It really depends on what you want to run on it.

The first 486 I had actually started out as a Intel 80386 SX-25 (Flite 386 SX was the local make/model). Things like Ultima 6 and Monkey Island ran fine on it, but things like Skunny Kart or anything using heavy raytracing or 3-D or mathmatics tended to choke it down to a slideshow. It did do pretty well at emulating an XT with the Turbo switch off though. So if you're wanting to stick to that whole Ron Gilbert/early Al Lowe/Richard Garriott Avatar Trilogy stuff then it'll be great, but if you want to run something like Doom, Duke Nukem 3D, or Quake, forget about it.

The closest thing I currently have to a 386 SX is my 80286 that's overclocked to 12-15ish MHz. It feels more like that 386 SX-25 I had than a 286 for some reason. Even has Graphical Broadband via Arachne.

dosgamer wrote:

Is there any reason to buy a 386SX-16 if you're only interested in gaming? Are there any games that would only work on a 386SX-16 but not on a 486DX-33 (ISA only, no external cache), even with the 486's clock dropped to 16MHz and the internal caches disabled?

I remember back in the day, I had a DX2-66, and my buddy only had his mom's 386SX, and he was basically crippled, gaming-wise. It was too slow for almost anything. Forget about Doom. Ultima VII ran, but really slow. I think the could play Wizardry VII.

In all seriousness, you do not need anything but a 486 for 2D Dos gaming with few exceptions. Anything an 8088 can play, a 486 can play if you crank down the clock speed and activate turbo, and disable any internal or external caching. You may have to introduce wait states or even a software throttler if you intend to run a 4.77mhz game on a 486, but there is no reason why it can't be done.

So no, you do not "Need" a 386. If anything all you really need to cover your bases is a good 486 system (DX4-120 or DX4-100 OC'd to 120) and a good Pentium 3 slot 1 system. That will get you almost anything from 1981 to 2000ish. Everything else can use a modern PC more or less.

But welcome to VOGONS! It doesn't matter for most that you don't "Need" a 486 or you don't "Need a 386" etc. It's part of the collecting and the experience. It's a game of pokemon, and your pokemon are your computers. Gotta build them all! From 8088 machines all the way up to modern day machines, unless you are suffocating you can never have enough computers. Heck if you want to get SERIOUS about collecting and put actual money into it, get a storage vault (DO NOT USE MASTERLOCK, Watch Bosnianbill on yt on how to secure it) at a reliable place. You can stick all your computers and stuff in it.

If you're tight on space, I suggest a Super Socket 7 build, It can run most games from late 80's to 1999-2000ish depending on what cards and which one you have. Slot 1s are also cheap right now and can be had for around 50-100 USD in parts raw.

Anything 486 and earlier is pretty pricey right now, so if you want to get a 486, try to scour local, try to get someone's old box they have in the attic for 40 bucks before you go looking for raw parts. Put i an ad on craigslist (Or even freecycle if you have a lot of people in your local group)

But as I said, DX4-120/100 can be clocked to anything from a DX-25 to a DX4-120, and cache, wait states, and throttling programs are always there as well as the famous turbo button.

I have these three models:
Schneider Tower AT 286/10,0 EGA (Gemini VC001)
Schneider Tower AT 286/12,5 VGA (Ati Wonder)
Schneider Tower AT 386sx 16Mhz VGA (Ati Wonder)

The two 286 are by far more agile. I think it's about the bus speed and the waitstates. The 386sx seems to be (the) a slowest machine 🙁
If I put a fast VGA Card in the ISA Slot of the 286 (like a Diamond Speedstar) the 286's are going to fly 😀

Doc

Thanks for the replies, guys. I actually do have a bunch of other stuff in a box somewhere. I have two Asus 486SP3G boards, one with an Intel DX4-100, another with an AMD DX4-133. Also a bunch of Slot 1 Boards and CPUs, an Asus Slot A ... problem is, no case. Good condition AT cases are really hard to find. Most are either horribly yellowed, or broken, or have parts missing ... I could buy an ATX case, but I prefer a desktop, so I can put the CRT monitor on top. Oldschool, you know 😁. But ATX desktop cases are even harder to find. So I was pretty psyched when I found a Dell 486-33 with a slim desktop case last weekend for 20 European pesos. Now I found a Dell 386SX board for sale that fits this exact case (it's a special form factor that uses a riser board for the ISA slots). Oh well, looks like I gotta buy that too, even if it's not much use for gaming. Anyway, thanks to this thread, I now have a better idea of what systems I want to use: the 486 for older/2D games and then maybe I'll build something like a PII-233 system for newer/3D games. Oh, and maybe like a 1 GHz Athlon with a Voodoo5 for Win98 stuff. Thanks guys!

Can you use the same riser in the 486 with the 386 board? its not like you are changing the case so the spacing should be perfect for the case openings
Sounds like a good find though...pics please 😀