jesolo wrote:

I've seen on some posts that your Pentium Overdrive CPU's can be a bit troublesome (in terms of compatibility, hardware and software wise).

Yes, you'll probably want a recent/PCI-based 486 board. Older boards may not support it.
But I've never run into software problems with mine.

jesolo wrote:

Also, you will never get full Pentium performance due to bottlenecks in the 486 architecture (there are also some topics on this).

No, but it's close enough. You get the full Pentium superscalar architecture, big/fast cache and advanced FPU. It's just connected to a 32-bit bus.
In practice it's usually around P66-P75 performance.
In the case of Quake, the real Pentium FPU makes all the difference compared to a real 486.

Yes, those are the benefits of the Pentium overdrive CPU.
As a matter of interest. What's the performance of the overdrive CPU if you use the turbo button (de-turbo)?
On my AMD 486 DX4-100 I get the equivalent performance of an Intel 486 DX-33.

Wow, this is why I love the Vogons community so much. Thanks for all the awesome feedback and suggestions everyone!

I know price is based on how much someone is willing to pay, but what would a fair price be to pay for say an Asus PVI-486SP3, Shuttle HOT-433, etc? Thanks. 😀

Chaniyth wrote:

Wow, this is why I love the Vogons community so much. Thanks for all the awesome feedback and suggestions everyone!

I know price is based on how much someone is willing to pay, but what would a fair price be to pay for say an Asus PVI-486SP3, Shuttle HOT-433, etc? Thanks. 😀

I would expect in the neighborhood of $50 to $75 (incl shipping) for any TESTED, NAME BRAND 486 era board.

Watch out for eBay sellers that price stuff high, but insist on as-is. I've seen a number of sellers trying to get $100-$200 for vintage boards, but offering no DOA guarantee. If they want to sell as-is, the price needs to reflect that. So make sure it's very cheap if it's as-is, or make sure there's a reasonable refund policy otherwise.

I'm surprised so many people are suggesting a 486 PCI board. I'm not one to talk as I have two currently running two (a m919 and a shuttle hot-433 based one) but to be honest they are kinda buggy and way overpriced. I only have my two because I like to mess around with this stuff and I got both for a really good price. If you just want a good all around gaming machine with the least fuss either go with a 66mhz 486 machine or a Pentium 1 machine. if you plan on playing way late DOS stuff just go with a P1 box as they are cheap, super easy to get running and easy to get parts for. If you want a true 486 get a VLB based board and a 66mhz or 100mhz cpu if you want extra power but you honestly cant go wrong with a classic 66mhx DX2.

VLB video cards aren't that hard to get and aren't that expensive even on Ebay.with the money you save from not buying an overpriced PCI 486 board you can easily get a VLB video card and probably a SB16 sound card and Multi I/0 card.

I agree with the VLB route. 486 is a DX2 or a DX4.

If you want PCI might as well go full out with an early Socket 5 Pentium build.

jesolo wrote:

Yes, those are the benefits of the Pentium overdrive CPU.
As a matter of interest. What's the performance of the overdrive CPU if you use the turbo button (de-turbo)?
On my AMD 486 DX4-100 I get the equivalent performance of an Intel 486 DX-33.

My PODP5V83 won't de-turbo in my Aquarius MB-4DUV. The system simply halts no matter what the divisor is set to. I have no idea if this is general behavior of the chip, just my motherboard or the BETA version of DOS that system is running. It's hard to measure anyway as it performs vastly different to a 486 chip.

It outruns the Intel baseline P66 in a (Batman's Revenge motherboard used for that). I agree with Soviet Conscript though; faster 486's - whilst a lot of fun - are usually more trouble than they are worth, you might do well to look at a 486-66 or a P75 system...

...Still, as I write this I am in the middle of trying to build a high-end 486 with mostly hardware from 1994 (I'm allowing that the machine may have been upgraded a little at some point) so I sure as hell know the appeal. VIP Mobo is a pain in the ass - check. CPU Support is all over the shop - check. Picky about RAM - check. Exhibits undefined behaviour when made to do things it wasn't meant to - check... Loads of fun.

Ditch Socket 5, it's pointless and expensive, Socket 5 chips work fine in Socket 7.

soviet conscript wrote:

I'm surprised so many people are suggesting a 486 PCI board. I'm not one to talk as I have two currently running two (a m919 and a shuttle hot-433 based one) but to be honest they are kinda buggy and way overpriced.

Buggy how?

soviet conscript wrote:

I'm surprised so many people are suggesting a 486 PCI board. I'm not one to talk as I have two currently running two (a m919 and a shuttle hot-433 based one) but to be honest they are kinda buggy and way overpriced. I only have my two because I like to mess around with this stuff and I got both for a really good price. If you just want a good all around gaming machine with the least fuss either go with a 66mhz 486 machine or a Pentium 1 machine. if you plan on playing way late DOS stuff just go with a P1 box as they are cheap, super easy to get running and easy to get parts for. If you want a true 486 get a VLB based board and a 66mhz or 100mhz cpu if you want extra power but you honestly cant go wrong with a classic 66mhx DX2.

VLB video cards aren't that hard to get and aren't that expensive even on Ebay.with the money you save from not buying an overpriced PCI 486 board you can easily get a VLB video card and probably a SB16 sound card and Multi I/0 card.

vetz wrote:

I agree with the VLB route. 486 is a DX2 or a DX4.

If you want PCI might as well go full out with an early Socket 5 Pentium build.

