Why is this in Milliways and not Marvin?

Announcements, advice, random banter, unrelated discussion, et cetera.

I would go with the 286 in the desktop and the 386 in one of the minitowers.

Tower cases were not so common for 286 era, so a more historically correct build for an 286 might better be in a desktop case. Aside from this, I always like mini/midi towers much more, compared to desktop cases (practical to work with), so if historical correctness is not an issue, I would go for the tower cases for both builds.

I'd go desktop for the 286 and tower for the 386. As far as working on them there really is no difference. One thing about desktops is the monitor can sit on top them giving a better viewing height and takes up less desktop space overall whilst placing all external media,fdds/cdrom etc, right in front of you for easy access.

I personally find mini towers a pain but each to there own.

Desktops are always better IMO. They stack better and easier access to the MOBO.

Moved to marvin

tayyare wrote:

Tower cases were not so common for 286 era, so a more historically correct build for an 286 might better be in a desktop case. Aside from this, I always like mini/midi towers much more, compared to desktop cases (practical to work with), so if historical correctness is not an issue, I would go for the tower cases for both builds.

I only have one of the towers.. The question is, only the tower or the desktop.
But i have the comment here that my 386 build would have much cards to install and need having the space..
For my 286 iam using the tiny small factor AT boards.. And for my 386 build iam using the normal baby AT style boards which are bigger..
My sense saying if iam want to by period correct to put the 286 system in the desktop one..

Caluser2000 wrote:

I'd go desktop for the 286 and tower for the 386. As far as working on them there really is no difference. One thing about desktops is the monitor can sit on top them giving a better viewing height and takes up less desktop space overall whilst placing all external media,fdds/cdrom etc, right in front of you for easy access.

I personally find mini towers a pain but each to there own.

Maybe the interal storage for the harddrives is something to consider as practical. Original the desktop was housed by a 386 system.. Didnt know the system that came with the case was the original equipment.

I want to use the desktop case for my 286 system.. Only the limited housing thing is, that it only can house one harddisk drive.. My goal for now it to go with at least a 500MB harddisk drive.. Would is make sense to use a SCSI storage controller, the fact is that the housing could only store one drive.. Or is IDE AT a better solution for it (i dont want to mess with MFM or RLL drives if i dont need do)

tayyare wrote:

Tower cases were not so common for 286 era, so a more historically correct build for an 286 might better be in a desktop case. Aside from this, I always like mini/midi towers much more, compared to desktop cases (practical to work with), so if historical correctness is not an issue, I would go for the tower cases for both builds.

Yes. I'd hazard a guess though that the majority of 386s where of desktop design as well. certainly all the ones I've been given have been. I personally wouldn't bother with period correctness though. Build what you want not what others decide is "correct". That's the beauty of building you own systems and having fun in process. Build something a bit unique that suites your tastes. Be a rebel 😉

Using IDE makes sense if you haven't got scsi on hand along with using an IDE-CF converter. With going cf crd as the hdd mounting internally or have external access(this can be at the back or front by making a nice tidy slit in a drive bay blank. You can even have both internal or external if that suites. I'd fit a nic as well because the allows the use of an eprom with xt-ide bios extension if you decide to go that route.

Caluser2000 wrote:

tayyare wrote:

Tower cases were not so common for 286 era, so a more historically correct build for an 286 might better be in a desktop case. Aside from this, I always like mini/midi towers much more, compared to desktop cases (practical to work with), so if historical correctness is not an issue, I would go for the tower cases for both builds.

Yes. I'd hazard a guess though that the majority of 386s where of desktop design as well. certainly all the ones I've been given have been.

It is a correct guess. Especially for brand name computers like HP, IBM, etc. During that era, most (if not all) brand name 386 (and even 486) PCs were desktop cases (excluding expensive special purpose hardware like servers). DIY market was different though (almost all mini towers, at least where I live)