Irinikus wrote on 2024-02-05, 17:18:

The system currently doesn't have any external cache chips fitted, so I'll have to fit some!

That's probably the best upgrade you can do.

I assume that the onboard video is already vlb?

What are you using for a display? Many vlb video cards from this time only had interlaced video for higher res modes which typically don't work on an lcd display.

[I can't figure out quoting a picture, so I'm making a mess 😀
quote=Irinikus post_id=1232089 time=1707153516 user_id=49693]

What's the thing above the IBM badge, with the purple sliding door? It is an ancient webcam? Does that big SCSI lead go to it?

I hope you are gonna get that thing working with a modern machine, so you can have by far the worst picture on corporate camera crapware.

pan069 wrote on 2024-02-05, 19:22:

That's probably the best upgrade you can do. […]
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Irinikus wrote on 2024-02-05, 17:18:

The system currently doesn't have any external cache chips fitted, so I'll have to fit some!

That's probably the best upgrade you can do.

I assume that the onboard video is already vlb?

What are you using for a display? Many vlb video cards from this time only had interlaced video for higher res modes which typically don't work on an lcd display.

The onboard graphics is VLB

I am using an LCD display and it works perfectly.

progman.exe wrote on 2024-02-05, 19:50:

[I can't figure out quoting a picture, so I'm making a mess :) quote=Irinikus post_id=1232089 time=1707153516 user_id=49693] htt […]
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[I can't figure out quoting a picture, so I'm making a mess 😀
quote=Irinikus post_id=1232089 time=1707153516 user_id=49693]

What's the thing above the IBM badge, with the purple sliding door? It is an ancient webcam? Does that big SCSI lead go to it?

I hope you are gonna get that thing working with a modern machine, so you can have by far the worst picture on corporate camera crapware.

That's an SGI O2 CAM. (It's for the SGI O2 sitting next to this system.)

Here's a picture of the Motherboard form one of these systems:

These are the various jumper settings for the board:

Irinikus wrote on 2024-02-05, 19:56:

pan069 wrote on 2024-02-05, 19:22:

That's probably the best upgrade you can do. […]
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Irinikus wrote on 2024-02-05, 17:18:

The system currently doesn't have any external cache chips fitted, so I'll have to fit some!

That's probably the best upgrade you can do.

I assume that the onboard video is already vlb?

What are you using for a display? Many vlb video cards from this time only had interlaced video for higher res modes which typically don't work on an lcd display.

I am using an LCD display and it works perfectly.

Understood. In your original post you're speaking of upgrading the video ram to 2mb. This would only make sense if you're planning on using hi-res svga, to which point, check what hi-res video modes are supported by the onboard graphics because if they are interlaced video modes and you don't have a display that supports it...

The CL-GD5430 is a pretty good chip and as you say it works perfectly so you don't gain anything in upgrading video.
Currently the system has no SCSI so by adding a SCSI card you do gain something.
Will it improve all round performance? probably not compared to using CF card or similar but that's not really the point is it?
VLB, SCSI, these were all cool expensive things that we wanted but couldn't afford back in the day that we can now try out for ourselves.

Irinikus wrote on 2024-02-05, 17:18:

My IBM 486-3.jpg […]
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My IBM 486-3.jpg

My IBM 486 - cover removed left-2.jpg

The main board has the following specs: (Disregard the CPU specs given, as I got these specs off another site)

IMG_8133.PNG

The machine features integrated graphics with 1MB of video ram, and only has 2x 16-bit ISA and 1x 32-bit VESA expansion slots available.

So the question is: Do I disable the onboard graphics and slot a DIAMOND STEALTH 64 DRAM VLB and slot one of these ISA SCSI cards (Perceptive Solutions Easycache SCSI B1 1200 ISA Card):

Screenshot 2024-02-05 at 19.28.42.png

Or do I slot one of these: (Adaptec AHA-2842A VL SCSI Master VLB SCSI Floppy Controller)

s-l1600-278.jpg

And use the onboard graphics (I can maybe look at swapping out the 1MB chip for a 2MB, which would require solder work, as the chip isn't socketed.)

In your opinion which setup would offer better all round performance as far as drive and video performance go? (This machine will remain a 486 DX4 100, even though the board can accept a Pentium Overdrive chip)

The system currently doesn't have any external cache chips fitted, so I'll have to fit some!

Cirrus 5430 is somehow rare, but still the S3 with 864 will be a lot better in my opinion. But of course you need to upgrade the video memory to 2MB to give it its 64 bit bandwidth to the memory.
So I would definitely add the S3 VLB + the ISA SCSI card. Anyway the VLB SCSI card would not bring a lot of gain (if any) against the ISA card.
Filling the cache will give a good performance boost.

EDIT: And upgrade the RAM only to the maximum cacheable area of the board. But I don't know how big it is (when you have 256kB cache). But I am sure 128MB of RAM will be too much. I guess 32MB or 64MB, could depend also on the scheme WT or WB.

MORE EDIT: Does this board have 3 volts support?
If not than you have now a DX4-overdrive in it?

Irinikus wrote on 2024-02-05, 20:00:

Here's a picture of the Motherboard form one of these systems:

These are the various jumper settings for the board:

Hi, the chipset documentation says it supports both L1 and L2 in write back mode.
Because write back becomes more important with higher clock multipliers, this is good when your DX4 supports write back.
(Please post the exact type of your DX4 when you have doubts - or a picture.)
The chipset should support 512k L2 cache too, but it looks like that may be supported in one-bank-configuration which is suboptimal when your desire is to have a 2-1-1-1 burst at 40 MHz.
However, if your system supports 128kx8, the jumper setting may be not documented yet.

