That depends on whether you regard your Cyrix/TI 486DLC & 486DRx2 CPU's as still being a "386" system, since the CPU's were plug in replacements for users of existing 386 PC's.
The same argument could be said for the Pentium overdrive (63 & 83 MHz) CPU's that could be plugged onto a 486 motherboard.

If you stick with true 386 CPU's, i.e., the ones that didn't have a L1 onboard cache, then I would say the fastest 386 CPU is your AMD 386DX-40 coupled with a Cyrix 387 math co-processor (however, the latter would be of no benefit to any games from that era).
The best VGA graphics card (16-bit) would be the Tseng Labs ET4000AX with 1 MB RAM onboard.
I prefer a 386 motherboard that also supports the Cyrix CPU's, since these motherboards were more "mature" and better refined than earlier motherboards (I'm now referring to a generic brand).
8 MB RAM is probably more than what you would need but, 16 MB of RAM would be plenty (depending on whether you're planning on just installing DOS or DOS and Windows).
Windows 3.11 is recommended since Windows 95 doesn't run optimally on 386 machines (it will run but, very slow).

I have a powerful 386 system and I'm amazed how capable it actually is with Windows 3.1 applications.

"Best" would be based on some hybrid 386/486 motherboard that also supports Vesa Local Bus video cards and get away with ISA bus bottleneck. Upgrading to 486DLC also gives around 20-30% boost.

My best "386" is:

Opti 386/486 VLB mainboard
Ti486DLC-40
Cyrix 487-40
32MB memory (8x4MB 30-pin simm)
Tseng ET4000/w32 2MB VLB
I/O controller VLB

Best (ISA) VGA card is an Orchid Kelvin 64, outperforms the ET4000 (tested myself).

Most powerful 386 system would probably be a Compaq Systempro. You could have dual 386's in that. They were mighty expensive, though, so I don't think a lot of them were made. I have yet to see one for sale in about 10 years of searching.

jesolo wrote:

That depends on whether you regard your Cyrix/TI 486DLC & 486DRx2 CPU's as still being a "386" system, since the CPU's were plu […]
Show full quote

That depends on whether you regard your Cyrix/TI 486DLC & 486DRx2 CPU's as still being a "386" system, since the CPU's were plug in replacements for users of existing 386 PC's.
The same argument could be said for the Pentium overdrive (63 & 83 MHz) CPU's that could be plugged onto a 486 motherboard.

If you stick with true 386 CPU's, i.e., the ones that didn't have a L1 onboard cache, then I would say the fastest 386 CPU is your AMD 386DX-40 coupled with a Cyrix 387 math co-processor (however, the latter would be of no benefit to any games from that era).
The best VGA graphics card (16-bit) would be the Tseng Labs ET4000AX with 1 MB RAM onboard.
I prefer a 386 motherboard that also supports the Cyrix CPU's, since these motherboards were more "mature" and better refined than earlier motherboards (I'm now referring to a generic brand).
8 MB RAM is probably more than what you would need but, 16 MB of RAM would be plenty (depending on whether you're planning on just installing DOS or DOS and Windows).
Windows 3.11 is recommended since Windows 95 doesn't run optimally on 386 machines (it will run but, very slow).

Thanks, I would like to begin with a real 386 not any overdrive cpus but we'll see. Which was the most modern and featured motherboard? I've seen some at standard based ones on ebay quiet compact with Intel 386 DX 40 already soldered.

sliderider wrote:

Most powerful 386 system would probably be a Compaq Systempro. You could have dual 386's in that. They were mighty expensive, though, so I don't think a lot of them were made. I have yet to see one for sale in about 10 years of searching.

Last year I found an processor card for that system with an 386-33 onboard. Have no way to test it 😀

386SX wrote:

Thanks, I would like to begin with a real 386 not any overdrive cpus but we'll see. Which was the most modern and featured motherboard? I've seen some at standard based ones on ebay quiet compact with Intel 386 DX 40 already soldered.

I have a Chicony CH-386-33H/40H 386 motherboard, which also supports the Cyrix CPU's and runs quite well (currently with my Cyrix 486DLC-40 CPU).
As kixs has stated, an Opti 386/486 VLB motherboard (or any 386/486 VLB motherboard for that matter) is also a very good choice, since you can then plug in a VLB graphics card and I/O controller, boosting performance.
However, I used to own a similar combo motherboard and could never get my VLB graphics cards to work on it with the 386 CPU plugged in.
Personally, I'm not too concerned about having VLB graphics cards and I/O controllers on a 386 machine, especially if you plan on playing games developed around that type of CPU. I can't think that VLB graphics performance is going to make that much of a difference but, I could be wrong.

I'm sure that there might be other users who could recommend more 386 motherboards but, regardless of what recommendations are made, finding a reasonably priced 386 motherboard these days is becoming quite a challenge, especially one without a soldered CPU.

