Yes, I have several VLB video cards and i have a DX2-66 CPU that does work with that mainboard as I couldn't decide when I was putting it together. The 486 also has a turbo button that does slow the current 33MHz, to 20MHz, however when I use the 66MHz cpu, turning turbo off creates screen corruption with random characters all over the post screen. It bothers me that the video is a bottleneck being ISA, but maybe dos doesn't really demand much from video and its more of a windows benefit? The current card is a diamond speedstar64 /w 2MB. I also have a pentium 120 build with dos 7.1 for the more demanding dos games that has PCI graphics.

At this point, I have desktops that cover all intel CPU's up to pentium 4 with the exception of an XT/8086, 386,, and pentium pro. With the other machines that are not PC (apple ii, several old macs, and an amiga 1200) space is getting kinda tight. This all started with emulation, but I just never felt totally satisfied til I started getting real hardware.

lowlytech wrote:

It bothers me that the video is a bottleneck being ISA, but maybe dos doesn't really demand much from video and its more of a windows benefit?

Even if there is something in DOS that might benefit, does it really matter if you have no interest in running whatever that is?

With the other machines that are not PC (apple ii, several old macs, and an amiga 1200) space is getting kinda tight. This all started with emulation, but I just never felt totally satisfied til I started getting real hardware.

Like I said in my first post – it's really all up to you if giving up even more space is worth your "satisfaction", isn't it? No one else can make that decision for you.

After much thought about this subject, I am going stop actively looking for a 386 system unless one just falls in my lap. When I started a year or so back in this hobby It seems that I got wound up collecting the hardware, getting it in a workable state and tweaking it, it took away from what I original wanted to do, which was to play games from my childhood on real hardware, and others I had never heard of. At the top of my list are the SSI gold box titles which I keep telling myself would probably play most authentically on a midrange 386, but I have the 486/33 which should work I think. Of course I still haven't got to the point of playing the games so I think I need to take a break from collecting and try to play! It might be a harder transition than I think.

lowlytech wrote:

After much thought about this subject, I am going stop actively looking for a 386 system unless one just falls in my lap. When I started a year or so back in this hobby It seems that I got wound up collecting the hardware, getting it in a workable state and tweaking it, it took away from what I original wanted to do, which was to play games from my childhood on real hardware, and others I had never heard of. At the top of my list are the SSI gold box titles which I keep telling myself would probably play most authentically on a midrange 386, but I have the 486/33 which should work I think. Of course I still haven't got to the point of playing the games so I think I need to take a break from collecting and try to play! It might be a harder transition than I think.

There's two forms of fun to this hobby. Playing the games and tweaking the actual hardware. I bounce between the two, with a heavier emphasis on the hardware. Playing Ultima VII was fun, but getting the hardware and memory at the right level is part of the fun. I am now able to purchase computer equipment that, when I was 12-16, was $4,000-$10,000! All for a pennies on the dollar. For example, I have a Gateway 2000 486 EISA system that I pulled out of storage. I never had an EISA system, because that EISA system I bought for $5.00 at my local thrift store used to cost $5,000, and adding in an EISA SCSI cache controller with 16MB of RAM , and bumping up the 486 ram to 64MB would be about $10,000 back in '91! Those were dreams system. And now I can have it for relatively inexpensive.

But yes, making the transition from collecting and tweaking to actual game play is difficult. But its all fun. 😎

lowlytech wrote:

After much thought about this subject, I am going stop actively looking for a 386 system unless one just falls in my lap. When I started a year or so back in this hobby It seems that I got wound up collecting the hardware, getting it in a workable state and tweaking it, it took away from what I original wanted to do, which was to play games from my childhood on real hardware, and others I had never heard of. At the top of my list are the SSI gold box titles which I keep telling myself would probably play most authentically on a midrange 386, but I have the 486/33 which should work I think. Of course I still haven't got to the point of playing the games so I think I need to take a break from collecting and try to play! It might be a harder transition than I think.

You do not need a 386 for SSI gold box games, I played them just fine on my lowly Tandy 1000 and the 286 16 mhz system I had.
You need a 386 for stuff like Ultima Underworld, X-wing and maybe some others I just can't think of right now. If you were interested for some reason in doing actual work, and didn't already have a 486, I'd recommend a 386 as being the minimum to host a proper multi-tasking OS, but none of us are doing actual work on these systems (that I know of, is anyone out there doing it "George R. R. Martin style" and using their retro PC for something other than games)? I often think it would be fun to set up an old school game development environment on a 386, but then I run up against the wall of "oh right I have no aptitude for programming".

You don't strictly need to have a system from each era. If you have the money, space and time (it sounds like you're lacking in one or more of these) then fine, if not a socket 7 system with some adjustments can stand in nicely.

It is way too easy to fall down the rabbit hole of "gotta have another". You can enjoy the hobby just fine with only one or two machines. Or just using DOS box. Anyway, I've said my piece, wiser heads than mine advised me the same thing when I got back into this a few years back and I didn't listen 🤣.

For me, a cased 386 motherboard is essential in the cased systems line-up. My interests are from 386 to Tualatin and haven't grown. Peak interest is with 386/486. All the fun for me is to maximise the crap out of it and to acquire hard-to-find hardware. How far can you take the little bugger and keep pushing it harder. The "gotta have another" mentality for me stopped when I built all I was interested in. I haven't acquired a new case in years now, but I still try to find the best motherboards of the same era (e.g. 386 for 386, 486 for 486) for the existing cased systems. Or replace the case with a nicer looking one. You will ultimately do whatever you want to in the end. I don't really care what other people think the systems are good for or not.

For what it's worth, my comment was in no way a judgement on what
anyone does with their systems, more of a lament on what I wish I
could do with mine.

Some people code demos or make games, some people like playing
with hardware, some design new hardware, some play games, and some
are historians. It's all good.