First post, by artiemog
- Rank
- Newbie
I have a Digital Equipment DECpc 433 MT from 1993 that I have slowly been restoring. It's been quite an interesting system to work with. I'd like to use it mostly for DOS games, but I also have some other software on it like Microsoft Office, and I might try to see if I can find an old CAD program or something that will work on it.
Specs:
OS: MS-DOS 6.22, Windows 3.1
CPU: Intel i486DX-33
RAM: 12 MB (3x4 MB SIMMs)
HDD: Maxtor 60 GB 7200 RPM drive divided into 4 ~2 GB partitions
Graphics: S3 86c924 (integrated on motherboard), 512K VRAM
Sound: OPTi 82c931
Other: DEC DE-202 10BASE-T/Thinwire Ethernet card
Speedsys:
Service Guide / Original Press Release
Although the case says that the computer is a DECpc 433 MTE, it really has the motherboard of an MT. They were very similar systems, but the MTE had a few extra features like an EISA bus, real time clock, and flash BIOS. This error made it quite difficult for me when I was looking for system utilities and BIOS updates!
The system does not have a battery. The motherboard has a header and a Velcro pad for one, but I have been unable to find anything specifying what kind of battery to use, so I haven't purchased one. The system works fine without the battery, but the CMOS settings are lost after a few days of non-use, and the clock does not run while the system is off, so it has to be reset on each boot.
I replaced the original 256? MB hard drive with the Maxtor it currently has after the original drive's controller card died (almost immediately after I restored Windows to a functional state...). I also added the 3rd SIMM, the CD drive, and the OPTi sound card. The sound card has pretty crappy synthesis, but it's better than having no sound at all, and it was given to me for free, so I'm not complaining.
The only real problem I have with this machine is its graphics performance. The best video mode I can use in Windows is 800x600, 256 colours. Any higher resolution and I have to drop down to 16 colours, even though there are better video modes available in the drivers. Theoretically I should be able to go up to 1280x1024, 256 colours with this chipset, but selecting that driver makes Windows fail to load. Elder Scrolls: Arena is also next to unplayable because the graphics are so laggy even at the lowest setting. That's the most demanding game I've tried on this system yet, but it should work more than fine on my system in theory. Even the flying Windows logo screensaver is laggy until it has run for about a minute or two.
To Do, Near Future:
- Remove the Ethernet card. I don't plan to use it, and it's just taking up system resources. Once I do that, I'll move the sound card over to IRQ5, which will hopefully fix some compatibility issues I've been having.
- I was recently given a Cyrix 486DX2-66 that I would like to put in the system. I need to pull the CPU daughterboard to see if it has a voltage jumper, though, as the Cyrix CPU is supposed to run at 3.3V. And even then, I don't even know if the thing will work...it had been sitting in the bottom of a plastic crate for who knows how long, and has several bent pins, although they're not too bad. Anyone know if I should use a heatsink/fan with this processor?
To Do, Far Future:
- I'd like to replace the OPTi sound card with a SoundBlaster that has a real OPL3. This can wait, though, because I don't really want to put much money into this machine right now.
- I'd also like to get a Roland MT-32 or CM-32L, but it seems you can't find these online for under US$100. I guess I'll just have to wait to see if I can find one for cheap locally. At any rate, it's not of very much importance right now.
- I still have the original CRT monitor that came with the system, but it died quite a while back. Maybe one day I'll get it repaired and use it again.
Pictures of the system are attached.