Ironically what both of you said, an article in a magazine stated the same thing back in 1995 with "If you buy a 486, you should get a Vesa/ISA MB; Pentium, you should buy an ISA/PCI combo. The reason being is simple, the PCI bus was designed by Intel specifically for Pentium systems whereas VLB was designed specifically for 486 systems, as the old saying goes if it ain't broke, then don't fix it. So why fix something that don't need fixing?"

So now I guess I need to look for a period correct high-end ISA/VLB motherboard then I guess and it'd be a plus if it came with a CPU as well. Which chipset was the fastest for ISA/VLB?

Chaniyth wrote:

Ironically what both of you said, an article in a magazine stated the same thing back in 1995 with "If you buy a 486, you should […]
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soviet conscript wrote:

I'm surprised so many people are suggesting a 486 PCI board. I'm not one to talk as I have two currently running two (a m919 and a shuttle hot-433 based one) but to be honest they are kinda buggy and way overpriced. I only have my two because I like to mess around with this stuff and I got both for a really good price. If you just want a good all around gaming machine with the least fuss either go with a 66mhz 486 machine or a Pentium 1 machine. if you plan on playing way late DOS stuff just go with a P1 box as they are cheap, super easy to get running and easy to get parts for. If you want a true 486 get a VLB based board and a 66mhz or 100mhz cpu if you want extra power but you honestly cant go wrong with a classic 66mhx DX2.

VLB video cards aren't that hard to get and aren't that expensive even on Ebay.with the money you save from not buying an overpriced PCI 486 board you can easily get a VLB video card and probably a SB16 sound card and Multi I/0 card.

vetz wrote:

I agree with the VLB route. 486 is a DX2 or a DX4.

If you want PCI might as well go full out with an early Socket 5 Pentium build.

Ironically what both of you said, an article in a magazine stated the same thing back in 1995 with "If you buy a 486, you should get a Vesa/ISA MB; Pentium, you should buy an ISA/PCI combo. The reason being is simple, the PCI bus was designed by Intel specifically for Pentium systems whereas VLB was designed specifically for 486 systems, as the old saying goes if it ain't broke, then don't fix it. So why fix something that don't need fixing?"

So now I guess I need to look for a period correct high-end ISA/VLB motherboard then I guess and it'd be a plus if it came with a CPU as well. Which chipset was the fastest for ISA/VLB?

FWIW The motherboard I use an Acer AP43. 3 x PCI and 4 x ISA.
The PCI seems no worse than an early Pentium system.

Chaniyth wrote:

So now I guess I need to look for a period correct high-end ISA/VLB motherboard then I guess and it'd be a plus if it came with a CPU as well. Which chipset was the fastest for ISA/VLB?

Clock-for-clock, the UMC UM8498 seems to kill everything else. It can actually outrun some PCI systems with a good board in the right configuration.

I forgot to ask, are there any VLB motherboards that are not susceptible to the Y2K bug? Also any chance on any having a BIOS I can flash if needed instead of needing a EEPROM burner, as I don't have one of those?

Chaniyth wrote:

I forgot to ask, are there any VLB motherboards that are not susceptible to the Y2K bug? Also any chance on any having a BIOS I can flash if needed instead of needing a EEPROM burner, as I don't have one of those?

Most motherboards are only affected by the rollover to Y2K. I can set the year 2015 on all my 486 and P1 systems with no problem.

smeezekitty wrote:

Chaniyth wrote:

I forgot to ask, are there any VLB motherboards that are not susceptible to the Y2K bug? Also any chance on any having a BIOS I can flash if needed instead of needing a EEPROM burner, as I don't have one of those?

Most motherboards are only affected by the rollover to Y2K. I can set the year 2015 on all my 486 and P1 systems with no problem.

Nice, thanks. 😀

Also, beware of idiots like this:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Amibios-American-Mega … d-/231498779913

Such a shame.

AllUrBaseRBelong2Us wrote:

Also, beware of idiots like this:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Amibios-American-Mega … d-/231498779913

Such a shame.

What's wrong with it? I did read his feedback a 2 people said he jacked up the shipping price afterwards on them.

Chaniyth wrote:

AllUrBaseRBelong2Us wrote:

Also, beware of idiots like this:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Amibios-American-Mega … d-/231498779913

Such a shame.

What's wrong with it? I did read his feedback a 2 people said he jacked up the shipping price afterwards on them.

The board is sitting bare on carpet 😐

AllUrBaseRBelong2Us wrote:

Chaniyth wrote:

AllUrBaseRBelong2Us wrote:

Also, beware of idiots like this:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Amibios-American-Mega … d-/231498779913

Such a shame.

What's wrong with it? I did read his feedback a 2 people said he jacked up the shipping price afterwards on them.

The board is sitting bare on carpet 😐

Oooo yeah didn't even notice that! 😵

I don't see what's wrong with that. Description sucks, yeah, but the price is good, the photos are good and it is listed as working... You can do your own research on the board anyway, especially these days as Google is especially good at getting results now... Or I would, interestingly my clipboard just pasted random text I never copied when I was refining a search, I suspect something is broken (or someone has compromised my computer, in which case, good luck to them, ain't nothing but pr0n, rubbish and technical documents here) - either way, would be able to track down info within the hour I'd bet.

Though I'd also bet you could find a better board... Bit like this one which is seemingly based on the same reference design as the ones I had/have with a different branding, essentially the same as the Aquarius I have now.

Edit: Ah, the carpet... I do that all the time, nothing bad has happened yet. But I guess I can see why you wouldn't want to risk it.