VOGONS


First post, by waterbeesje

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A few months ago I got a nice AT computer case. It has all you'd like: turbo button, 3 segment display (188) and enough space to house a full AT motherboard.

This is not about getting the fastest system of its generation. I'm mostly looking into filling the biggest gap.

These options I have available in my stock:
- ELT286b 26b motherboard, 286 and 287, 1MB
- soyo 486SX25 ISA based board (no upgrade socket)
- noname 486 DX50 ISA based board (could run a 5v DX2-100 if such existed, need to switch the crystal for lower speeds but I don't have any)
- Asus 486 vlb based socket 2 board (5v only)
- Asus P5A-b (super7, CPU anything from P120 to MMX to M2 to K6-3)

For all of these boards I have all the period correct hardware to complete them at an above average level.

I already have these systems running:
- IBM model 30-286 10MHz (2 actually)
- Biostar 386 DX40
- IBM Valuepoint DX2-66 (vlb based)
- Intel Ninja, dx4 PCI based system
- Aquarius MB4-DUV, VLB Cyrix 5x86
- Compaq deskpro P200 non-mmx
- IBM 300 with P233-mmx
- IBM Aptiva, K6-233
- Gigabyte GA-5AX, K6-3+ @500

So... Which one would fill up the gap at best?

Stuck at 10MHz...

Reply 1 of 7, by SScorpio

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IMO it looks like you have a gap between the 286 10Mhz and the 386 DX40. Using the turbo switch on the DX40 might resolve the issue, but there are games where that DX40 is just too fast.

Your P233MMX on the other hand can be slowed down to cover everything down to that DX2-66.

If you don't want to build a 16Mhz 386, you could always use the Asus 486 VLB and have a 486 33Mhz. But the DX40 to DX2-66 gap is less pronounced than the 286 10Mhz to DX40 gap.

Reply 2 of 7, by waterbeesje

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Last week I had some discussion with friends and this is what I have in mind now:

Cyrix MII on steroids: see what fsb I can get out of it and give it a pretty load of ram and some AGP graphics. I'll just see what comes out of the box 😀

Stuck at 10MHz...

Reply 3 of 7, by dionb

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You hardly have a gap there. With that many systems I'd not go for a specific performance target for another one (unless you wanted 808x or >P2), but rather a specific theme. There again, nothing really jumps out at me. The P5A (which revision?) is probably the most interesting of the lot, but you already have the GA-5AX, so not that special in this list. Messing around with an MII is as good an idea as any 😉

Reply 4 of 7, by waterbeesje

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Little side note. Tomorrow I'm gonna collect a complete 286 computer which runs at 16MHz. That's gonna fill up the biggest gap. Now between that and the caseless 486SX25 (the 386DX40 is faster than that one) remains a gap that may once be filled with a 386SX25. But that's not an option now as want to stick in a board I already have.

The MII is the next biggest gap to me I guess. Not in performance, but in architecture. I have two of these beasts (well, a 6x86MX and an MII actually) and besides some sort tests they are just laying around anyways.
I did not mention ATX stuff I have, like several slot 1 boards and some lpx stuff... As they wouldn't fit in this case. But those keep the performance differences even smaller.

As dionb said: theming stuff is probably the better way here.

Stuck at 10MHz...

Reply 5 of 7, by Tetrium

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waterbeesje wrote on 2021-03-09, 21:15:

Last week I had some discussion with friends and this is what I have in mind now:

Cyrix MII on steroids: see what fsb I can get out of it and give it a pretty load of ram and some AGP graphics. I'll just see what comes out of the box 😀

This would get my vote.

What exact Cyrix MII do you have? If you have any of the lower voltage ones, then that will give you quite a lot of extra flexibility.

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My retro rigs (old topic)
Interesting Vogons threads (links to Vogonswiki)
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Reply 6 of 7, by waterbeesje

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Tetrium wrote on 2021-03-14, 04:05:

This would get my vote.

What exact Cyrix MII do you have? If you have any of the lower voltage ones, then that will give you quite a lot of extra flexibility.

Tnx! 😁

These Cyrixes are here:
- IBM 6x86MX pr166, 2x66 2,9v
- Cyrix MII 300GP, 3x75, 2,9v

I think the second one could turn out to be a beast if I can turn up the fsb a bit more. That said, I only tested it for some quick benchmarks on my PC chips M577 (SS7 also). I know it works, but don't know where limits are in pushing it to the max.

At least there's going to be some decent cooling: I've got several socket A heat sinks laying around: that may help 😀

Stuck at 10MHz...

Reply 7 of 7, by Tetrium

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waterbeesje wrote on 2021-03-14, 22:32:
Tnx! :D […]
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Tetrium wrote on 2021-03-14, 04:05:

This would get my vote.

What exact Cyrix MII do you have? If you have any of the lower voltage ones, then that will give you quite a lot of extra flexibility.

Tnx! 😁

These Cyrixes are here:
- IBM 6x86MX pr166, 2x66 2,9v
- Cyrix MII 300GP, 3x75, 2,9v

I think the second one could turn out to be a beast if I can turn up the fsb a bit more. That said, I only tested it for some quick benchmarks on my PC chips M577 (SS7 also). I know it works, but don't know where limits are in pushing it to the max.

At least there's going to be some decent cooling: I've got several socket A heat sinks laying around: that may help 😀

Just be careful when trying to mount one of those sA HSFs. When I tried to mount one when trying to install a Cyrix Mii-400GP, one of the socket tabs snapped -_-
It seems to be basically similar to some degree as trying to mount a Tualatin (or any Intel s370 CPU with IHS actually). I presume your 300GP could be similar in that way so be aware of this please or you're gonna need to use some superglue to put it back into place before you can continu your testing 😜

Yes, the MII 300GP is definitely the better part there =). Would've been even better if you had one of the 2.2v part though as those even have (limited) overclocking ability.
The 2.9v parts are not good overclockers though, but ymmv.

Whats missing in your collections?
My retro rigs (old topic)
Interesting Vogons threads (links to Vogonswiki)
Report spammers here!