An IBM 486BLC, which is basically a 386 that's lower powered, faster and has 486 instructions.

jesolo wrote:

I have a Chicony CH-386-33H/40H 386 motherboard, which also supports the Cyrix CPU's and runs quite well (currently with my Cyri […]
Show full quote

386SX wrote:

Thanks, I would like to begin with a real 386 not any overdrive cpus but we'll see. Which was the most modern and featured motherboard? I've seen some at standard based ones on ebay quiet compact with Intel 386 DX 40 already soldered.

I have a Chicony CH-386-33H/40H 386 motherboard, which also supports the Cyrix CPU's and runs quite well (currently with my Cyrix 486DLC-40 CPU).
As kixs has stated, an Opti 386/486 VLB motherboard (or any 386/486 VLB motherboard for that matter) is also a very good choice, since you can then plug in a VLB graphics card and I/O controller, boosting performance.
However, I used to own a similar combo motherboard and could never get my VLB graphics cards to work on it with the 386 CPU plugged in.
Personally, I'm not too concerned about having VLB graphics cards and I/O controllers on a 386 machine, especially if you plan on playing games developed around that type of CPU. I can't think that VLB graphics performance is going to make that much of a difference but, I could be wrong.

I'm sure that there might be other users who could recommend more 386 motherboards but, regardless of what recommendations are made, finding a reasonably priced 386 motherboard these days is becoming quite a challenge, especially one without a soldered CPU.

I'm pretty sure VLB will not work with a 386 cpu installed on any of the 386/486 motherboards. VLB is only if a 486 cpu is installed. So if you use a 386, then no go with VLB. If you're using it as a 486 board, then sure, pop in the VLB card.

I think that's why the FX-3000 board has pins for VESA on the last ISA slot, but usually no VESA slot is installed. The VESA would be useless with the 386 CPU installed.

I can test it with a 386DX-40 CPU as it can be easely switched. In the manual there is no mention about VLB not being compatible with 386 though.

As 486DLC is direct replacement of 386DX chip I really don't see a reason why VLB wouldn't work with it.

About the performance. 486DLC-40 with Tseng/w32i 2MB VLB has around 26 in 3DBench and around 22 with my fastest ISA video card based on Cirrus Logic CL-5429 2MB. My other fastest 386DX-40 board with CL-5239 has around 18.

You all seem to forget one major factor: the motherboard cache 😀

If you consider insane amounts of RAM also comes under the title of "most powerful/upgraded":

http://www.rainbow-software.org/manuals/367c.html

It supposed to accept 128MB of RAM. Has 128KB of cache, too.

It definitely accepts 64MB (16x4 in first bank) but I personally can't manage to make it accept the second 64MB.

I agree with a with a Cirrus Logic GD-5434(Orchid Kelvin 64, Diamond Speedstar 64, STB Nitro 64 amoungst others).
I'd say 16meg of ram is overkill, 8meg is probably good enough for most windows applications designed for the DX40
Enhanced ISA IDE Controllers to access up to 8.4gig drives, some members here prefer scsi.
Mpeg playback card, allows you to play mpeg videos or vcds without any performance issues.
128 or 256k cache will be enough,

There are IBM BL3 chips on PGA adapter boards which often work on generic 386 motherboards. I forget if it has 8 KB or 16 KB of L1 cache. Forum member Anonymous Coward has/had one running at 3x33 MHz. I suppose this could be classified as the fastest drop-in upgrade for a 386-class motherboard. Second in line would be a TI SXL running at 2x33 MHz with 8 KB of L1 cache. Next would be a Cyrix DRx2 2x33 with 1 KB L1 cache. Perhaps tied with the DRx2 would be a TI 486SXL-40 (or -50) with 8 KB of L1 cache. For the "most upgraded system", 32 MB of RAM and 256 KB L2 cache is a minimum in my mind.

I personally hate SCSI, not only are the drives horribly noisy, but almost all drives are now 20 years old and will all die a horrible death soon.
Better go with "newer" IDE drives and enjoy silent drives, or even CF-IDE adapters but then you will miss the typical HDD sounds which is kind of awkward.

schlang wrote:

I personally hate SCSI, not only are the drives horribly noisy, but almost all drives are now 20 years old and will all die a horrible death soon.
Better go with "newer" IDE drives and enjoy silent drives, or even CF-IDE adapters but then you will miss the typical HDD sounds which is kind of awkward.

SCSI is good, period. 😈

You can still find NOS U320 drives (in 18, 36, 72, and 146GB capacities). Heck, I bought a NOS WD 4.1 GB SCSI disk in a sealed bag, not more than a couple of months ago, just for 5 USD.

I love SCSI but it is rare and expensive in the UK. Finding drives that aren't inches from death is difficult and finding them at a reasonable price is nigh on impossible.

Ya ya ya SCSI been there.... I have an EIDEMAX controller in my 386 so gladly I can put in any IDE drive I want 😜