cost me about 60€ to 90€ .

😳 That's some fantastic determination! Looks damn good BTW... I couldn't imagine building one myself...wouldn't even know where to start!

I can tell you one thing...a 486 requires some real determination to build 🤣, with all those jumpers and such. Building an ATX rig is a piece of cake compared to a 486 hehe 😜

Actually, I should build me one again, better then the last one (unstable and mouse no longer works 😵 ).

Good job with that. It's a computer of which to be proud.
I agree with Tetrium on the difficulty aspect of building an AT based computer, and if you were to dig through the posts, you would probably find a lot of frusterated ones made by me in my various attempts at AT resurrection.

Good find with that case btw. Not often that I see NOS AT cases.

nemesis wrote:

...dig through the posts, you would probably find a lot of frusterated ones made by me in my various attempts at AT resurrection.

You have witnessed the HOT-433 curse first hand. You just need one good 486 to keep you motivated.

The build was not easy but it was really rewarding to be able to be able to finish it after all those years ! 😊

However there are a few issues with the rig .
Issue 1 : i can't get the serial ports to work with my 2 serial mice (cutemouse gives me no device found) i am using a ps/2 mouse right now but it would be nice to have the serial ports working .
Issue 2 : if i hook the turbo switch up the computer freezes . Can you guys tell me how the turbo switch works ?
Issue 3 : the reset switch does not work i did take a look at the switch and the outside is damaged so i think it is broken

Any help is much appreciated .

Oh , one last thing i only have access to my 486 during the weekends .

LOVE the rig! 😀

But you also remind me how much I HATE ribbon cables! 😜

Are you going to try to get upgrade RAM for that Trident card? That was my first PCI video card, and I loved it. I remember the brand I had was "Chameleon" and had a funky box.