Don't see anything wrong with it, but it may be a little slow for many VGA games.
If you're only planning to play CGA & EGA games it looks good.

If the price is low then I'd go for it! I have a Amstrad 9486i(486 DX/2 66), it's a good little machine. Back in the late 80's early 90's I used the old Amstrad PCW CP/M machines all the time, they were very reliable and did what was needed without any fuss at all. I do have a real soft spot for those Amstrads.
Best,
Chris

Thanks 😁 I've ordered it.

I'm buying it in mind of it complementing my more powerful DOS machine I'm going to build (eventually!), so I'm content with it struggling with most VGA games, as they should be covered by the W98 machine if I twiddle with L1 and L2 caches.

Only real issue I can see is that it does not have a sound card - just the internal speaker - so I'll hunt for a Soundblaster 2.

I'm trying to figure out what the upper limit would be for a new internal HDD. I understand it depends on the version of MS-DOS installed. This one has 3.3, so currently at its maximum size. So if I upgrade its DOS to 6.22 (I presume it's possible on an 8086 with 640k, right?), then it could handle a 500MB HDD.

Sound right?

I'm gonna make a guess that your stuck with the 40MB drive it that 8086 machine, my 386SX IBM from 1992 will handle 500mb tops. I'm pretty sure it's what the BIOS will allow for HD, not just the DOS version.

BSA Starfire wrote:

I'm gonna make a guess that your stuck with the 40MB drive it that 8086 machine, my 386SX IBM from 1992 will handle 500mb tops. I'm pretty sure it's what the BIOS will allow for HD, not just the DOS version.

Well, you may be correct, but I found this link: http://www.dewassoc.com/kbase/hard_drives/har … ze_barriers.htm which talks about 80s PC HDD limits and how it was largely down to MS-DOS underrating the rate of capacity growth and not factoring in adequate file formatting to accommodate.

But if you think it's wrong or I am misunderstanding, please let me know 😀

Ah reading further, it occurs to me that more advanced versions of DOS would eat more memory anyway. Hmm.

I use DOS 5.0 on my IBM XT, it supports partitions up to 2GB and doesn't eat too much memory.
If the Amstrad BIOS won't accept a larger drive you have the option of XT-IDE BIOS on a network card, or if you're handy with a soldering iron, an XT-IDE card.

Interesting, bjt. How do you replace the bios on a motherboard?

Basically, find the BIOS chip and replace it.
However XT-IDE BIOS is an extension rather than replacement, so you need a way of adding it. Some people use the boot ROM socket on a network card.
Not sure if it would work with the built-in IDE in the Amstrad, you might need another IDE interface e.g. on multi I/O or sound card.
By far the easiest way is to build one of these, which is ROM extension and interface in one: https://www.lo-tech.co.uk/product/lo-tech-isa … mpactflash-pcb/
Probably need a way to disable the built-in IDE interface as well.

Usually XT-IDE BIOS builds are compiled to look at port 300h, but there are special builds that look on port 1F0h which is suitable for a 16bit IDE controller. In fact it allows one to use the IDE port on a 16bit controller while in 8bit mode. I tried it myself and it works.
This should be the best option for you if you decide on using a network card with a boot ROM socket.

You can get the specialized XT-IDE BIOS build for this purpose here.

So I think one of the first things I have to do with this computer is remove the CMOS battery, which is either dead at best or ruptured at worst. I haven't opened it up yet (and probably not for a while), but I can't find any details of the type of battery it uses, to find a replacement. Anyone got any ideas?

Anther option is If your replacing the HDD with a CF card or similar you can get one that mounts on a bracket and simply swap out cards depending on what you want to play. As long as the cards are the same the PC wont even know its happened!
No idea on the battery, but how havent you opened it up yet, its the 1st thing i do!!!

If it's like the 4386 then it will be a socketed Dallas battery.

I have a strong feeling it's one of those barrel batteries. We'll see.

Anyway, I'm looking at sound cards! As it only currently has the internal PC speaker. According to specs, this 5086 has two half-length 8-bit ISA slots. No full-length ones. So can anyone tell me if the Sound Blaster 2.0 would fit on that, or would it insist on a full-length ISA?

Failing that, what would be a suitable alternative that fits on a half-length ISA slot?

So I managed to finally pop the hood on this thing and take a peek inside.

First off, JidaiGeki was correct - the internal clock is a Dallas chip. But I was delighted too discover it appears to have been already modded to draw power from two AAs, so getting the clock to work again should be a snap! 😁

Here's some photos so you can all appreciate some 1980s Amstrad goodness. Would appreciate some help in identifying what chips appear in these photos. I love learning about them.

What's this Siemens chip? And next to it is what appears to be an empty socket - what could be put there?

Ah, the Siemens is the 8Mhz 8086 Intel CPU.

And the big blue barrel at the bottom has what looks like glue on it - is that normal?

ISA slots seem in good condition if a little dusty. What are those chips on the board?

Also it looks like the cap at C50 is in a bad way...

And here's the battery mod!

What are these chips>