Basically with 256 kB of L2 cache you should be aware that you may have the cacheable area at 32 MB (L2 in write back mode) or 64 MB (L2 in write through mode).

And it looks like you have a zero-VRM installed. So you probably will be locked to 5 Volt-CPUs. So a DX4 will not work, but a DX4-overdrive may succeed.

Disruptor wrote on 2024-02-06, 11:46:

And it looks like you have a zero-VRM installed. So you probably will be locked to 5 Volt-CPUs. So a DX4 will not work, but a DX4-overdrive may succeed.

The system does have a VRM installed and it's currently running a DX4 100:

This is not my board, I just posted it to show the system's board layout:

CoffeeOne wrote on 2024-02-06, 11:24:

So I would definitely add the S3 VLB + the ISA SCSI card. Anyway the VLB SCSI card would not bring a lot of gain (if any) against the ISA card.
Filling the cache will give a good performance boost.

I'm thinking the same thing!

Imagine slotting one of these little monsters in that VLB slot:

Irinikus wrote on 2024-02-06, 19:43:

I'm thinking the same thing! […]
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CoffeeOne wrote on 2024-02-06, 11:24:

So I would definitely add the S3 VLB + the ISA SCSI card. Anyway the VLB SCSI card would not bring a lot of gain (if any) against the ISA card.
Filling the cache will give a good performance boost.

I'm thinking the same thing!

Imagine slotting one of these little monsters in that VLB slot:

s-l1600-279.jpg

Yeah, S3 964 VRAM is even cooler. Dos performance should be similar to S3 864, but in Windows the 964 will win.
But this 964 you do not need to upgrade, because it has already 2MB, 4MB is propably not worth it, because the RAMDAC is only 135MHz.
I mean 135MHz is good for a VLB card, but not for a 4MB card 😀

EDIT: you have only 1vlb slot and 2 ISA? If you add a nice vlb graphics card and 1 ISA slot you need for the sound card, there is only one slot free 🙁
So maybe don't go the SCSI way here? Just mentioning, I like to have a NIC card always in my 486 machines. Not because, I want to access the internet, but I want to be able to transfer files via FTP, that is very convenient.
Just a remark.

Here's some documentation for this ISA SCSI card :

The seller said that he's unable to get a get an operating system on a 50-pin 10K RPM SCSI drive to boot o this card? (I don't think that he has this documentation though, so according to the documentation should it be possible to boot the system off this card?)

He said that it has a throughput of 5MB per second (This is without any cache RAM slotted)

For best performance I would leave it alone. Its only running a 486dx4-100
16mb of Memory is Good enough.
64kb of motherboard Cache is good enough
Cirrus logic 5430 is a very good video chip for a 486
Sound blaster 16 is good enough
My IBM PS/1 computers came with Sound blaster CT 2950

For better performance do this:
Upgrade the CPU to Intel Pentium Overdrive is the Best upgrade for this computer
Maybe upgrade hard drive to CF card or SSD

Anything else will not gain you much performance if any as it’s a 486 computer.

This was a budget computer probably released around 1994 designed for low budget Win95
It’s a Very Good Win-3x computer.

Maybe add a 3com 3c509b network card and US Robotics modem.
IBM Hard drives are Very good reliable.

Irinikus wrote on 2024-02-07, 18:40:

190202153812_Perceptive 1200-2.jpg […]
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190202153812_Perceptive 1200-2.jpg

Here's some documentation for this ISA SCSI card :

The seller said that he's unable to get a get an operating system on a 50-pin 10K RPM SCSI drive to boot o this card? (I don't think that he has this documentation though, so according to the documentation should it be possible to boot the system off this card?)

He said that it has a throughput of 5MB per second (This is without any cache RAM slotted)

I found this:
https://jeffpar.github.io/kbarchive/kb/142/Q142256/
I assume you want to use (beside DOS) Windows 9x.
I would say this controller is out then (?)

CoffeeOne wrote on 2024-02-07, 19:32:

I found this: https://jeffpar.github.io/kbarchive/kb/142/Q142256/ I assume you want to use (beside DOS) Windows 9x. I would say […]
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I found this:
https://jeffpar.github.io/kbarchive/kb/142/Q142256/
I assume you want to use (beside DOS) Windows 9x.
I would say this controller is out then (?)

Thanks very much for the info! 😀

Intel486dx33 wrote on 2024-02-07, 19:26:

For best performance I would leave it alone. Its only running a 486dx4-100 16mb of Memory is Good enough. 64kb of motherboard Ca […]
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For best performance I would leave it alone. Its only running a 486dx4-100
16mb of Memory is Good enough.
64kb of motherboard Cache is good enough
Cirrus logic 5430 is a very good video chip for a 486
Sound blaster 16 is good enough
My IBM PS/1 computers came with Sound blaster CT 2950

For better performance do this:
Upgrade the CPU to Intel Pentium Overdrive is the Best upgrade for this computer
Maybe upgrade hard drive to CF card or SSD

Anything else will not gain you much performance if any as it’s a 486 computer.

This was a budget computer probably released around 1994 designed for low budget Win95
It’s a Very Good Win-3x computer.

Maybe add a 3com 3c509b network card and US Robotics modem.
IBM Hard drives are Very good reliable.

Thanks for the advice I’ll consider a Pentium overdrive then, but I’d still like to take a look at the Diamond Stealth 64 VLB though.

Intel486dx33 wrote on 2024-02-07, 19:26:

.... and US Robotics modem.
....

I am curious: For what purpose you would add the US Robotics modem?

CoffeeOne wrote on 2024-02-07, 20:08:

I am curious: For what purpose you would add the US Robotics modem?

Just look at that user's post history and you will quickly realize that there isn't any "purpose" to those suggestions. It's almost AI/chatbot level stuff.